Capture of Culture- And the Oscar Goes To...

"The envelope please..."

On May 16th, 1929 the first ever Academy Awards Ceremony was held. It was the "great job you're doing just fine" pat on the back that the Academy and board of Governors decided the industry needed. Since then, it has served as the industries one night of contact with the folks at home watching from their television sets in their living rooms and more recently on the computer screens that they fall asleep to. Critics and citizens all see the Oscars, or Academy Awards, as the night that Hollywood gets shown for all its glory. For the actors, directors, producers, set designers, film editors, best boys, and gaffers it's one night where you wear the fancy gown only to wake up the next morning to "crappy coffee and stale donuts". Some people win and the rest "lose", but in the world of art, it's all up for interpretation. The Oscars has been a time honored tradition in which actors and technical works all get their chance to make their statements which has often led to political stunts and awkward speeches which make the room half cheer and half boo. The Oscars is a celebration of the power that film has over the world through moving images and sound. Nothing more. Nothing less.

This time honored tradition has lead to an entire part of modern culture being dedicated to the following and media coverage of the Oscars. Television stations give billions of dollars to broadcast the events and stars look forward to the event like no other. 

Stream of the Week- Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

"The only disease to survive our bloodstreams is alcoholism."

In the high society of the south, four young friends joined together to make for themselves a sisterhood, one in which they would forever be bound to each other in times of need or in times of plenty. These four women grew up to have families of their own, and their leader seemed to have the most troubling life of all. Sidda, the daughter of group leader Vivi, has been interview about her work as a writer and how her childhood affected her writing. In the article, Sidda describes her childhood as a complete wreck that gave her something to write about. After hearing what she had to say Vivi decided to wage a war against her daughter refusing to fix their broken relationship. The Ya-Ya sisters came together and kidnapped Sidda in order to tell her the whole story, the parts she had been missing her whole life, in order to fix the relationship of Vivi and Sidda. Along the way, Sidda learned of her mother's exciting past in which she was constantly getting into trouble, but always finding ways to bail herself out. But the love of her life died, and she ended up having a whole litter of children she didn't know how to deal with driving her to drink and to become irritable. Sidda always blamed herself, and almost threw her best chance at life out when she realized she could end up like her mother. But never doubt the power of a sisterhood.

I always find the charm of southern films amusing. They have a different kind of sparkle and warmth to them that comes from more than just the accents or the style, but from the warm and the sentimentality of the location. Though there is nothing extraordinarily sweet about the Ya-Ya sisters, there's still something worth being a part of when you see these four old bitties get together. They have their own rhythm and make everything around them into a spectacle. I can only hope that one day I too can be a part of something so strong.

Stream of the Week- Sleepless in Seattle

"It was just like magic."

After watching the number of romantic films I have, you start to hope that there is something like love at first sight (or first listen). Sam's wife died causing him to relocate to Seattle with his son Jonah. On Christmas Eve, Jonah calls a radio station to find help for his father via a call in radio show. He says his dad needs a new wife. After talking on the show a bit, every woman listening begins to feel a connection with Sam causing him to be a sort of recognizable on the air as Sleepless in Seattle. Annie is on her way to meet her fiancé's parents for Christmas when Sam comes on the radio. From the way he talked, Annie felt a connection. For weeks, she listened for him on the show and did research in order to find out more about them. Even in her perfect relationship with the ever safe Walter, she felt something missing that Sam seemed to have over the radio. With her job in a Boston paper, Annie is able to fly out to Seattle in hopes of meeting Sam and Jonah, but she loses her nerve and ends up going home empty handed. But Annie's friend sees her distress and sends a draft letter that Annie had written to Jonah and Sam that offers to meet them at the top of the Empire State  Building on Valentine's Day. Jonah loves Annie from her letter and finds a way to get himself to New York in hopes that his dad will follow and that he will meet Annie and they will fall in love.

I understand now why these films get women so invested. There is something so romantic that takes hold of an audience when they watch two people who they can see are made for each other fumble around and miss opportunities for true happiness. I wish Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had done more films together because this film and You've Got Mail are a fantastic double feature pack waiting to happen. Sam is the loving, but lost romantic dad who is struggling to serve as both mom and dad to Jonah. Annie is the happy go-lucky reporter who knows what they right thing to do is, but is completely driven by her heart. Together they make sense as is clear by the story's brilliant way of making a romance out of two people who don't actually meet until the last three minutes of the film.

Capture of Culture- Room 237

"Maybe I'm reading too much into this."

