May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Mal ,'Bushwhacked'


Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai  

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


Connie Neil - May 03, 2012 7:06:08 am PDT #19733 of 30000
brillig

Supervisors with no joy in their souls.


Jesse - May 03, 2012 7:35:36 am PDT #19734 of 30000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Yeah, I'm all over breaking into song -- it's the backup singers and dancers who fall down on the job!


amych - May 03, 2012 7:42:22 am PDT #19735 of 30000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

To this day, I can't pick up a jar of mustard without bursting into "THEY GOT! THE MUSTARD! OUT!"


bon bon - May 03, 2012 7:52:56 am PDT #19736 of 30000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.

though of course everything was over-dramatized and Zooey Deschanel was held up as some sort of hipster Aphrodite ideal.

I think she was supposed to be kind of an asshole. That's one reason I think the movie is not very satisfying.

And exactly, Maysa! Genres are unrealistic, and there's no connection between a genre you like and your real-life decisions. Which is why when I read Hec to say

I think American cultural myths/stories about romantic love and relationships are toxic and damaging. Filled with weird and stupid assumptions.

I wanted to leap through the screen; Hec, you had just been rhapsodizing about 70s exploitation films! Do you kill Italian schoolgirls?!


Sophia Brooks - May 03, 2012 7:55:15 am PDT #19737 of 30000
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

Yeah, I'm all over breaking into song -- it's the backup singers and dancers who fall down on the job!

Me too! Except, my costume students this year have been getting pretty good-- the other night we were singing "Imagination" from Willy Wonka.


DavidS - May 03, 2012 8:12:18 am PDT #19738 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I wanted to leap through the screen; Hec, you had just been rhapsodizing about 70s exploitation films! Do you kill Italian schoolgirls?!

::kicks limp hand under the bed::

I didn't do it! You can't prove a thing!

I actually think the love stories are more pernicious because they never get challenged. It's not simply that they're unrealistic, but underlying myth of "soul mates" is pervasive throughout the genre.

Unlike, Italian giallo most people will not stab a beautiful model through the eyeballs with an icepick. But most people will be in relationships with weirdly set expectations.

Thinking about it, it's not even the Twu Wuv aspect that I think is problematic, it has more to do with intimacy and sex. There's not much space in American film to explore positive sexual relationships that don't end in monogamous bliss.


Frankenbuddha - May 03, 2012 8:14:17 am PDT #19739 of 30000
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

I didn't do it! You can't prove a thing!

If only those black leather gloves could talk, eh?


Liese S. - May 03, 2012 8:14:35 am PDT #19740 of 30000
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Yeah, I'm all over breaking into song -- it's the backup singers and dancers who fall down on the job!

And the lighting! And the instantaneous costume changes!


Liese S. - May 03, 2012 8:15:08 am PDT #19741 of 30000
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

There's not much space in American film to explore positive sexual relationships that don't end in monogamous bliss.

There's not all that much monogamous bliss, either.


Burrell - May 03, 2012 8:30:11 am PDT #19742 of 30000
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!

I'm gonna have to side with bon on this one, the critique of romcoms as setting up "unrealistic expectations" implies that women are weak at reality testing.

That said, I'm not convinced women are the ones with the problem, or at least not the only ones. After all, wasn't it men who mistook "24" for effective interrogation techniques?