Subject
Lo & the Movies (fwd)
Date
Body
Adrian Lyne's movie - still not released here in the UK - continued
apparently to do good business in France. A trip there by a distinguished
British journalist led to an article which may indicate an interesting subtext
behind mainstream Hollywood's attitude towards Lolita.
The article, 'What's the difference between Hollywood men and Hollywood women?'
by Peter Preston, appeared in 'The Guardian' on 6 March 1998. It opens:
"It is, perhaps, the most insidious, the most ludicrous lie the movies connive
at. The Triumph of the Lustful Wrinklies. Let's take four new films at cinemas
50 yards apart along an ordinary street (well, the Champs Elysee). Outside, the
young people in jeans walk hand in hand among the tourists and the pavement
salesmen and the grey panthers out for a night on the town. But inside....
In Cinema A, a man falls hard for a girl 33 years younger. Next door, for a girl
26 years younger. Round the corner, our hero fondles himself over a girl 39
years his junior. And the core of the film in cinema number four is an affair
between a 62-year-old and a blonde billed as 26.
Disgusting? Possibly: film A is the new Lolita - which, pavilioned in fuss,
may or may not make it to Britain. But the second is As Good As It Gets, a light
romantic comedy with Jack Nicholson in Oscar-grabbing mode. The third is
Costa-Gavras's Mad City: a sharpish media satire with Dustin Hoffman and Mia
Kirshner. And the fourth, predictably enough, has Woody Allen chasing Elisabeth
Shue while Deconstructing Harry.
The first joke is that Humbert Humbert - Jeremy Irons this time round - is a
dozen or more years less wrinkly than Dustin and Woody and Jack. The second joke
is that we're supposed to believe this tosh......"
[The rest of the article covers the history of sexual relations in Hollywood
movies, making it clear that if Lo puts on five years or so, the age gap
between her and HH will be seen as perfectly normal in the products of
Tinseltown. Needless to say, age-gaps working the other way are rarer than hen's
teeth. So could this be why Lyne's movie has had such an ambiguous ride in
Hollywood? Because it makes explicit a kind of semi-paedophile relationship that
lurks behind all too much of the film world's product?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|* Dr. Jerry Goodenough *|
|* Philosophy Sector Tel: 01603-592095 *|
|* School of Economic & Social Studies Fax: 01603-250434 *|
|* University of East Anglia E: j.goodenough@uea.ac.uk *|
|* Norwich NR4 7TJ *|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
apparently to do good business in France. A trip there by a distinguished
British journalist led to an article which may indicate an interesting subtext
behind mainstream Hollywood's attitude towards Lolita.
The article, 'What's the difference between Hollywood men and Hollywood women?'
by Peter Preston, appeared in 'The Guardian' on 6 March 1998. It opens:
"It is, perhaps, the most insidious, the most ludicrous lie the movies connive
at. The Triumph of the Lustful Wrinklies. Let's take four new films at cinemas
50 yards apart along an ordinary street (well, the Champs Elysee). Outside, the
young people in jeans walk hand in hand among the tourists and the pavement
salesmen and the grey panthers out for a night on the town. But inside....
In Cinema A, a man falls hard for a girl 33 years younger. Next door, for a girl
26 years younger. Round the corner, our hero fondles himself over a girl 39
years his junior. And the core of the film in cinema number four is an affair
between a 62-year-old and a blonde billed as 26.
Disgusting? Possibly: film A is the new Lolita - which, pavilioned in fuss,
may or may not make it to Britain. But the second is As Good As It Gets, a light
romantic comedy with Jack Nicholson in Oscar-grabbing mode. The third is
Costa-Gavras's Mad City: a sharpish media satire with Dustin Hoffman and Mia
Kirshner. And the fourth, predictably enough, has Woody Allen chasing Elisabeth
Shue while Deconstructing Harry.
The first joke is that Humbert Humbert - Jeremy Irons this time round - is a
dozen or more years less wrinkly than Dustin and Woody and Jack. The second joke
is that we're supposed to believe this tosh......"
[The rest of the article covers the history of sexual relations in Hollywood
movies, making it clear that if Lo puts on five years or so, the age gap
between her and HH will be seen as perfectly normal in the products of
Tinseltown. Needless to say, age-gaps working the other way are rarer than hen's
teeth. So could this be why Lyne's movie has had such an ambiguous ride in
Hollywood? Because it makes explicit a kind of semi-paedophile relationship that
lurks behind all too much of the film world's product?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|* Dr. Jerry Goodenough *|
|* Philosophy Sector Tel: 01603-592095 *|
|* School of Economic & Social Studies Fax: 01603-250434 *|
|* University of East Anglia E: j.goodenough@uea.ac.uk *|
|* Norwich NR4 7TJ *|
--------------------------------------------------------------------