for 28 October 1999. Updated every WEEKDAY.
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Shamesploitation You'll recall from Slaughterhouse-Five that the aliens didn't really believe in death. Being able to see in all dimensions, they could look at a dead body and say that while he looked pretty bad here, if you just looked there, he was having a fine time. Did Vonnegut believe that? Of course not. He was recognizing that there is no workable response to mortality. What can you say about the murder of thousands? Of millions? What can you say about a single death? "So it goes." So, does Mendez believe his happy epilog? Of course not. Nor are you expected to believe it, any more than you are expected to believe in time-traveling aliens. You are expected to believe in the firebombing of Dresden and in an unexamined life meaninglessly ended. The coda is just another cheery kick in the teeth. Which isn't to say your basic point isn't valid. Anyone who watches a movie like American Beauty to feel superior to its characters — and I sat in a theater with lots of people just like that — has missed the point. It's not a movie about "someone else." "It is what you were born for. / It is Margaret you mourn for." Nice article. Thanks. Alan S. Kornheiser <ASKornheiser@prodigy.net> Your letter brings up an interesting point about American Beauty: To what extent are we supposed to see the Spacey character's life as "unexamined"? Spacey's after-death narration puts an unavoidable spin on his actions throughout. First-person narration is often muddling in films, even more so when the film presents so much information the narrator couldn't have been in on. I guess his point of view from The Beyond somehow mitigates that, or those parts of the movie are separate from his parts just because you can do that now — the pressure's off to make a film that hangs together. In any case, I didn't buy it. Spacey was likable even as a schmuck and his victories were well deserved if pathetic. Benning's reaction to his qutting his job, for instance, didn't work as noncommunication in a scene about noncommunication. She wasn't any more out of line than the scene was. The main point of American Beauty doesn't seem to me to be the senselessness of American life; it seems to be its emptiness. When you compare it to Slaughterhouse-Five (the novel, not the movie), I think you're placing slightly more weight on it than it can bear. I do agree there is something novelistic about shamesploitation that suggests comparisons to books instead of to other movies. They are literary, skeletal. In shamesploitation, the directors rarely allow emotion to build, only suspense, and they fill us in on the rest with narration and dialog. To create emotion in a movie demands that the director actually care about his characters, and I don't think these directors do. That's why the performances often don't jibe with the films. I think the actors do care about the parts they play. To make their points, the directors of shamesploitation have to disfigure their actors with freeze-frames and bee stings. When compared to a Douglas Sirk melodrama — American Beauty begs the comparison — I don't think it can hold a candle to the directorial control, level of insight, and meaningful (sometimes false, sometimes happy, sometimes false happy) endings of movies like his. Slotcar Hatebath  Did you go to an Ivy League university? Should I feel bad that I haven't? Sincerely, Kevin Spacey <erik.schwartz@oberlin.edu> Dear Kevin-Erik, As it happens, I didn't go to an Ivy League school. And fear not, K-E: I don't have to tell you that Oberlin doesn't share any of those snooty Ivy attitudes, does it now? Thanks for writing! Slotcar Hatebath Hello, I was intrigued by your recent Suck article. I even learned a new word — odious, defined by Webster's as "exciting in that naughty kind of way." Having grown up under a communist regime, my views often conflict with those around me, probably because I don't spend all my free time chuckling along with laugh tracks on those pathetic sitcoms. There is much that sickens me about the state of this society, but it is movies like American Beauty that offer a glimmer of hope. Sure, it might be shamesploitation, but perhaps that's what's necessary for people to take their heads out of their asses. One thing I'm not clear about: Did you like the movie? Thomas Kapler <thomask@semiconductor.com> Tom, Despite your daffynition, you bring up an interesting question: Are new American movies capable of offering hope? I guess I don't think American Beauty offers any. I certainly don't think it's the strong medicine you seem to think it is. But I will grant you this: Even though it has a lot in common with them, it is better than the sitcoms you deride. Shamesplotation may someday produce a masterpiece. If genres like the service comedy and the soft-core horror movie can, why not? On the other hand, the talking-mule movie has never really delivered on its promise. Anyway, thanks for writing. Slotcar Hatebath Filler Subject: Another Popover Dear Polly, Thank you for the knowing references to frogs in children's media. While I enjoy references to other aspects of pop culture, like popular hair styles and failed online magazines, references to the frogs of children's books, songs, and stories are, to me, a particular pleasure. Ah, sweet reminiscence! Where can I get a Frog and Toad poster? Where is my dog-eared copy of Frog and Toad are Friends? What did The Dream really mean? And those delicious popovers. What happened to that record I had of Kermit the Frog retelling The Frog Prince? Is it still in print? I remember the first meeting of Robin the Brave and the fair princess. She dropped her ball down a well, and brave Robin announced he would retrieve it. He dove into the well, lingering there longer than was comfortable for me. Kermit's play-by-play narration only added to the suspense: "He didn't come up! He didn't come up! And finally ... he came up!" My copy had a skip at that point, though, so Kermit kept repeating "He didn't come up! He didn't come up! He didn't come up!" over and over again. I would wait breathlessly for Robin's reemergence, shaking with anxiety, until my older brother took pity on me and advanced the needle. To this day I still cannot bring myself to overcome my fear and retrieve golden balls thrown by princesses into deep wells without a stiff drink. But I do love popovers, and never resist an invitation to have another. For your next knowing reference to frogs in children's media, may