Smithsonian Exhibit: Warner Brothers Treasures

Posted on March 27, 2012 at 10:21 pm

I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History today and I especially enjoyed seeing some wonderful items from the Warner Brothers archive, including costumes and props from the movie Roger Ebert says appears on more top 10 lists than any other film: “Casablanca.”  I also loved seeing Lauren Bacall’s beautiful, form-fitting suit from “The Big Sleep.”  But I got a special kick out of seeing Jack Warner’s phone book, here open to the D page with hand-written entries that include Bette Davis, Cecil DeMille, Walt Disney, and Salvador Dali!

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Bully to be Released Un-Rated

Posted on March 27, 2012 at 8:00 am

Unable to persuade the MPAA to give a PG-13 rating to “Bully,” the documentary about the tragic consequences of verbal and physical abuse, the producers have decided to released it “unrated.”

“The small amount of language in the film that’s responsible for the R rating is there because it’s real,” said director Lee Hirsch. “It’s what the children who are victims of bullying face on most days. All of our supporters see that, and we’re grateful for the support we’ve received across the board. I know the kids will come, so it’s up to the theaters to let them in.”

Nearly half a million people signed a petition from Katy Butler, Michigan high school student and former bullying victim, on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower the rating. “The kids and families in this film are true heroes, and we believe theater owners everywhere will step up and do what’s right for the benefit of all of the children out there who have been bullied or may have otherwise become bullies themselves,” said TWC president of marketing Stephen Bruno. “We’re working to do everything we can to make this film available to as many parents, teachers and students across the country.”

The MPAA refused the appeal by one vote and refused to reconsider despite the support of Representative Mike Honda and David Boies and Ted Olson, the high-power lawyers who opposed each other in Bush v. Gore and were on the same side in the successful challenge to California’s Proposition 8.

The MPAA, which routinely gives PG-13 ratings to movies with the “f-word” and with very crude and explicit sexual material insist on an R-rating for this film because it includes strong language actually used by teenagers.  Parents and high school and middle schoolers (who know these words) are exactly the audience who should see this film and discuss their own experiences.  Stay tuned for an interview with director Lee Hirsch coming later this week.

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Commentary

More “Hunger Games” Craziness

Posted on March 26, 2012 at 9:06 pm

It’s inevitable that any movie as high-profile as “The Hunger Games” would be grabbed for political advocacy by all sides.  My friend Rebecca Cusey writes in Patheos:

It seems “The Hunger Games” is a bit of a Rorschach test for people politically. Do the districts represent #Occupy protesters? Ayn Rand workers oppressed by their government? Fodder for meaningless wars? Or something more?

Some will argue that the rebellion against the totalitarian state in “The Hunger Games” trilogy is an allegory for conservative principles in favor of limiting the role of government.  Others will argue that it is an allegory for progressives fighting for the rights of the oppressed.  That’s part of the strength and the appeal of fiction. The same thing happens with many powerful films.  People are still arguing about whether the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was an allegory of the fight against communism or the fight against McCarthyism.

It makes me sad to see the increasing efforts to impose reductionist templates Procrustean-style, making everything into “us” or “them.”  The good thing is that the more both sides claim ownership, the clearer it is that fiction transcends such pettiness.

Speaking of pettiness, there were also some unfortunate problems with idiotic tweets from fans of the book who were disappointed that some characters were played by black actors.  Hunger Games Tweets on Tumblr has a selection along with some funny responses.  My favorite was “I hear that Donald Trump is trying to prove that Rue wasn’t even born in Panem.”  Rue was my favorite character in the book.  She was my favorite character in the movie.  Amanadla Stenberg was perfect for the role.  It is a tribute to the power of these books that some people project their own ideas of what the characters look like (in some cases disregarding the author’s descriptions) and are unable to accept the reality of the movie version.  But it is unfortunate that these projections can reflect conscious or unconscious bigotry and even more unfortunate that they have the bad judgment to make it public.

