No more rooting for USA or a good underdog from another country. It will be two more years until I jump up and down cheering. (Okay, maybe not that long if I get the PSU/OSU game this fall. Go Lions!!!) Despite staying up late to watch the events, I still managed to read a book and watch non-Olympic pop culture.
Film: The Graduate
Everyone knows the iconic scenes: "Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?" and the church at the end. I hadn't realized how brilliant this film actually is. Those are two minor scenes in the filmic scope of this short (1 hour 45 minutes) movie. Mike Nichols is brilliant. His framing techniques in the beginning and the montage after Ben first sleeps with Mrs. Robinson are cutting-edge. They withstand the test of time in their ingenuity and grace. These are truly beautiful moments in filmmaking. The story even holds up after all these years. What 22-year-old isn't worried after graduation? Who wouldn't want to find their soulmate? That said, Ben is a bit creepy as a stalker but he does get the girl. The big question is, does he keep her? Nichols doesn't really give us a truly happy ending. By focusing on Ben and Elaine at the back of the bus, Nichols implies a fear of the future. Quite frankly, I don't think they'd still be married today. Also, let's not forget the importance of the soundtrack to this film. I can only think of two contemporary filmmakers who make music a character in their films: Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. I have to say, Mike Nichols did it best in 1967.
Television: Bones
I just made my way through Season 1 of this murder-a-week show. At first, I wasn't sure I'd like it. The more I watched, the more the characters drew me in. Believe it or not, Bones is a character-driven show. Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth are yin and yang. Except here's where it gets trippy. Temperance is the masculine partner and Seeley is the feminine partner. She's all logic and he's all intuition. This flip in traditional gender coding is pretty cool and unusual for mainstream tv. Good for Fox! Add in the supporting characters and you have an interesting crime-solving family. The squints even come out ahead most days. (Which, being a squint to some degree myself, may make the show all the more enjoyable.) I have to admit that I had a hard time believing David Boreanaz could do a character other than Angel, but he makes an excellent FBI agent. He's able to show more sense of humor; something that came out every once and awhile on Buffy and Angel but never developed to its full potential. Here he is right at home in the casting here. I can't wait to see what happens to the gang in Season 2.
Book: The Bloody Chamber
This 1990 release is a collection of short stories by Angela Carter. But these aren't just any short stories; these are retellings of fairy tales. Made for adult women. Did I mention that? These stories are feminist takes on what we were to learn as young women from our fairy tales. Instead of being nice, good, rule-abiding women as is to happen with Cinderella and Snow White, the women in Carter's texts are sexual, predatory, questioning, and realistic. Some come out ahead and some do not. The best story in the collection is Carter's most famous: "The Bloody Chamber," a retelling of the Bluebeard story. Second best is "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon," a beauty and the beast retelling. The rest are good but get a little over-descriptive. Carter knows more adjectives than most writers. This is a woman who was smoking something at some point in her life to write the stories she does. I've read The Magic Toyshop and, quite frankly, I don't get it. These stories are much more accessible but with some I got the same feeling. For example, what am I supposed to learn from "The Erl-King"? It went over my head. Despite a couple of misses, the collection is overall enjoyable. Just be prepared to think a bit with some stories.
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5 comments:
Yes, The Graduate is excellent. That was one film I saw in my Lyco film class with Fred whats-his-name that I was really grateful for. Most of the others i'd seen already.
About Bones - aren't Scully/Mulder the original logical female/intuition male duo? Anyway, I don't watch Bones. Seen one episode, I think.
So true about Scully/Mulder! How could I forget!!!! I think with Bones, though, it's more hard-core. Scully had her religion while Temperance is utterly scientific (at least in Season 1). And Booth is much more emotional in his choices because he's not as single-minded as Mulder. Wasn't "The X-Files" also a Fox show?
It was a Fox show. And yes, Scully always had her faith in the background. It was the one supernatural thing she allowed for. It was only really prominent in the cancer episodes - I guess when science failed her.
Ha - Temperance is a really good name for the character you describe.
Hey, I don't really have a comment on any of that. But I found an article I wanted to share that I thought you guys might appreciate. There is an article in the UK's Daily Telegraph paper today called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer presents a clear and present danger to the church of England."
The article talks about how many women are leaving churches because they feel it is not relevant to their lives. Shows like BtVS are blamed for glamorizing Wicca, which traditionally empowers women much more so than traditional religion.
Here's the direct link to the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2603343/Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-slaying-church-attendance-among-women-study-claims.html
I find it funny that a show that's been off the air for years is the focal point of this. Plus, it seems to me that there are other shows that had far more to do with Wicca and so-called empowered women, such as Charmed.
Boo! Imagine modern women not wanting to be a part of a religion that held them down as inferiors for hundreds (if not thousands) of years! What are they thinking?
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