| Signing in the Rain |
| Whether it's Saturday Night Live's |
| hackneyed but amusing-in-spite-of- |
| itself swimsuit issue songbook or |
| the forthcoming Woody Allen movie, |
| whether it's the new-found hipness |
| of "La Boheme in the East Village" |
| as seen in Rent or the subtle |
| creep of movie soundtracks into the |
| space of narrative, it is clear that |
| a C-change is afoot: we've seen the |
| future and it carries a tune. |
| |
|  |
| |
| The perpetually unamused may at first |
| peg this rising intonation as simply |
| another way to crank up the cynicism |
| dial, the logical next step in a |
| youth culture that has made "ironic |
| appreciation" an excuse to indulge |
| itself in everything from Beverly |
| Hills 90210 to Mentos ads. To be |
| sure, the success of nostalgia |
| orgies like School House Rock Live! |
| suggests that the coming New |
| Musicality will gain some support |
| from the same set of |
| twentysomethings who flocked to |
| pledge allegiance to the Cocktail |
| Nation. But there are the souls who |
| look at a songbook and see only |
| notes and then there the ones who |
| look at it and know the score. |
| |
| The reason CopRock seems so absurd, |
| and why musicals stand out at all - |
| in spite of their varied subject |
| matter - is their radical |
| conventionality. While their threat |
| to the Iliad is questionable, |
| spectacles like The Muppet Movie and |
| Beauty and the Beast are childish |
| reminders of the influence of |
| schoolyard chorus in the more |
| musical staged arts - an outpouring |
| of emotion so strong it must be |
| expressed in rhyme. And if Western |
| sociality deems singing cash |
| register attendants at Carls Jr. |
| inappropriate, if life insurance |
| salespeople choose to cautiously |
| explain rather than launch into a |
| heel-clicking tap frenzy, who can |
| complain? |
| |
| As authors of the social, most of us |
| know better than to condone |
| aggressive acts of baritone |
| terrorism. The cast of Cats goes |
| through hours of make-up each night |
| not just in support of the premise, |
| but to cleverly build cognitive |
| consonance to the unspoken notion |
| that the audience is at the zoo, |
| seeing what would normally be |
| inappropriate, if not undesired. |
| Cats and Urban Outfitted hipsters |
| talking on stage, much less singing, |
| is strange enough to superficially |
| suggest an unexpected pushing of the |
| envelope, if only by an octave. |
| |
|  |
| |
| Even in dealing with shoot 'em ups |
| and sexcapes, most people expect |
| movies to play within fairly rigid |
| parameters of what "would really |
| happen" should some terrorist freak |
| hijack a building, or should Drew |
| Barrymore seduce her dad. Filmmaker |
| Hal Hartley's burgeoning following |
| attests to the willingness of at |
| least some audiences to reject a |
| modicum of realism in favor of, if |
| nothing else, a good laugh. Hartley |
| deadpans his way through the mild |
| insanity of everyday existence by |
| letting his characters loose only a |
| little bit. Normal people with |
| normal jobs in normal towns, they |
| just go a little nuts every once in |
| awhile - throwing aside the person |
| ahead of them in line, stealing a |
| six-pack. Hartley's response to the |
| criticism that "people just don't |
| talk (or act) that way" is "But |
| that's not the point." |
| |
| To some extent, the accolades heaped |
| upon these auteurs and amateurs |
| alike are justified. Great |
| entertainment has resulted from |
| their attempts to unhinge the |
| delicate balance of realism and |
| fantasy upon which popular culture |
| rests, but for every Altmanesque |
| foray into suburban nonsense, there |
| is an equal and opposite reaction of |
| Leaving Las Vegas bleakness. After |
| awhile, the tension between |
| surrealist whimsy and graphic |
| authenticity escalates into a kind |
| of aesthetic warfare in which the |
| real losers are the neutral |
| observers. The impulses of realism |
| and fantasy become hopelessly, |
| hyperbolically fused - and all we're |
| left with are Abel Ferrara films, |
| confusion masquerading as |
| complexity, grostequerie posing as |
| genuineness. Not only is this bad |
| art, it can be a miserable way to |
| spend an afternoon. |
| |
|  |
| |
| It's one thing to point out the |
| absurdity of our everyday |
| assumptions by introducing a large |
| gun into the frame, a la Tarantino. |
| It's quite another to have people |
| burst into song. Because no matter |
| how many fast food references you |
| make, if the meat of the matter is |
| still murder, something will trip in |
| our brains, and eventually it's just |
| not funny anymore. Besides, using |
| violence as a tool to introduce the |
| shock of the unreal loses its |
| potency as the recognition of real |
| violence around us increases. |
| |
| In contrast, the novelty of a chorus |
| line is evergreen. The feedback loop |
| of simulated violence and real |
| violence that seems so troubling to |
| some isn't so much of a concern when |
| it comes to whacking "G"s of an |
| entirely harmonic nature. |
| |
|
words by Ann O'Tate
pictures by Terry Colon
|
