TV/Movies Megathread

[celedhring]

Why are all the cartoon mothers dead? I think it's pretty obvious, if the child's parents are dead then the child can go on an adventure. If you're limited to killing off one, the mother is the more restrictive on the ball parent. It's not just a trope in western animation, you see the same thing in Japanese anime.


http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/07/why-are-all-the-cartoon-mothers-dead/372270/

I disagree. It's about the male-male rivalry, with the child set to outdo the father and escape his dominance through adventure.

Ultimately, mothers are seen as dousing forces, the anti-thesis of conflict, as opposed to the male characteristics of violence, action, sexual dominance, etc... Take the mother out, and you're creating an unbalance in the life of the protagonist that will be resolved through the story.

[garbon]

And you get to show off your misogyny.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, celedhring, who are you to drag classical literary theory into this?

[Valmy]

Ultimately, mothers are seen as dousing forces, the anti-thesis of conflict,

It seems none of these story tellers had actual families. 

But I have heard the notion that it was a key symbolic trope for parents to die in stories because it symbolizes moving into adulthood.  In reality the parent may not actually die but they do as the sort of figure you experience as a child.

[Savonarola]

The Emperor Jones (1933)

This is based on a Eugene O'Neil Play in turn loosely based on the life of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam; ruler of Haiti for four months in 1915.

In the O'Neil play the title character, Brutus Jones, is fleeing a revolution by running through a jungle.  He's slowly driven mad by a number of hallucinations that show his misdeeds.  Only the title character and his partner (get this, Mr. Smithers) have speaking roles.

In the movie the story is shown linearly and the fleeing Emperor Jones (Paul Robeson) occupies only fifteen minutes of film.  This is problematic, as there is nothing in the film previously that indicates that that Jones was either insane or superstitious.  Another problem is that throughout the film the black man is constantly associated with the primitive; the opening shot, for instance, is a tribal dance in Africa which dissolves into a Southern Baptist service.  Given that, and the copious use of the "N-Word" throughout the film it's hard not to see this as a racist picture.  The film (like the play) is one of O'Neil's indictments of the Jim Crow south, colonialism and capitalism.  This was the also first major starring role for an African-American in an American picture; but even with that, in its day the film and the play were controversial for what was perceived as a racist outlook.

The film is worth seeing for Robeson; this was his biggest role in film.  The film maker capitalized on his reputation as a singer; he sings a number of spirituals, folk tunes and even a hammer-swinging song.  The film was shot entirely in New York City, sit it depicts an authentic "Buffet flat" (an unlicensed clubs that catered to the Pullman Porters.)  They also have dancers from the Cotton Club in another scene.  Fans of Ralph Ellison will be interested in those scenes.

[Valmy]

Too racist for the 1930s

That could be the tagline.  Like 'banned in Europe!' on violent videogames.

[The Minsky Moment]

Bale ain't Heston that's for sure.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

The Exodus story suggests that Moses was "slow of speech" and that his brother often had to speak for him.  So really they should cast some mumblecore actor and have him stumble through his lines.

[crazy canuck]

Needs more Yul Brynner.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Remaking Mad Max?! WTF

[garbon]

I like Hardy and Theron.

[Ideologue]

For anyone (Sav) that may be interested, the biannual Criterion sale is on.  I'm trying to get two a week, as funds permit, or until I run out of crap I want.

Presently I have gifted myself with The Life Aquatic and Design For Living.  DFL comes with practically a whole second movie--a BBC recording of the original Coward play--which is awesome.  (The idea is awesome, that is; I assume the play itself is, but do not know.)  I wish they had a blu-ray for Lubitsch's Trouble In Paradise, which is supposed to be even better and funnier, though I somehow doubt it. But I think it has Miriam Hopkins in a state of more advanced undress, which is a very real selling point.

[Admiral Yi]

I checked the local googloplex shows and times and The Edge of Tomorrow has already run its course.  The movie product cycle is getting pretty fucking short.

[crazy canuck]

I checked the local googloplex shows and times and The Edge of Tomorrow has already run its course.  The movie product cycle is getting pretty fucking short.

It is still showing here.

[Ideologue]

I checked the local googloplex shows and times and The Edge of Tomorrow has already run its course.  The movie product cycle is getting pretty fucking short.

This is a true thing.  It's one of the reasons, iirc, that Spielberg and Lucas are predicting a collapse of the motion picture industry.

[Eddie Teach]

I checked the local googloplex shows and times and The Edge of Tomorrow has already run its course.  The movie product cycle is getting pretty fucking short.

This is a true thing.  It's one of the reasons, iirc, that Spielberg and Lucas are predicting a collapse of the motion picture industry.

Not as long as they've got folks like you willing to dispose of a hundred dollars a month on their products.