Super-FUN!
8/23/07
I heard someone refer to Superbad as the movie American Pie wanted to be. That is a pretty accurate description for this male-driven teen "get sex and booze" movie. The premise revolves around Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera), two best friends who have one last party to attend before splitting up and leaving for college. Their goal: have sex with the girl's they've been crushing on since kindergarten and to get alcohol for them. The result: two hours of (hilariously) awkward interactions. Awkwardness was what writers Seth Rogan (Knocked Up) and Evan Goldberg was going for. The zany and bizarre situations generally cause laugh out loud reactions from the audience.
What is interesting about this movie, however, is that despite it's seeming premise that these two guys are on the prowl for women and having the ultimate connection with them, they are really searching for a way back to each other. Seth and Evan (characters, not writers) have been best friends for life and when Evan heads over to Dartmouth for college, it will be the first time he and Seth have something they can't share. Ultimately, the climactic love scene is between the two boys as they are about to fall asleep in Evan's blanket. They express their love for one another, not for the women they just spent 12 hours trying to impress. In that sense, this is an ultimate buddy flick rather than a teenage sex romp. Ultimately, it seems as though sex isn't all that interesting to these kids. When given the chance, none of them could really deliver, for whatever reason. Girls are the cause of anxiety - not to mention the actual sex. Aside for the threat of STDs, remember Rogan's last movie when he had sex. He was stuck with a girl who didn't really like him and child he never wanted. Sex is a scary thing for people living in the 21st century. Most people having it are having it with multiple partners and are doing it before being in a committed relationship where trust is involved. All of that anxiety seemed to seep out of the characters and onto the screen, thus making the boy on boy emotional explosion, even if awkward, a lot safer.
Superbad also features Bill Hader and Seth Rogan as Officer Slater and Officer Michaels, rebellious cops who are missing their own teenage years, so rather than busting one of Seth's friends for using a fake ID to get the coveted liqueur, they embrace him, taking him on an adventure of their own. The use presence of cops as the authority figures in this movie is quite interesting because usually in High School-based movies the school's administrators are called upon to look like fools. Superbad take that to the next level by depicting actual police officers as the fools, rendering Principals and the like obsolete. Why this decision was made is unknown, but it seems to be saying that as a society our high schoolers have left the realm of school pranks, and have ventured into actual law-breaking. This is a throwback to the days of James Dean and the Juvenile Delinquents of the 1950s. In those days school figures were absent and it was the incompetent legal authorities who were made to be fools. (Remember Office Krupkee, or even Officer Obie?) Officers Slater and Michaels are made to look like fools, but an important difference is that they themselves were rebellious teenagers and tried to work within the law, but even as adults they continue to be rebellious, they weren't able to reform. Our legal system cannot work if the people inside of it aren't dedicated. At least from the decades gone by while the cops were morons, they were dedicated to upholding the law, that is not the case with Superbad.
The dialogue isn't all that impressive, tending to rely on raunchy and crude language rather than clever lines, but that's okay, it's funny nonetheless. This movie isn't looking to win any awards or to go down in history as a film that made a difference in society, rather as a 2 hour return to the horrible teenage years that when you look back at how awkward it was, all you can do is laugh.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Chuck
more like up-Chuck
8/23/04
This Fall NBC has yet another chance to try and reclaim the coveted number one network spot, but from the look of this pilot, it's going to have to try even harder. I know it's not always fair to judge a book by it's cover or a series by it's pilot, but the premise of Chuck is just so flimsy that I can't see it sustaining a whole season, let alone an entire series.
Chuck is about a self proclaimed computer nerd (Zachary Levi) who enjoys his simple life working at "BUY MORE," as a techie helping people with all sorts of gadget-related issues. He doesn't have too much in the way of professional aspirations, he's awkward with women, and has so much social anxiety he tries to escape his own birthday party before being dragged back into the house by his sister. On the night of his party an old college buddy sends him an email containing all of the CIA's secrets encoded in millions of pictures. Unknowingly, Chuck opens the email and unbeknownst to him, the secrets are instantly downloaded into his brain, making him Enemy #1.