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Commentary Understanding Media and Pop Culture

“Hunger Games” Apology (sort of) from Jeffrey Wells

Posted on March 26, 2012 at 11:05 am

Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells has conceded my points about his appalling comments on “The Hunger Games,” perhaps more than he realizes.

To recap: I wrote about his offensive comments regarding the body of the movie’s lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence.  He said she was “too big” for co-star Josh Hutcherson, revealing his assumptions that (1) for the purposes of aesthetics and credibility, the male lead has to be significantly bigger than the female lead, and (2) it is the obligation of the female star of a film, even if she is playing the most important role, to accommodate any perceived size inadequacy of her male co-star.  Not content to insult Lawrence, actors and actresses in general, and the audience of fans, he also went on to insult female film critics, writing that they could not be trusted to evaluate this film.  As I wrote earlier:

To add insult to injury — and some more insult, too — Wells advises his readers to beware of the reviews of “The Hunger Games” by female critics ”as they’re probably more susceptible to the lore of this young-female-adult-propelled franchise than most.”  Um, “most?”  Who would that be again?

He seems to have some Victorian notion that women get the vapors and cannot think straight.  And that women somehow don’t count in deciding who makes up “most” ticket-buyers or members of the population.

I was pleased to see that Wells responded promptly, and if his reaction was a bit shrill, well, perhaps he is experiencing a bit of the vapors himself.  Being wrong can do that.  It is rather telling that until corrected by an alert commenter, he thought I was a man, referring to me as “Neil Minow.”  I take it as a compliment to the validity of my post that he assumed it had to come from a bro and not a “susceptible” female.

But he made some important concessions and I want to give him credit for them.  First, he agreed that if he was going to make a point about the mismatch of size of the two leads, his focus should have been on the co-star, not the lead.  Second, although he did not mention that he amended the original post I quoted above (thank goodness another alert commenter called him on it), he did soften his indefensible comment about female critics, by revising it to say that “certain” female critics “may” be susceptible.  “The use of ‘certain’ and ‘may’ make the difference between a blanket statement and a carefully phrased one,” he says. It is still an idiotic point, but by adding “certain” and “may” he shows that at some level he recognizes that.  It would have been classier, though, if he had admitted that he backed down from what he himself calls a blanket statement.  And “careful phrasing” would have dropped “female” entirely, I believe.

Wells ends by noting as though anyone had argued otherwise, that everyone brings some bias to a film.  Where I come from, we prefer to call it a point of view, but certainly, there is no such thing as pure objectivity, which means that male critics are just as likely to be biased against a female action lead as female critics are to be biased in her favor.  I am glad that “The Hunger Games” will be reviewed by fans of the book, people who have not read the book, people who consider it an anti-big government allegory, people who consider it an anti-fascism, pro-99% allegory, men, women, young critics and older critics.  If there are film critics in District 12 and Capital City, I’d love to see what they have to say.  I welcome all of these perspectives, even unreconstructed critics who think that the job of the female star is to conform to some notion of “appropriate” size and that the job of the female critics is to leave their gender at the door of the theater.  But there is no excuse for making a sweeping generalization, refuted by the facts, that female critics and only female critics will over-praise the film.  Fortunately, Wells’ admission that everyone is biased implicitly includes himself, so I am going to read that as an admission and apology and hope for better from him next time.

 

 

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Critics Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Jeff Foxworthy to Host “The American Bible Challenge”

Posted on March 25, 2012 at 3:55 pm

GSN has signed comedian Jeff Foxworthy to host the pilot of the network’s original one-hour game show, The American Bible Challege,” a studio-based game show in which contestants compete based on their knowledge of the Bible. Questions will be designed to acknowledge and celebrate the Bible’s continuing importance in contemporary life and culture. The contestants will share their compelling back stories and each team will be playing for a worthy faith-based organization.

“I am excited to be hosting a show about the bestselling book of all time. It will be interesting to find out what people really know, and an opportunity to present the Bible in a fun and entertaining way,” says Foxworthy.

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