Posted on May 23, 2009 at 3:58 pm
PBS has an excellent online resource for parents about the way that media shapes children’s views of the world, with separate sections for preschoolers, grade schoolers, pre-teens and teens, with tips for each age to help children understand media and think about it more critically. It even has a parent guide to texting acronyms like G2G (got to go). Kids are not the only ones who can use some help with media!
Posted on May 11, 2009 at 3:58 pm
It was not especially popular with critics or audiences when it was first released but has since become something of a cult with conventions of fans in costume, scholarly analysis, lines of dialogue recited with reverence by its fans, and a wide assortment of merchandise.
“Star Trek?” Nope, this time it’s The Big Lebowski
The movie is now seen not just as a fine film but as remarkably wise and prescient. Should you wish to meet with other fans all dressed as characters from the movie, you can choose from conventions in your choice of cities. You can bring the movie home with a Dude Bobble Head
And if you want to ponder the deeper meaning in it all, you can take a look at a new book from Indiana University Press collecting scholarly research on the movie. It is called The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies and I got a big kick out of reading the table of contents:
Posted on May 10, 2009 at 8:17 pm
If you’re in the DC area on May 19, come to the fabulous Rock Creek restaurant in Mazza Gallerie for a “Beauty and the Beach” fund-raiser for juvenile diabetes. For $35 ($40 at the door), you will get hors d’oeuvres, wine, and some great beauty tips and treats. There will also be a silent auction featuring goodies including the chance to attend a critics’ screening with me. It’s a great cause and it will be a lot of fun.
Posted on May 10, 2009 at 10:50 am
Thanks to Shawn Levy for pointing me to this piece from “Smart Money” about movie critics’ secrets. I enjoyed #5: “I could say a film’s ‘about a lovable misfit,’ but I’ll go with ‘it limns alterity.'” But I don’t think anyone will be surprised by #8. “Sure, I’m a bellwether of taste–my own.” Um, that’s what critic means. I warn my readers and radio audience all the time about the dregs of February and August. And I have no problem with top 10 lists filled with titles no one has seen — the critic’s most important job is bringing the audience’s attention to films they would otherwise have missed. I’m happy to give “Star Trek” a good review, but have no illusions it will affect ticket sales. But when someone tells me they saw — and loved — “Once” or “I Could Never Be Your Woman” because I suggested it, that makes my day.
Posted on May 9, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I was the only white person in the elevator after the screening of Next Day Air, and as we went down to the parking lot, I asked the assembled group, none of whom I knew, whether they thought the movie was racist. None of them did. The closest I got was one guy who said not enough to interfere with his finding it funny.
When I got off the elevator there were only three of us left, all women. I asked them whether they thought the film was sexist. They were noncommittal.
I was very polite about this, I promise. I asked in a tentative and understated way, because I know what a loaded question it is and I was still making up my own mind about how I felt about it. Still, I recognize that I put them on the spot and they may have been willing to be more critical about the film to each other than they were to me.
I concluded, as you can see in my review, that it was racist and sexist. I can understand how people might differ in their reactions. Some people think that because it was made by African-Americans, the humor is self-deprecatory and comes from a position of strength. But the stereotyping and contempt for both the characters and the audience — and my sense that the exact same movie could have been made by the KKK — led to my conclusion that it promoted bigotry, no matter who was behind it. If the best we can do in Hollywood is provide funding for these kinds of films — and if they keep finding an audience and making money — then it cannot be said to come from a position of strength. If there is not one redeeming character of any race or gender, it cannot be said to be self-deprecatory. This movie was laughing at these characters, not with them. It perpetuates stereotypes so over-the-top and demeaning they make Step’n’Fetchit look like Denzel Washington.
I do not think you have to be a person of color to recognize racism or a woman to recognize sexism. The other members of the audience are entitled to their own reaction to the film; any response they had is perfectly legitimate. But so is mine. I think it is a shame that these kinds of movies are released and that talented performers like Mos Def, Debbie Allen, and Mike Epps can’t do better.