When geniuses make films, there are those who spend their lives trying to dig every possible meaning out of them. Room 237 is a collection of different conspiracy theorists who are have found different meanings for the symbols in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Through repetition of pattern and image, many different conclusions are drawn. One interviewee believes that The Shining is Kubrick's admission for faking the moon landing. Through collected evidence, his theory builds up by showing Danny in an Apollo 11 sweater, and the use of scripting as a personal confession of Kubrick. Another theory is that The Shining is the story of the great Indian massacres that occurred all over the country with the expansion of American industrialization.  His evidence came from the location of the Hotel, which is in Colorado on top of an ancient Indian burial ground, and from the repetition of Indian images such as photos on the wall or on the baking powder cans in the storage closet. Another fan noticed that all the numbers were multiples of 7 and that the number 42 was used throughout. He combined this with the fact that the typewriter is a German brand, and from this he derived that The Shining was a commentary on the Holocaust. Each theory is wildly outrageous, but in some way or another completely believable.

 

Whether you agree with their ideas or not, this film does offer an interesting insight into the world of conspiracy theorist film watchers. There are so many details that you miss the first time you watch a film and the second if you don't know what to look for. Even if you don't agree with their ideas or you think that they are crazy, this film can offer you some details which you would have missed in order for you to draw your own conclusions as to what it means. Every film is made for a reason; each image has a purpose.

Stream of the Week- Chef

Films about food may just be the worst thing to watch when you're hungry.

Carl is the chef who has been on top for years. He's cooked the same menu for five years and worked with the same people in the same place for too long. A popular food critic writes him one bad review knocking his entire world into a tailspin. He gets into a twitter battle with the critic that lands him out of work and without job prospects due to his popularity online for blowing up on the critic. Faced with financial ruin and a need to gain back his reputation, Carl takes a favor from his ex-wife and cleans up a food truck to serve the food he has a passion for again. Starting in Miami, Carl, his son Percy, and his line chef take a road trip of food discovery on their way back to California. Their food is fantastic and their passion even better. Percy runs the social media ensuring that everyone who has heard of them is at their spots with each stop. Through Twitter, Facebook, and Vine the crew is able to get their name back on the map and have wild success among the people. It doesn't all come together, however, until Carl gets his ultimate revenge- a good review.


As a viewer, the integration of social media is wildly entertaining. Carl has absolutely no idea how to work any of it which serves two purposes for the film- one it's comedic relief and two it helps serve as a common bonding point for Percy and Carl as Percy attempts to teach his dad how to use it. Besides the media, the food looks fantastic. Each meal has it's own sense of style; meals from Carl's original employment appear stiff and stuffy; meals from the truck are light and rich looking giving the film an overall foodie flare.

 

The movie does take too long to get Carl on the truck, but what it has to say before he starts cooking on the road is important. Critics seem to not care that there is a man behind each plate and each piece of art or film. Opinions are their currency, but the negative reviews quite literally ruined Carl's life. Another aspect that this film covers is the implications of social media. It's all good to get angry and tweet something back in response to a negativity, but then that tweet is there forever. It doesn't go away and it can cause a lot more trouble than it's worth. Carl would not have been hired elsewhere because of the tweets and videos  that became associated with his anger. All of these ideas are important ones to dwell on from this film.

Capture of Culture- Becoming Youtube

Sometimes the cults of modern culture are best observed through British commentary.

Ben Cook is a British journalist who started to research the ins and outs of YouTube in the hopes of "becoming crazy internet famous." Through his search, Ben interviewed dozens of popular British YouTubers and mixed in sketches and skits that helped tell the YouTube story. Through his twelve part series, Ben Cook was able to dig deep into what YouTuber's really think of their fans and what they do for a living. He examined the slow crawl to the top and why YouTube has become a more effective way of reaching audiences than TV. Topics such as sexism, fundraising, and fan appreciation all come up in the various interviews that Cook conducts with people such as tomska and charlieissocoollike. In between, Ben performs skits that show a YouTuber's rise to fame and the various types of videos that often get them there. All this promotes YouTube as a crazy moneymaking, internet fame machine that has the capability to change the world.

 

What I appreciate most about this YouTube documentary is that because it is internet based, there's no set of rules that it has to follow. Want to mix comedy with factual information? Go ahead. Want to ask questions that make people uncomfortable? Go ahead. Want to show charlieissocoollike in a bathrobe? Go ahead. The drive of Ben Cook's videos is to get the most people to watch it which lends him a different kind of perspective especially on such a new medium.


To watch the series- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6p1JBYWFt0&list=PLvcy3A2lGR2D5O1B-wiGXb7VCKieNBt0O

Stream of the Week- Jerry Maguire

You have not lived until you have screamed "Show me the money" at the top of your lungs when in a time of need.

