Letters to the Editor
tomreedtoon
Published Letters: 757 Editor's Choice: 80
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Perahps the most American of myths.
[Read the article: "Superman Returns"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, Superman has become an eternal myth. And although some have always claimed him for the world, he's really an American myth, the best kind. Two Jewish immigrant boys, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, created him out of their imaginations. Sparked by many other fictional heroes they read, true, but out of their own experience as strangers in a strange land.
To make the American myth even greater, Siegel and Schuster got little credit for their work for most of their life. They sold the rights to Superman outright. Only in their old age, with Schuster nearly blind and Siegel reduced to being a civil servant typist, did they succeed in reclaiming part of him. It was a civil uprising among fans of the comics who found out about the injustice - the voice of the people demanding that those in power redress a great wrong.
Ever since that first movie, made just after they reached a legal settlement with Warner Brothers, the best moment for me in any Superman project is seeing the visual part of their legal settlement - the words, "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster." No matter how good or bad the film is, seeing those words is confirmation that sometimes, just sometimes, the good guys win in reality.
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Explanation for A Dedicated Reader (a.k.a. No Name Given)
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all, why hide your name? Afraid of reprisals? Well, you're afraid of an apocalypse, over which you have no control, so it's only rational that you might be afraid of being spammed or mocked.
Second, it isn't indifference you're sensing in the media; much of it is resignation. Israel and Lebanon want to make war, they've been preparing for it a long time, they want to kill each other's children. It's the Super Bowl for them. It would take wisdom far greater than that posessed by anybody in the Western world to cool them down. And there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe, if your feelings are upset about the matter, you might find a Jew or a Lebanese (your choice) and punch them out, but that's not going to change the situation.
Third, what isn't indifference is a real desire for the Apocalypse. It's that desire of the "true Christians" to see the rest of us become eternally roasting chunks of meat in Satan's barbecue that drives them. "I told you so" is an essential component of most religions, and quite a few conservatives are licking their chops.
Fourth, the indifference of Havrilesky is a basic function of her contempt for all of us out here in the darkness. She's the intellectual goddess and we're not. It almost makes me wish that the Apocalypse of the "true Christians" really was about to happen, just to see her face finally show an expression besides contempt.
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About "Damned Smart" and damning words...
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Again, another anonymous person! God, how many people are wearing tinfoil hats out there? Or, more precisely, how many people don't want to be called on their pretensions by their own name?
To put it simply, television is not intrinsically stupid, and neither are the people who watch it. There is a lot of stupidity in it, but Sturgeon's Law applies to Off-Broadway theatre, university classes and those gay/lesbian/tattoo/culture "free" newspapers in cities.
A good critic is supposed to encourage the best and mourn the worst of whatever medium is being critiqued, and to teach people how to tell the difference for themselves. We keep writing negative letters about Ms. Havrilesky in hopes that she will someday grow into being a good critic, or that she'll be replaced by one. The latter would be nice.
And we didn't point out the spelling and usage errors, not because we are STOOPID, but because those errors are endemic to just about every person educated by American teachers in American schools over the last forty years. Hell, about two thirds of high school graduates can't read - spelling errors are minor in these days of Internet blogs. We feel it's more important to correct the more critical problems - like Ms. H calling us readers "morans" - and then work to correct her spelling to "morons."
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Is it real cheese, or is it Wal-Mart cheese?
[Read the article: Hissy fit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The time of junk cinema - of Roger Corman movies and little indy drive-in affairs - is long past. The megacorps that make most of today's commercial movies have squeezed out all the humanity and surprises out of their products.
Which is why Snakes on a Plane sounds so fascinating. It sounds like something made on a budget that wouldn't pay for a Toyota Camry, tarted up and shoved into the theatres. That hasn't been done in decades. They do have cheaply and quickly made features, but they, too, are run through a corporate gauntlet - only they use junior MBA's instead of the senior ones to remove the humanity from them. And they go directly to video, not through theatrical exhibition.
If the film is truly junk, with rough edges and on-set improvisation and awkwardly patched plot holes, it will be memorable and will do well. What I'm afraid is that, having gained this much attention, some suits won't be able to resist castrating the film - adding CGI, a couple of silicone-filled but never-naked actresses (can't risk an R rating!) and pop culture jokes.
Go back and look at some of Roger Corman's films. Within their own universe, they took themselves seriously. As a result, films like Masque of the Red Death and Tomb of Ligeia are still compelling. They weren't mocking anyone or anything else. Even when they did, in The Raven and Comedy of Terrors the mockery was of the characters in the film, not of other films. Most Hollywood films, even the direct-to-video ones, are trying to stand tall by stepping on the necks of their predecessors. If Snakes on a Plane stands on its own, even if it's in a garbage dump, it will stand far more proudly.