Subject:
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Re: A question of remembrance...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 24 Apr 2001 18:29:54 GMT
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Viewed:
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379 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Daniel Jassim writes:
> > I don't see how representing the plight of a specific group of people
> > reduces that plight to a cliche.
>
> I believe that an omission is a lie. So, to omit the whole history of the
> Holocaust and focus only on one group of people that suffered and died, and
> to repeat and repeat only that part of the history (allowing the other stats
> to be obscured) only contributes to make it cliche.
Ah! Now I see where you're coming from. I still hold that, in itself, the
film can't be blasted for failing to address matters outside its scope,
since to do otherwise would by definition require that everything address
everything--a politically correct utopia! I'm sure that's not what you're
implying, but I wonder where the line is to be drawn.
You make some good comments to this end below:
> I remember a televised press conference at the White
> House rose garden pertaining to Holocaust rememberence in which one Jewish
> survivor (can't remember his name, he's a prominent human rights activist)
> chewed out President Clinton for not helping end the Bosnian genocide.
I think you mean Elie Wiesel.
> So, with this issue on the tip of the worlds tongues, it baffled me that
> Spielberg couldn't say one word at the Oscars about the "ethnic cleansing"
> that was taking place at that very moment. After portraying the terrible
> suffering of the Jews in his movie, why not use that moment before the world
> to condemn all genocide? Why be so small minded and ask the world to only
> remember the Jews? I guess as an admirer of his work, I was disappointed. I
> know it is his choice, but by not speaking up, I feel he reduced his noble
> work to cliche. If I were a Jew and I was up on that stage, how could I not
> mention the Bosnian genocide?
I realize now that your beef isn't with Schindler's List per se, but
rather with the treatment it's received since its release. I can't speak for
him, naturally, but perhaps Spielberg thought it would be inappropriate to
use the Oscar podium as a forum for political change, especially considering
that, not long before, Richard Gere called for all viewers of whatever
awards show he was on to send good vibes to Tibet. That's a total guess,
since I don't know what Spielberg actually had to say in his speech.
To his credit, though perhaps a little late, with the airing this past
weekend of Schindler's List, Spielberg commented on some of the very issues
you address.
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: A question of remembrance...
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| (...) Yes! Thanks, I was having trouble recalling his name and didn't want to butcher it. :) (...) Well, I admire any artist willing to use their celebrity status in a positive, non-egocentric way. It breaks my heart when an artist like Spielberg (a (...) (23 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: A question of remembrance...
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| (...) I believe that an omission is a lie. So, to omit the whole history of the Holocaust and focus only on one group of people that suffered and died, and to repeat and repeat only that part of the history (allowing the other stats to be obscured) (...) (23 years ago, 24-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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