Great Solzhenitsyn Quote

From "In the First Circle"

"'Well, in art there is no progress! There can be none!" Nerzhin was delighted. 'No indeed! Indeed their isn't! That's what's so good about it! The seventeenth century had Rembrandt, and Rembrandt's still here- just try and go one better today! Whereas seventeenth-century technology seems primitive to us now. Or think of the great inventions of the eighteen seventies. To us they look like children's toys. Yet those were the years in which Anna Karenina was written. If you know of anything finer, I would like to hear about it!"

True Blood: A Leading Lady Conundrum, Er, Tradition

I've been following the Skin & Scares coverage of True Blood on Slate and the article about this season's 2nd episode, "Why does everyone love Sookie?," makes a point that the main heroine of the show is a fairly annoying and dull character. And I agree. Lately, Sookie has just gotten to be an irritating and shrill interruption to the rest of the show's sultry action, running around worried about the direction of her relationship with Bill-Is he mad at me? Should I marry him? Where did he go?! Blah blah blah. Sookie may look like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but her jokes don't kill nearly as well.

The truth of the matter is Sookie is an intrinsic part of the classic horror framework. She fulfills the part of the virtuous and innocent heroine, consistently in need of saving from (insert masculine hero here, e.g. Eric, Bill, Sam, Johnathan Harker, etc.). In effect, Sookie is today's version of Bram Stoker's Mina in "Dracula." Comparably, Tara is fulfilling the role of the more sensuous and rebellious Lucy Westenra fairly well. Hopefully she doesn't get her head chopped off at some point, though the new True Blood plot twist isn't looking that fantastic for her so far. Sookie satisfies the old Victorian trope of praise for the simple damsel-in-distress. She isn't threatening or intimidating, she's just a girl devoted to her man. This point may be the only place where Twilight and True Blood can draw parallels; Bella Swan is a relative stick-in-the-mud who has inexplicably enthralled all her male co-stars as well.

Perhaps the new twist, Bill's feigned rejection of Sookie, will place her character on a more nontraditional path. As of yet, she remains the bastion of purity for the show (you know, in True Blood standards, that is).

The Twilight Example

So, the third installment of The Twilight Saga, Eclipse, came out recently and it, as always, has everyone in a pop-culture gabfest. You either love it or hate it, or really really hate that you love it. I've long been a fan of vampire literature and media and its recent reemergence as a mainstream cashbox is really putting some new, and often horribly shameful, spins on the old Dracula paradigm. Last year I wrote a paper for a conference studying the long history of the abstinence trope within vampire mythology. The online version of the article can be found here.

It's interesting how vampires have become so closely linked to undertones of feminism. Today, I read a really probing discussion from The Good Men Magazine, titled "Driving in Cars With Vampires," investigating why teenage girls are so obsessed with the Edward-Bella relationship of Twilight. I think the true profundity of the conversation lies in the revelation that Edward and Bella have a really messed-up, creepy relationship, but at least it is a relationship. Meaning, teenage girls (and all women in general) are idealizing an emo and controlling undead monster because, unlike the men in reality, he's willing to commit. Hey, he doesn't even want to hook-up (though that may have more to do with the whole "I don't want to kill you with my vampiric, bloodsucking fangs" thing). Vampire media, be it Twilight or True Blood, is all about fulfilling women's modern fantasies. Both Sookie Stackhouse and Bella Swan have the undying (undead?) devotion of a slew of mythical man-creatures. And even if their lives are in constant threat of some otherworldy fatal onslaught, it's better than never getting called back. So, we can continue to escape to HBO or the movies...or we could start demanding a little more control and a little more respect from real, circulating men again.

Clearing Waters Premiere 4/11/2010

So, the premiere of the Duke student-produced (True Blue Productions) feature film Clearing Waters happened this Sunday in Griffith Theater. The event was a black tie affair and included a red carpet, media and photographers. The night was full of excitemnet. Not often do students come together and successfully pull off a feature-length film. Yes, there are still some editing tweaks to be made, mainly with sound effects and color correction, but the resounding consensus of the audience was , "This feels like a real movie." And it did. The acting was strong, the editing was effective and the soundtrack was specially designed to match the emotional narrative of the film. Now it will be exciting to see just how far Clearing Waters can go from here. It is already entered into a few festivals, and hopefully may begin to garner attention, if not for the film itself, then at least for the committed students working in cinematic prodction here at Duke. 

Lambchop & Alejandro Escovedo

Rock legends Lambchop & Alejandro Escovedo put on a double-bill show for Duke Performances Friday night and it was amazing.
Lambchop started out slow with some soft jams, heavy on the instrumentals and then picked up spped at the end. Kurt Wagner's creativity and musicianship cannot be defied.

Alejandro Escovedo started out heavy on the guitar riffs, true rock n' roll in black shirt and skinny jeans, rocking with his instrument. His encore was low-key and touching. These two, long-lasting alt-country bands continue to put on a good show.

The Box: Squandered Potential, the Search for a Real Plot

"The Box" is a wonderful example of a plot with a lot of potential that goes nowhere. What is today's obseesion with the circular plot? What's so bad about true plot and character development? Flirting with ideas of extraterrestrial life and the philosophies of Sartre's No Exit, "The Box" fails to ever even scratch the surface of any truly inventive sci-fi ideas. Set in 1976, the movie ends up feeling like a simple, and failed, attempt to revive a "Twilight Zone" episode. The most entertaining part of the movie is seeing snippets of 1976 headlines and pop culture that run through the background of the film. Props to the production designer, Alexander Hammond. At least he was doing his job. I can't say so much for the director Richard Kelly or Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. The suspense of the movie continuously falls flat. A Richard Matheson tale has so much more potential and creative flexibility than we see on the screen with "The Box." Instead, Kelly decides to avoid creating a truly mind-bending and original idea and simply takes a mere half-hearted stab at the sci-fi/horror genre.

This Is It

Michael Jackson is a star among stars. No one has ever engendered as much international fascination and sensation as Jackson has with his music, dance and personal life. This Is It continues the observation of the truly dangerous double-edged sword this degree of fame creates. As Jackson and his enormous crew dance, sing and jam their way towards an epic concert run, I couldn’t help but be caught up in the entertainment magic of Jackson and his iconic moves. 

At the same time, however, musings about prescription drugs, mounting debt and all the other dramas that cloud Jackson’s memory continued to interrupt my simple fan enjoyment of the spectacle. The documentary can’t hide Jackson’s gaunt frame or muffle the questions many filmgoers have concerning his last months, but it can ignore these peripheral issues. And it does. And that’s a good thing.

Instead, director Kenny Ortega offers a final, unadulterated glimpse of Jackson, focusing on the roles that fit the artist best: dancer, musician and performer. This Is It proves that, even at 50, the King of Pop would not be outperformed. The rehearsal footage hints at what would have been a show of spectacular choreography and special effects. Skilled dancers and musicians surround Jackson at every moment, anxious and excited to be in the presence of the entertainment legend. The footage further serves as a tribute and consolation to the crew, whose months of rigorous, behind-the-scenes practice so sadly resulted in a show that never was.

This Is It’s ultimate success is its ability to capture the total possession with which Jackson approached his art. The man was his music, and nothing could ever be too perfect. It’s not easy being King. Ch'mon!