Subject:
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Re: LoTR # 1 on IMDB
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Sun, 23 Dec 2001 12:09:12 GMT
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Viewed:
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402 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Dave Schuler writes:
> > Fight Club
> Geez--what is it about Fight Club that makes people love it so? I'm not
> really taking you to task for it, Richard--I've had this discussion before
> with other folks, and for me it's basically a matter of the hopelessly
> been-there-done-that re: the dual identity and societal angst angle. Aside
> from the ol' two-men-as-one-character thingie, the "story" of Fight Club is
> also staggeringly simple. Ah, well--tastes vary.
I just think it has great style -- way more style than most films. In a way
the story is almost incidental to the main agenda of presenting a series of
blacker than black comments and political criticisms about the modern world,
and often making those points in a satirical style that matches Swift for
his "A Modest Proposal." I wasn't really wowed with the whole dual identity
thing either, I figured it out the moment after the protagonist beats
himself up in front of his boss and the scene is interrupted with a freeze
frame over which the narrator says something like, "I don't know why, but I
was reminded of my first fight with Tyler..." That was a complete give-away
to anyone watching the thing. But I loved the humorous political commentary.
The Ikea-boy stuff, the weird cult/religion that develops, the Project
Mayhem billboard jokes (very Situationist BTW), the music, the soap, the
destruction of all of the credit card records for the U.S., the giant penis,
the soup, the penguin, slide, Cornelius -- does a film's story have to be
ultra-clever when it's this funny? I think not...
What other film is so rich with the societal angst thing, and why is it a
wrong subject for a film? Hasn't everything already been done anyway? If
you get bored with this, try:
http://www.unet.brandeis.edu/~ariiah/freud/fight.htm
I dunno -- been-there-done-that? Isn't everything about technique and
style? Doesn't LOTR have a character actually named "Theoden"? Is that
supposed to be real original or something? Or does originality not matter
if you can tell the story well and with at least some originality?
So just out of curiousity Dave!, what film would be your preferred Arthur
myth telling?
BTW, I myself took a course in Arthurian romances at Berkeley as part of my
English major. As to the disparity in our opinions over the movie
Excalibur, maybe I am just more forgiving about it given the task presented
in telling that story. Although the film came out in the early 80s, I stated
it was 70s damaged because of the obvious influence of the 70s in terms of
make-up, hairstyles, and to some extent even the costumes -- I didn't
necessarily mean any more than that.
-- Hop-Frog
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: LoTR # 1 on IMDB
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| (...) "Heathers" springs to mind, as does "Doom Generation," and even "A Clockwork Orange," to a certain point (though admittedly in a different direction. Even the awful film "Strange Days" addresses the blurring and isolation of the individual. (...) (23 years ago, 24-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: LoTR # 1 on IMDB
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| (...) It's possible that you and I (and probably a few others around here) are the only ones who've seen and enjoyed Barry Lyndon--a good pick, though! (...) Haven't seen that in a few years, and it's not a particular favorite for me, but it's (...) (23 years ago, 21-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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