Social Issues N'Stuff
When it's below zero outside and everyone has the flu inside, obviously one turns to DVDs to keep things moving along. DIH decided to get hold of whatever Oscar nominees were available at the local Blockbuster and give them a try.
And now, to share some insights.
Oscar Contender #1: "The Devil Wears Prada." Meryl Streep is up for best actress. And she's great.
The movie is another story. Anne Hathaway is pretty as the asparagus-stalk star, whom of course everyone at the fashion magazine where she works keeps calling "too fat." But the girl is already not merely thin, she's positively gaunt. There was one shot of her face that left me convinced I knew what she would look like when she was seventy, all bones and angles and suspicion of a nose job.
Oh yeah, the plot. Ingenue wannabe journalist gets prized internship and famous magazine and doesn't appreciate it because, surprise surprise, her boss is impossible. Ain't life tough. Note to the author: maybe you should try working at McDonald's sometime.
Oscar Contender #2: "Little Miss Sunshine." Up for Best Picture, also Abigail Breslin is up for Supporting Actress and Alan Arkin is up for Supporting Actor. About a dysfunctional family whose daughter enters a kiddie beauty pageant. But none of that's important.
What's important is this: How do you feel about getting bonked on the head with Important Social Issues? Like, I dont' know, gays and suicide. I keep reading that gays have a higher rate of suicide than straights. I have no idea how true that is, but "Little Miss Sunshine" is right behind this Important Social Issue. Steve Carrell plays the gay uncle of the little girl of the title, who is released from a hospital after a failed suicide attempt. As he explains it to his seven-year-old niece, he tried to take his own life after becoming depressed when he fell love with another man who didnt' love him back. Carrell's character also keeps describing himself as "the number one Proust scholar in the country."
This of course raises another question: if your claim to fame was being America's "number one Proust scholar," wouldn't that kind of bum you out? I mean, you'd at least hit the antidepressants, right? If the screenwriters were trying to make the gay suicide case they really shouldn't have muddied the waters with Monsieur Madelaine.
Another Important Social Issue: are beauty pageants inherently immoral? Aren't they degrading to women? Well of course they are! When the little girl of the title performs a stripper's routine for her talent entry, isn't she just showing us The Truth About Beauty Pageants? Isn't she the Only Honest One Up There? Come on, this is deep stuff!
Those were the only ones Blockbuster had. I guess I'll actually have to go out to the theaters to see the rest. If only I could believe something out there was worth the price of a ticket and a sitter.
And now, to share some insights.
Oscar Contender #1: "The Devil Wears Prada." Meryl Streep is up for best actress. And she's great.
The movie is another story. Anne Hathaway is pretty as the asparagus-stalk star, whom of course everyone at the fashion magazine where she works keeps calling "too fat." But the girl is already not merely thin, she's positively gaunt. There was one shot of her face that left me convinced I knew what she would look like when she was seventy, all bones and angles and suspicion of a nose job.
Oh yeah, the plot. Ingenue wannabe journalist gets prized internship and famous magazine and doesn't appreciate it because, surprise surprise, her boss is impossible. Ain't life tough. Note to the author: maybe you should try working at McDonald's sometime.
Oscar Contender #2: "Little Miss Sunshine." Up for Best Picture, also Abigail Breslin is up for Supporting Actress and Alan Arkin is up for Supporting Actor. About a dysfunctional family whose daughter enters a kiddie beauty pageant. But none of that's important.
What's important is this: How do you feel about getting bonked on the head with Important Social Issues? Like, I dont' know, gays and suicide. I keep reading that gays have a higher rate of suicide than straights. I have no idea how true that is, but "Little Miss Sunshine" is right behind this Important Social Issue. Steve Carrell plays the gay uncle of the little girl of the title, who is released from a hospital after a failed suicide attempt. As he explains it to his seven-year-old niece, he tried to take his own life after becoming depressed when he fell love with another man who didnt' love him back. Carrell's character also keeps describing himself as "the number one Proust scholar in the country."
This of course raises another question: if your claim to fame was being America's "number one Proust scholar," wouldn't that kind of bum you out? I mean, you'd at least hit the antidepressants, right? If the screenwriters were trying to make the gay suicide case they really shouldn't have muddied the waters with Monsieur Madelaine.
Another Important Social Issue: are beauty pageants inherently immoral? Aren't they degrading to women? Well of course they are! When the little girl of the title performs a stripper's routine for her talent entry, isn't she just showing us The Truth About Beauty Pageants? Isn't she the Only Honest One Up There? Come on, this is deep stuff!
Those were the only ones Blockbuster had. I guess I'll actually have to go out to the theaters to see the rest. If only I could believe something out there was worth the price of a ticket and a sitter.
I snuck away and saw The Queen. Very worthwhile, but then, I think I would have been a Tory in 1776. Loved it when Prince Philip chucked a cellphone at a servant. Go.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assesment of Devil Wears Prada. Streep was good, but the rest of the movie was dreary. I honestly don't understand the hype around the movie.
ReplyDelete