I suggest you invoke the prophetic, eponymous frog of Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child? As the frog says, "A dog shall rise, a rat shall fall." Bake the hall in the candle of my brain, G. Gooding <knucks98@hotmail.com> It warms my heart to know that someone out there understood the "Have another popover, froggy" reference. When I want someone to keep quiet, I find it's the first thing that comes to my lips. But alas, no one knows what I'm talking about. It's a lonely life. A dog shall rise, a rat shall fall. Too true, too true. Polly As a recent college dropout, I was shocked and appalled by how unrealistic your article was. There's no way someone fresh out of college can afford an apartment, let alone in the city. If they could, they would last several years in more modest circumstances without having to work at all. Do you remember back when online publishing was called "uploading t-philez"? What I mean is, you're basically on social assistance already. If you accept that university is an enormous, state-funded summer camp and dating service for the middle class, then it's less than surprising that the vast majority of white-collar jobs are state-funded, "welfare plus!" programs. I can't imagine why anyone would get so many favors from the government unless they were dangerous somehow. So what would an "I'm bored mom, entertain me!"-type temper tantrum look like on a vast scale? It would probably look like the 1960s. And no good came of that, except the discovery that middle-class kids need concessions too. And No. 1 on their list of demands is freedom from work. So in the current political climate there is no need to work. You may need to dress up and whine in the right direction to upgrade your handout level, but no matter what, the state will provide enough for you to live above the eyesore level. Demmy Rooster <root@treehouse.dyndns.org> What country are you talking aboot? Hit & Run Sucksters, "(She is, in fact, wearing underpants, boys.)" You used my favorite word in a column! Underpants! Not that I haven't been a Suck fan for months, but this really seals the deal. Underpants! Underpants! Underpants! Not wearing any underpants, Alexandra Sarkozy <asarkozy@ hotmail.com> Hey! We're not wearing underpants either! the Sucksters Subject: Platinum in cars? Whoever, Sulpher, not platinum, is the stuff in catalytic converters that smells like rotten eggs. It's also associated with brimstone in certain contexts you might be familiar with. Go Mavs! Rahm McDaniel <sliderule2000@hotmail.com> Um. Oh! OK. Go suck an egg! the Sucksters Look, there's nothing new about student staffs (and small-brained administrators) kowtowing (is that offensive?) to the demands of noisy but misguided people. As a student editor at a similar newspaper, I nearly lost my position because I ran Matt Groening's Life in Hell cartoons. There was this series, School is Hell, and in one panel, the teacher, having previously been identified repeatedly (about 10 times per strip) as a complete idiot/jerk/loser/ fool/demon, used the word nigger. Well, Groening's office said the strip had run in about 110 papers a year prior (we were backward, but trying to catch up) without a single complaint ... until then. The paper, of course, went out of its way to kiss ass — we're talking full pages of letters-to-the-editor, meetings, and racial sensitivity training (retraining?). There was a lot of support from the literate members of the university community who understood that the strip was condemning racism, not condoning it. Maybe those two words just look too much alike. I dunno. But I don't get the whole idea of trashing someone who's just published a commentary condemning racism just because some readers didn't do the processing necessary to comprehend it. And anyone who had even a vague idea of what Groening was doing at the time (this was pre-Simpsons) would have seen that the man produced anti-idiot, antibigot, antiracist cartoons that also happened to be a hell of a good read. I mean, if you buy into some sort of "turn potential allies into enemies unless we kill them first" ethic, sure, trash the messenger and walk away bloodied but triumphant. But there was no support from administration, paper pushers, bench warmers, or other student editors. OK, so that's my story. I can't think of anything witty to say. It just pisses me off thinking about it, and that was 15 years ago. The bozos who caused all the shit to go down and the losers who crumpled under the combined pressure are either still there or writing sports for one of Cleveland's suburban dailies. I hope they stay put until the end of time. Problem is, they've spent the past 15 years squishing the ideals and daring of several generations of students ... exactly like the teachers in the School is Hell series. Sort of ironic. So, um, have a nice day. Jim Youll <jim@agentzero.com> The only problem with the Rutgers story is that the controversial piece in question was not really such a good read. There's nothing worse than being forced to defend something that really doesn't deserve it. the Sucksters Hey, Do you read your own links? In the Rutgers story, you have a link that says (quite clearly) the offending comic strip was suspended for two days and was then returned to the pages of the paper. Also, the only person whose pay was docked was the editor in chief. Best, Gen Both facts were duly noted in Hit & Run (and to date, the actual distribution of pay dockings has not to our knowledge been settled). Even if we had gotten these things wrong, the fact remains that the spineless editors of our alma mater's daily paper would sooner cave than defend their own editorial judgments. the Sucksters Liked it. The affair reminds me of the situation around Ms. Britney Spears' prelegal sexuality. Makes one wonder: Are either of these young women being exploited, as the Christian Coalition claims, or are they the ones doing the exploiting? Both Ms. Melissa Joan Hart and Ms. Britney Spears show signs of blossoming marketing analysts with a savvy for what sells and to whom, never mind the fact that their blossoming is legally untouchable, and must, under law, be concealed. Thanx, Tim <s0crates@gateway.net> These teen girls exploit themselves, on screen, for our pleasure? Yes, yes! We are very grateful to them for this. Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow. Except that Hart is actually 23, a bit long in the tooth for our rarefied tastes. Grrrr, the Sucksters |
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