It seems as though NBC is trying to strike gold with these types of shows - all of this fall's pilots seem to revolve around an innocent, sweet, protagonist who has some sort of special circumstances forced on him or her, without any say in the matter. This pilot has the flimsiest of plots. I can accept a man randomly traveling through time or a woman who suddenly has super powers because of bionic limbs before I am willing to suspend disbelief that by looking at some pictures one person can posses all of our nations secrets. I just don't buy it. There's a lot more going on that's too hard to believe, first of all, why would a Stamford engineering student choose to still be making 11 dollars an hour seven years after graduating!? That might seem like a simple idea, but if he had enough going for him that he would get into such a promising program, why would he be so satisfied doing a job that millions of high school kids could do?
After the episode was over I was so thankful I could move onto something else. Levi is endeering enough to keep me interested in him, but it's too bad the rest of show is so week that other than this one episode, I probably won't be watching much of the season.
8/23/04
This Fall NBC has yet another chance to try and reclaim the coveted number one network spot, but from the look of this pilot, it's going to have to try even harder. I know it's not always fair to judge a book by it's cover or a series by it's pilot, but the premise of Chuck is just so flimsy that I can't see it sustaining a whole season, let alone an entire series.
Chuck is about a self proclaimed computer nerd (Zachary Levi) who enjoys his simple life working at "BUY MORE," as a techie helping people with all sorts of gadget-related issues. He doesn't have too much in the way of professional aspirations, he's awkward with women, and has so much social anxiety he tries to escape his own birthday party before being dragged back into the house by his sister. On the night of his party an old college buddy sends him an email containing all of the CIA's secrets encoded in millions of pictures. Unknowingly, Chuck opens the email and unbeknownst to him, the secrets are instantly downloaded into his brain, making him Enemy #1.
It seems as though NBC is trying to strike gold with these types of shows - all of this fall's pilots seem to revolve around an innocent, sweet, protagonist who has some sort of special circumstances forced on him or her, without any say in the matter. This pilot has the flimsiest of plots. I can accept a man randomly traveling through time or a woman who suddenly has super powers because of bionic limbs before I am willing to suspend disbelief that by looking at some pictures one person can posses all of our nations secrets. I just don't buy it. There's a lot more going on that's too hard to believe, first of all, why would a Stamford engineering student choose to still be making 11 dollars an hour seven years after graduating!? That might seem like a simple idea, but if he had enough going for him that he would get into such a promising program, why would he be so satisfied doing a job that millions of high school kids could do?
After the episode was over I was so thankful I could move onto something else. Levi is endeering enough to keep me interested in him, but it's too bad the rest of show is so week that other than this one episode, I probably won't be watching much of the season.
Monday, August 20, 2007
The Bionic Woman
Girls rule...but only if THE MAN lets them...
8/20/07
The Bionic Woman is one of NBC's newest, and probably most buzzworthy, Fall TV shows. The question is, as it is every September, will the show live up to the hype or will it fall by the wayside with Studio 60 and the countless others of fall hopefuls who just can't quite seem to capture the audience's attention for a whole hour once a week. I like to take a look at the cultural implications of a show and what the true meaning is behind the series. This year's Bionic Woman, starring Brit, Michelle Ryan, has a female lead and is being touted as a show that will teach women, and young girls, that a woman can be strong and powerful (and still have picture perfect cleavage, a cute boyfriend, and awesome hair). But with a closer look, does that ideal hold true?
Television and Film has long attempted the portrayal of a strong female lead, but this newest try falls a bit flat, and frankly a bit insulting. Jamie, is a strong, loyal and quite smart woman, who, after a near fatal car crash has most of her limbs, and a number or organs, replaced by bionic parts. When she waked up from her surgery her boyfriend, Will (Chris Bowers), tells her what has happened. Her reaction is that of someone who is both freaked out and unusually strong (her super-strength is revealed when she almost effortlessly throws will into a glass door). As the pilot develops more details about the people who did this to her begin to surface and the more Jamie resists being controlled.
This show strongly positions itself as a girl-power, boys drool type of show. After all, the protagonist is a young woman willing to do anything or "bury anyone" who dares to cross her.
