A proud member of the reality-based community
This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, March 13, 2004 Personal rants for a change instead of political ones. Nick and I decided to go to the movies last night. I had a choice between watching Agent Cody Banks (another Spy-Kids-rehash) or the movie remake of Starsky and Hutch. I knew I wasn't going to like the latter, but I couldn't bring myself to sit through the former so I watched it. Yep, I didn't like it. It was a pathetic excuse of a slapstick parody of one of the better 70's cop shows. The writers made a thief out of Hutch (showed him stealing money from the wallet of a homicide victim), had the pair meet for the first time at the beginning of the movie when in series canon they had attended the police academy together, and couldn't even manage to spell their supervisor's name right (Dobey, folk, not Doby!). I know, how trivial. What's ironic is that the character whom I thought would be the least believable was the one who had been something of a stereotype to begin with in the series--the bar-owner-sometimes-informant Huggy Bear. Antonio Fargas played Huggy in the series--no doubt a white producer's idea of what a "soul brother" would be--but considerably improved by Fargas' cool amused attitude. Snoop Dogg was cast for that character in the movie, and to my surprise—though he played Huggy as a far more over-the-top, almost campy, black bar owner—it was a stereotype of a bar owner more than of an African-American man. He wasn't just cool, he was almost over the line into cold, much more like what a bar owner might actually have been in that time and in the most seedy part of town.Ben Stiller didn't actually do a bad job of portraying Starsky. He managed the same kind of loose-limbed frenetic restlessness and the same malleable face as Paul Michael Glazer, the original Starsky. But like the rest of the production, his Starsky was little more than a parody of Glazer's—his facial expressions wild where Glazer's had been little-boy-appealing, his physical presence nerve-wracking where Glazer had been only high-strung.Owen Wilson did what he could with what he had. Not good, not bad. What he had to work with was pretty wretched, and he at least didn't make it any worse.The movie naturally had to take note of something the series glossed over—the alleged relationship between the characters. Many reviewers have noted that the two of them lived practically in each other's pockets. Starsky never got into the back seat of a vehicle via the door; he always climbed over Hutch. They hugged unashamedly, comforted each other when relationships broke up, spent as many nights in each other's apartments as in their own. David Soul, who played Hutch, went so far as to say (years later), "If you can think that way--if you want to think it's a homosexual relationship, if you think that's what it is--then that's what it is." Whether one thinks that way or not, what was depicted was at least a close friendship, the kind of bond one expects to find between people in high-stress occupations. Partners, buddies, brothers, etc. The movie made a caricature of that relationship with cheap shot images of the two of them in skimpy towels in the squad's shower room, and an imaginary dream-image scene that showed them wearing identical sweatshirts with "Starsky and Hutch" embroidered in rainbow colors.But to mitigate at least a little the waste of seven bucks, the fact that this was an obvious intentional caricature started me thinking. Hollywood made a movie version of Wild Wild West that had the same kinds of faults, and one of Charlie's Angels that I didn't see, but have heard described with the same disgust and disbelief by people who enjoyed watching the original series. You have to begin wondering after a while whether this is one generation's way of spoofing what their parents held dear, a way of saying, "Can you believe they really watched THAT?"Well, yeah, kiddies, we really did, and you did a lousy job of recreating it. If you want to poke fun at other people's entertainment, you might want to consider the possibility that some day your kids are going to watch Buffy, and Friends, and Sex in the City, and roll on the floor laughing at you.The one good feature of the movie was the very brief cameo appearance of David Soul and Paul Michael Glazer in the last few seconds. I could have gotten recent pictures of them off the net, though, and not had to sit through seven bucks and 90 minutes worth of juvenile silliness.Sorry, rant mode off now. posted by Liz @ 10:12 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Personal rants for a change instead of political ones. Nick and I decided to go to the movies last night. I had a choice between watching Agent Cody Banks (another Spy-Kids-rehash) or the movie remake of Starsky and Hutch. I knew I wasn't going to like the latter, but I couldn't bring myself to sit through the former so I watched it. Yep, I didn't like it. It was a pathetic excuse of a slapstick parody of one of the better 70's cop shows. The writers made a thief out of Hutch (showed him stealing money from the wallet of a homicide victim), had the pair meet for the first time at the beginning of the movie when in series canon they had attended the police academy together, and couldn't even manage to spell their supervisor's name right (Dobey, folk, not Doby!). I know, how trivial. What's ironic is that the character whom I thought would be the least believable was the one who had been something of a stereotype to begin with in the series--the bar-owner-sometimes-informant Huggy Bear. Antonio Fargas played Huggy in the series--no doubt a white producer's idea of what a "soul brother" would be--but considerably improved by Fargas' cool amused attitude. Snoop Dogg was cast for that character in the movie, and to my surprise—though he played Huggy as a far more over-the-top, almost campy, black bar owner—it was a stereotype of a bar owner more than of an African-American man. He wasn't just cool, he was almost over the line into cold, much more like what a bar owner might actually have been in that time and in the most seedy part of town.Ben Stiller didn't actually do a bad job of portraying Starsky. He managed the same kind of loose-limbed frenetic restlessness and the same malleable face as Paul Michael Glazer, the original Starsky. But like the rest of the production, his Starsky was little more than a parody of Glazer's—his facial expressions wild where Glazer's had been little-boy-appealing, his physical presence nerve-wracking where Glazer had been only high-strung.Owen Wilson did what he could with what he had. Not good, not bad. What he had to work with was pretty wretched, and he at least didn't make it any worse.The movie naturally had to take note of something the series glossed over—the alleged relationship between the characters. Many reviewers have noted that the two of them lived practically in each other's pockets. Starsky never got into the back seat of a vehicle via the door; he always climbed over Hutch. They hugged unashamedly, comforted each other when relationships broke up, spent as many nights in each other's apartments as in their own. David Soul, who played Hutch, went so far as to say (years later), "If you can think that way--if you want to think it's a homosexual relationship, if you think that's what it is--then that's what it is." Whether one thinks that way or not, what was depicted was at least a close friendship, the kind of bond one expects to find between people in high-stress occupations. Partners, buddies, brothers, etc. The movie made a caricature of that relationship with cheap shot images of the two of them in skimpy towels in the squad's shower room, and an imaginary dream-image scene that showed them wearing identical sweatshirts with "Starsky and Hutch" embroidered in rainbow colors.But to mitigate at least a little the waste of seven bucks, the fact that this was an obvious intentional caricature started me thinking. Hollywood made a movie version of Wild Wild West that had the same kinds of faults, and one of Charlie's Angels that I didn't see, but have heard described with the same disgust and disbelief by people who enjoyed watching the original series. You have to begin wondering after a while whether this is one generation's way of spoofing what their parents held dear, a way of saying, "Can you believe they really watched THAT?"Well, yeah, kiddies, we really did, and you did a lousy job of recreating it. If you want to poke fun at other people's entertainment, you might want to consider the possibility that some day your kids are going to watch Buffy, and Friends, and Sex in the City, and roll on the floor laughing at you.The one good feature of the movie was the very brief cameo appearance of David Soul and Paul Michael Glazer in the last few seconds. I could have gotten recent pictures of them off the net, though, and not had to sit through seven bucks and 90 minutes worth of juvenile silliness.Sorry, rant mode off now.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
Powered by BLOGGER Template made possible by BLOGSKINS.
