Letters to the Editor
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I don't care
what her problem was. There is never really a good reason to chain someone to a radiator. It sounds like a lovely film but I don't think I'll be seeing it--ever.
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There's never a good reason...
... to hold up a bank. Guess I'll never see "Dog Day Afternoon". There's never a good reason to play Russian roulette; "The Deer Hunter" is right out. Organized crime? Really no excuse for that -- better take "The Godfather" off the Netflix. And so on, and so on.
Movies are STORIES, not blueprints for how to live life. "Black Snake Moan" sounds like a really interesting little flick, and I will certainly be seeing it. (I wasn't convinced until I read the interview with Craig Brewer here a Salon.)
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The poster is the selling point
As both a fan of comic books and a Deep South boy myself, I immediately looked at the poster and busted (as we say in Alabam) out laughing. It was such an obvious play on imagery with themes of racial explotation, sexuality and a little bit of fear where they both meet. The comic book aspects immediately gave me the sense it was a Southern fable (especially with the chained up heart in the corner, similar to images combining the flaming sacred heart and the crown of thorns of Jesus). I immediately determined that I *had* to see this movie. The reviews have done nothing more than bolster that first impression.
As far how much sense i have, that has yet to be determined.
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squalorholla
Al Pacino had a very good reason for robbing that bank in Dog Day Afternoon, if you'll remember, though it ended badly for him. Thanks for pointing out that movies are stories, in all caps no less. You're absolutely brilliant. Enjoy the film.
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Why a chain and radiator, though?
If the add campaign is a bait-and-switch, what the hell is the point? People who are mostly interested in the scantily clad chick chained to a radiator won't be receptive to the human story, people who might otherwise be receptive to the human story won't want to see the film because of the chick chained to the radiator. And maybe a few people will feel superior for being "in" on the joke. Bleh.
My question is, does the film take seriously the impact of this image on the viewers -- especially the gender and racial dynamics at play -- or does it treat it in a "nudge nudge wink wink, this is titillating but we aren't going to seriously confront the fact that it is titillating" sort of way?
That's what I meant on another thread when I asked if the film uses the image "responsibly." I didn't just mean in a political or sociological sense. I meant, artistically, does it take seriously the over the top nature of that image and the visceral responses it probably elicits in many people? Does it do anything with it that isn't just sort of ironic and quirky? Or does it ask us to "go there" with the image and then just leave us there with nothing to process about it that is at all meaningful? Is it a throw-away gimmick for an otherwise full story, or is it something that actually needed to be in there for the story to work?
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rebels
I'm from Memphis. We've been hearing about this picture for two years now. At the moment it seems like the entire skyline is blotted out by billboards advertising this picture. Glad to hear it's supposed to be good. I guess I'll go see it.
When is this movie set? Just wanted to say that even when I was in high school, twenty years ago, "rebels" were on the decline. I haven't seen a rebel flag and a rifle rack on the back of a truck for ten years. Not too many folks own a Confederate cavalry saber inherited from great-great whoever anymore. Camp counselors no longer teach the kids to sing "Dixie." Even the good ol' boys and the rednecks are too culturally aware for that. Plus, a solid majority of cops are black, which makes a rebel flag on a car a dumb idea.
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right back atcha
Al Pacino had a very good reason for robbing that bank in Dog Day Afternoon, if you'll remember, though it ended badly for him
It was a good reason for him, per his conscience and his judgment -- and that doesn't detract from the fact that bank robbery qua bank robbery is Bad and not a reasonable course of action, for Sonny or anybody. Presumably Sam Jackson's character has an equally good reason, per his conscience and his judgment, to chain Christina Ricci to a radiator. It's the same thing -- a character justifying behavior per his or her own experience -- regardless of whether you, carrie, happen to think "there's a reason" or not.
I'm sure that if you use your imagination real hard, you could think of a situation in which even you would chain someone to a radiator, too.
I'm hard-pressed to think of a single movie worth watching where at least one character doesn't do something that I think is pretty inexcusable. Nobody's going to force you to see "BSM", but "the characters do things I don't think are reasonable" is just about the most ludicrous reason I've ever heard for not seeing a film.
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Simplistic
movie and simplistic review. as a piece of exploitative pulp art i suppose Black Snake Moan works fine, but this review gives the movie far too much credit and insight.
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So Carrie Won't Be There...
We'll all enjoy it just a little more, maybe. Because really, this is as close as most people are ever gonna get to having been there, and it's a trip worth making. There's nothing simplistic about this movie, about the subject of the movie, and most certainly not about the poster, which is worth a treatise all on its own.
Nope, this really is, quite possibly, the first great movie of '07, and that bodes well for these bedevilled times we're in.
I kept waiting for John Fahey to pull up in a '55 Chevy and come knocking at the door looking for old blues records only to be brought to his knees by the revelation waiting inside. Then again, John was there, come to think of it.
Oh, and Carrie, if you've never had to chain somebody to a radiator then you definitely haven't been there. Don't go. It's icky.