Blame It On The Rain

Oh? Do I have a blog? I’ve been too busy watching movies to write about them. But I guess I can try this again. Here are some of my movie watching highlights from the past 2 months. 

“The Loveable Iron Giant”

“Point Me To My Blanket So I Can Go to Sleep Because This Movie Sucks”

“The Beef Jerky”

“Tony Blair Witch Project”

“Promising Actress”

“Secret of the Kells: Beautiful But Boring”

“A Town Called Panic Room With a View to Kill Bill Vol 2 Fast 2 Furious “

“Shadows of a Doubt”

“I Love the Movie Tangled”

“So Much That I Saw Tangled Twice”

“Die With a Hardon For Bruce Willis”

“Blacula”

Ok, so this is a post I wrote for a class at Gufts University. I’m an asshole for re-posting. But here it is again. With some links!

I think Daniel brings up some interesting points about Fight Club being placed within the culture industry. However, I think that Fight Club is completely aware of its position within the culture industry. Fight Club acknowledges that it is a movie made for an audience from the very first scene. The movie realizes that there is no escaping the uniformity and standardization of mass production. The film is extremely self aware in that it knows it is a film. The narrator speaks to us the audience, explaining the story. He starts out at one point in the narrative of the plot and then says, “no, wait, let me start earlier.” At another point the narrator addresses the audience directly stating, “let me tell you about Tyler Durden.” The “you” the narrator is calling to is “you” the audience, “you” who have paid to see this movie in one way or another, “you” who are listening and watching the narrator speak.

The film is also aware of itself not only in the narration, but also in the editing techniques. The images of Brad Pitt and the naked man that are momentarily interjected within the narrative of the film also lets us know that this is just a movie. The images that we are watching are only representations and they only make sense (or “make sense”) because they are pieced together with other images that when all placed together create a cohesive narrative structure (or “cohesive narrative structure”). However, these images that we might not have even be aware of seeing, remind us that this is a movie that is made up of singular images.

However, it must also be said that these singular images are part of the movie. They are part of the sequence of film. They are not just an insertion during reel changes as a goof by the projectionist that only members of the audience in that particular screening can see. These insertions are stamped on every copy of every copy of every copy of Fight Club. So, to separate these images of the cohesive narrative structure as I stated above is limiting the role of these images within the movie.

I don’t know if I would say that this film is anti-capitalist. I think that one of the things that this film shows us is that in this society there is no such thing as anit-capitalism. It is like in our discussion of the “meaning” of postmodernism. Postmodernism does not exist (insomuch that anything exists) because if postmodernism existed in the full definition of the word, then we would not exist because there would not be a “we.” I would not say this film is anti-capitalist because of the very nature of the film itself. The film was made with the intention of being mass produced and having posters and t-shirts and anything else that will fit the words “Fight Club” printed on it produced and sold to as many people as possible. Although this film clearly points out the dangers of falling into the traps of capitalism, this does not necessarily make it anti-capitalist. Brad Pitt hides behind the appearance of being part of a soap company that sells soap. Selling soap gives Pitt legitimacy and he uses this to his advantage. He knows there is no escape from capitalism so he works within it. If he or if anyone works outside of capitalism in this society, s/he would not exist. It is as Barbara Kruger states, as we discussed in an earlier class, “I shop therefore I am.”

Also saying this film is anti-capitalist, classifies the film into a modernist trap of figuring out the answer. So, I guess I would like to again adjust what I’ve previously written and add that not only is this film not anti-capitalist but it is also not not anti-capitalist.

Also, I don’t believe it is completely fair to say that Brad Pitt was cast because of his good looks and movie star presence!

What! A movie with black people!? Sometimes this happens. “Friday Foster” is a blaxploitation film starting my girlfriend Pam Grier. There are lots of other celebrities in this movie including: Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Jim Backus, and Scatman Crothers! When I say “celebrities,” I mean “people I recognize.”

This movie was adapted from a dumb comic of the same title about a lady named Friday Foster who is a fashion model/photographer. In this film, Pam Grier plays a news photographer. While sent out on an assignment she witnesses an assassination attempt on the nation’s wealthiest black man. She does some investigation on the situation and uncovers a plot to get rid of all the top black political leaders. After lots of car chases, gunfire, some explosions, and of course, nudity, Pam Grier saves the day. Wham! Bam! Thank you Pam!

Overall, this movie was just OK. There are some interesting things going on here though. This movie came out in 1974 which is kinda moving towards the end of the blaxploitation period. Not to say that there weren’t important movies of this genre in the second half of the 70s and beyond (like Dolemite, Black Shampoo, and Black Dynamite), but things definitely started winding down. There was somewhat of a shift away from the drug/pimp/hustler characters of the early 70s. Pam Grier is a “respectable” (whatever that means) working woman and prevents the nations top black leaders (whoever they are) from being taken down. 

The point is, blaxplotation movies got a lot of shit for not showing Positive Examples of Blackness and kinda rightfully (?) tried to make a shift. In “The African American Image in Film: Framing Blackness,” Ed Guerrero writes in reference to “Friday Foster”, “…Pam Grier’s overall image, hair, fashions, and language are softened as she shifts her persona in an attempt to extend her career beyond the rapidly approaching demise of the genre.” (Books you guys!)

I, like many other fans of blaxploitation films, have mixed feelings about the obligation (?) of black actors to only play certain roles in films. But turns out the drug/pimp/hustler characters are kinda more fun to watch!