As Jamie escapes her captors by running down a long country road, a young, wistful young girl sees her and tries to point Jamie out to her mother. Rather than supporting her daughter the woman reprimands her for making up stories. In response to her mother's admonishment she says, "I just thought it was cool for a girl to do that."
Despite all these good wishes for female empowerment, the feeling I was left with was the opposite. Jamie, first of all, doesn't necessarily want her new fate. It was forced upon her by her boyfriend and the other men who come into her life. Furthermore, her new found strength makes her invincible to everyone except one other person - the first bionic woman. So, even though men aren't competition for her, she still has to fight to the death against another woman. This is almost to say that society cannot function with a plethora of strong female leads, one is enough.
On that note, what does this show say about society's role in creating these female leads? Yeah, so society has created her to be strong, but when she resists their specific training she becomes the enemy. One of the scientists, Jonas (Miguel Ferrer) tells her that her options are, "Heads you loose, tails you die." In other words, this is a loose loose situation for our heroine. Either she accepts her new societal role or she is killed trying to avoid it. I guess a woman can only be so strong if she fits into the confines of a strict behavioral code. So much for girl power. Yes, these "improvements" may have saved her life in one regard, but have sincerely destroyed it in another. For a show that thinks quite highly of itself as a message of female empowerment, it does the exact opposite.
The Bionic Woman premieres on NBC, Wednesday September 26th
8/20/07
The Bionic Woman is one of NBC's newest, and probably most buzzworthy, Fall TV shows. The question is, as it is every September, will the show live up to the hype or will it fall by the wayside with Studio 60 and the countless others of fall hopefuls who just can't quite seem to capture the audience's attention for a whole hour once a week. I like to take a look at the cultural implications of a show and what the true meaning is behind the series. This year's Bionic Woman, starring Brit, Michelle Ryan, has a female lead and is being touted as a show that will teach women, and young girls, that a woman can be strong and powerful (and still have picture perfect cleavage, a cute boyfriend, and awesome hair). But with a closer look, does that ideal hold true?
Television and Film has long attempted the portrayal of a strong female lead, but this newest try falls a bit flat, and frankly a bit insulting. Jamie, is a strong, loyal and quite smart woman, who, after a near fatal car crash has most of her limbs, and a number or organs, replaced by bionic parts. When she waked up from her surgery her boyfriend, Will (Chris Bowers), tells her what has happened. Her reaction is that of someone who is both freaked out and unusually strong (her super-strength is revealed when she almost effortlessly throws will into a glass door). As the pilot develops more details about the people who did this to her begin to surface and the more Jamie resists being controlled.
This show strongly positions itself as a girl-power, boys drool type of show. After all, the protagonist is a young woman willing to do anything or "bury anyone" who dares to cross her.
As Jamie escapes her captors by running down a long country road, a young, wistful young girl sees her and tries to point Jamie out to her mother. Rather than supporting her daughter the woman reprimands her for making up stories. In response to her mother's admonishment she says, "I just thought it was cool for a girl to do that."
Despite all these good wishes for female empowerment, the feeling I was left with was the opposite. Jamie, first of all, doesn't necessarily want her new fate. It was forced upon her by her boyfriend and the other men who come into her life. Furthermore, her new found strength makes her invincible to everyone except one other person - the first bionic woman. So, even though men aren't competition for her, she still has to fight to the death against another woman. This is almost to say that society cannot function with a plethora of strong female leads, one is enough.
On that note, what does this show say about society's role in creating these female leads? Yeah, so society has created her to be strong, but when she resists their specific training she becomes the enemy. One of the scientists, Jonas (Miguel Ferrer) tells her that her options are, "Heads you loose, tails you die." In other words, this is a loose loose situation for our heroine. Either she accepts her new societal role or she is killed trying to avoid it. I guess a woman can only be so strong if she fits into the confines of a strict behavioral code. So much for girl power. Yes, these "improvements" may have saved her life in one regard, but have sincerely destroyed it in another. For a show that thinks quite highly of itself as a message of female empowerment, it does the exact opposite.
The Bionic Woman premieres on NBC, Wednesday September 26th
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