Jerry had it all. He had the job and the fiancé. He was good at what he did, but one night after a heart to heart with a client and a bit of booze Jerry lost it. Jerry Maguire was the king of sports agents. He could sell anybody anything. He had 72 clients and a big office with a view, but that one night Jerry felt a hatred for what he did. He saw himself as constantly pushing products and just doing his job not putting any heart into his business. He wrote a mission statement which he distributed to the whole company outlining what he believed a company should be and how it should focus personal attention to each client. His memo mission statement hit home with his coworkers, but not with the boss man. Just like that Jerry wasn't so perfect. In a flurry of business cards and numbers, Jerry attempted to get his client list on board with him to leave the company, but all were too safe in their contracts to leave. All but one. And though they cheered after his writing, no one was moved enough to leave with Jerry and take the world by storm. All but one let him walk out that door. Armed with a gold fish nicknamed flipper and the love drunk accountant named Dorothy, Jerry Maguire left and went to make a name for himself. From the bottom, Jerry struggles. He lost his job and his girl and he feels lonely. His loneliness drives him into the arms of the ever helpful assistant/accountant Dorothy. With a son at home and a cynical sister, Dorothy does not fall causally. Jerry is charming and beautiful, but he's a salesman and Dorothy is a romantic; she doesn't want hurt. Jerry won't be able to get it right until he's tried doing it wrong.

I am crazy about romantic films. Give to me in period pieces, Austen tales, comedies or dramas, I love romantic films. Jerry Maguire is not overly romantic, but it is the story of a man who has romance in there somewhere he just has to find it underneath his cultivated charm. This film is the "You had me at hello" film, it doesn't get much better than that. Starring Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire, he's got nothing but charm and confidence. But a romantic, sensitive Zellweger throws him for a loop when he finds himself falling for her and her kid which are the farthest he ever thought he would get from perfect. It's beyond classic, it's entertaining. Maybe I'm sentimental, but I'll take it.

Page to Screen: Death of a Salesman

Selling is all there is.

Willy Loman spent 34 years selling products for the same company; pushing products and driving the road week after week. He's got a happy family back home, two sons Biff and Happy, both a little lost in their endeavors, and a wife who is hopelessly devoted to him. In his age and exhaustion, Willy begins to remember the past as it mixes with his present making him constantly disoriented towards those around him. He earns no salary at his position anymore, and he constantly offends the people around him by growing angry in his age. In his youth, Willy's son Biff was his favorite, champion of the football field full of promise. But, Biff tends to wander now in his 30s he doesn't keep a steady job which distresses his father and it keeps the two of them from having any type of relationship. Willy can't scrape together cash and in an effort to help his sons attempt a scheme to get his father the funds. It is all in vain, however, because in the end Willy has lost himself in his pride and promise as his boys have after him. And he dies no death of the salesman, but rather as a salesman.


Willy Loman is the kind of man you want to strangle while you still pity him. He has so much chance for potential, but he was blind to so much of what he had done to those around him. Though he lives on the page, Willy isn't a real human being until he shows up on the screen played by the ever adorable Dustin Hoffman who makes Willy a sad case of crazy while still remaining rather brutal in his judgments of his boys. He goes from silly, puttering, old man to a reminiscent younger salesman who is excellent at his job and prepared to take on the world. John Malkovich plays the wayward Biff with a depth that isn't so easily expressed on paper as we slowly start to see a pattern arise in his life that can only come from the influence of his father on him as a boy. He always wants to impress the man, but struggles to find a way to do so when his father loses everything that used to make him respectable.

 

The play appears on paper as something much more incoherent as it was set originally for only a single stage. It mixes the past memories of Willy with the present leaving no clear distinction of where the narrative is. In the film, there is a clear line set by showing the past in a different, brighter coloration than the present that Willy feels trapped. In the yard, a background, much like that of a play, is used to soften the memory almost as though it was manufactured in his mind. The reoccurrence of past people in Willy's life appear in softer colors. His mistress in Boston is only shown in cream and his dead brother Ben who comes to him in times of need with financial advice wears a white suit which deeply contrasts the dark colors on the rest of the characters based in the present.


Death of a Salesman works as a tale of the modern economy. Willy Loman and his sons work in the larger picture, "dime a dozen" as Biff says. They mean nothing and do not serve as the famed leaders they long to be. They are the middle class and low wage receivers. They struggle to stay afloat because they are trapped in the constant cycle of having to pay for their lifestyle which leaves them swindled by the man. It is no happy tale, the tragedy of a man with dreams trapped in the concrete jungle. It is a commentary on the American Dream and what dreaming can do to a man who cannot keep up with the rest of the world.