Film & Television

[Nique]

I'm not really sure what I want this thread to be about specifically, but I think a lot of us enjoy talking about tv and movies from a somewhat more critical perspective.

I'm re-watching some shows via Netflix. Right now I'm almost finished with Malcolm in the Middle. I think inverting the typical family sitcom from a lower-middle-class perspective became it's own trope as soon as The Simpsons hit the air but the structure of Malcolm in the Middle was pretty interesting and the show is another really good example of a single-camera/ no laugh-track sitcom. I think one of the show's strengths from seasons 1 through 5 were the parallel stories about Francis in nearly every episode. There was so little 'filler' within any given episode that every one felt like a 45 minute show rather than the 22 minutes used. It was showing signs of loosing steam once the fifth kid came along but there are still a lot of strong moments.

For example, in the season 7 opener the family visits Burning Man and everyone thinks that Hal is performing an art piece skewering the 'banality of suburban life' when he's just obsessing over the fake lawn he's set up around their RV. There was something very common about the punchline but the joke was so well executed that I couldn't help but admire it. And I was also laughing out loud.

Anyway, talk about some aspects of good film, or explore a specific show.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I've recentely acquired the works of Jane Arden and in particular want to talk about on the Other side of the Underneath which is a profoundly evocative film.
It is basically an exploration of radical feminism in the 1960s and has some of the most evocative imagery I've ever seen. What really sticks it home is the simplicity of the shots compared to the starkness of the image- a lot of films with explicit imagery tend to artisfy the shots which puts a filter on the impact and sanitises somewhat. In Underneath if anything the more normal shots are more fancified thus giving the "normal" world a shiny veneer which Arden is railing against. Further the placement of images is very careful, it appeals to the dialectian in me in that there is specifically a progression of thesis, antithesis- synthesis which is incredibly useful as a didactic tool in uncovering the meaning of the film. A lot of arty films are pretty obscure in their imagery but htis works to take it down.
The downside is that it is incredibly 60s centric- it is very much radicla feminism and anti-physciatry as one of the patriachal ways of oppression- thus losing a lot of meaning for viewers today. However, it's themes have not gone away, the film still resonantes with me today and films such as these are incredibly useful in converting the populace in a way that lists of statistics cannot.
Which is why I really want to talk about is the lack of militant type films these days. In the 60s and the 70s these was plenty of radical film makers working on feminist pieces, racist pieces, politics pieces btu I'm less aware of directors working on such expressly social films these days with most of the indie scene more interested in exploring the interests of their own minds and conciousness than the society around them. It is possibly that I'm just looking back with hindsigtha nd in the future we'll see Von Triers examination of the Taboo in the same light as say the New German cinema but it does seem to me we have lost an important part of our cinema culture- that of expressely political and social films. Such films are incredibly important and they seem to have evaporated in smoke.

[Nique]

I'm starting on Lost. I can kind of see it as a character study but I'm not convinced that aspect is really going to pay off and it's kinda low on content in terms of how quickly the story is progressing. I already feel like I'm wasting my time. Anybody care to confirm?

In the 60s and the 70s these was plenty of radical film makers working on feminist pieces, racist pieces, politics pieces btu I'm less aware of directors working on such expressly social films these days with most of the indie scene more interested in exploring the interests of their own minds and conciousness than the society around them.

I dunno about the indie scene but a lot of films are pretty much about being self-involved. Like, freakin' (500) Days of Summer or, like, Garden State.