I'm waiting around to listen to NPR's bit on Shut Up & Sing, the Dixie Chicks' documentary about their trouble after denouncing President Bush. I'd like to see it, but I don't think it's playing around here. Looks like I'll have to wait for the DVD release on Netflix.Everyone is talking about Shortbus. I wonder what the movie brings to the table? There's sex. People are drawn to sex. Those who haven't lived in the city have ideas about what it's like to live there based on popular TV shows like Friends, Will & Grace and Sex and the City. They are fun shows, but completely unrealistic. Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to see this movie in the theatre. I'll keep an eye on the reviews and possibly rent it once it's released on DVD.
Running With Scissors was released last weekend and I really want to see it. The book was hilarious and weird, reminding me a tad bit of John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire if only because of the quirkiness the two books share. The Hotel New Hampshire, the movie, was really bad even though it starred Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe. In the book, sex between siblings didn't seem so wrong but in the movie it was painfully difficult to comprehend and even worse, to watch.
If you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine you are really missing out! I highly recommend this movie. It's hilarious, intelligent, touching and, did I mention hilarious? I want to see it again and am planning on purchasing it when it's out of the theaters. I'm such a fan of Steve Carell. I remember the first time I saw him in a movie, Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey. The scene as Jim Carrey controls his speaking gets me everytime even though the movie as a whole isn't great.
Changing subjects . . . I've just heard on NPR that there is a new Wonderbra for men, a Wonderjock I believe, recently released in Australia. It claims to "lift and separate" and is selling quite well. Interesting.
Kate
posted by Kate Bishop at 3:17 PM
2 Comments:
Your comment that you would rather see “Shortbus” on a DVD at home rather than in a theater intrigued me. From what little I’ve read, that movie contains a lot of explicit sex, yet somehow manages to avoid being overtly pornographic or even terribly erotic. Your attitude mirrors most people’s views towards porn – it’s best viewed in the privacy of one’s home or hotel room, but don’t expect to see any art or classic eroticism.
How things have changed. In 1973, at the height of the sexual revolution (post-pill, pre-AIDS), the mainstream movie marquee in the center of Manhattan’s theater district virtually shouted out the name of its controversial feature: “Behind the Green Door,” starring Miss Ivory Snow herself, Marilyn Chambers. The theater was packed, mostly with couples. Believe it or not, the movie was considered a “date movie” by sophisticated New Yorkers. The experience is emblazoned in my memory, as much from the audience’s reaction as from what I saw on the screen. In one of the more famous scenes from that movie, the Marilyn Chambers character has sex on a stage before a masked audience, first with several women and then with an African American brought in to service her. At the precise moment the porn actor entered Ms. Chambers on the screen, the 30-ish woman sitting next to me exhaled audibly, as if she were the recipient of the actor’s favors, and moved her right hand over onto her boyfriend’s lap, where it remained for the rest of the movie. The eroticism was palpable.
Within a few years porn as mainstream entertainment disappeared, largely due to criminal obscenity charges levied against actors, directors, producers and theater owners. Society’s attitudes have changed over the years, but for some reason porn and explicit sex on screen haven’t found their way back to the mainstream, at least not in the minds of most people. But along the way, porn lost its eroticism, and it became a private pursuit.
Thanks for the comment and the reflective story. How fun to have lived in such a different time!
My reasons for not wanting to see Shortbus in a public theater has little to do with the movie and a lot to do with movie-goers.
I've seen a few movies with serious and uncomfortable scenes in movie theatres. Two come to mind right away: Brokeback Mountain and Cast Away.
The people in the theatre didn't know how to act and so, acted like children when it came to seeing (usually) private human behaviors.
Using these two experiences as an example, I can only imagine what sitting in a theater watching a movie like Shortbus would entail. In many Manhattan theaters, I'm willing to bet it wouldn't be much of an issue. Here in Seattle, I'm not so sure.
Kate
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