Asterix and Cleopatra

Asterix and Cleopatra
YouTube viewing

I was halfway through art school when I decided I’d rather study cartooning than illustration. Many of my friends wanted to break into professional comics, which to them meant Marvel and DC Comics. A few already did while they were still in school, so I thought I had to draw superheroes too, and to draw like them: men and women with perfect physiques in a semi-realistic style. I did my best, but it was a struggle. One of my teachers recommended I look to a different model of successful comics: a series out of France called Asterix.

European comics, or bande dessinée, as the French call them, have a rich and diverse history, one which is not dominated by superheroes. For years, the newsstand magazine Heavy Metal exposed Americans to a more grownup and sophisticated alternate world of comics storytelling devoid of the childish power fantasies of Marvel and DC, but the tradition goes back much further, with one of the biggest and most important titles of the medium being the series Tintin. And it wasn’t just original creations: for decades, Donald Duck was a megastar in Europe in comics form.

European comics characters crossed over into movies and TV when Kevin Feige was still in diapers. Some examples Americans knew about for years include the animated film version of Heavy Metal; the Jane Fonda flick Barbarella, and of course, The Smurfs on Saturday mornings!

Supercalifragi-links

So I spent my Thanksgiving morning freezing my ass off as I ran through Flushing Meadow Park.

Why? I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

For the past month, I had trained for running in a 5k race. I had mentioned to Virginia recently how it was a long-time fantasy of mine to run in a marathon. Failing that, though, I would settle for something simpler, like a 5k. I was just talking idly; not being serious.

So she found online a month-long training program specifically designed to prepare one for a 5k and sent it to me. I looked it over and figured what the hell. If nothing else, I would do it for her.

Race conditions are very different from training by oneself. I didn't hear the starting signal on account of the host's microphone not working well.

When everyone took off, I was conscious of this being A Race for the first time. My head was in the wrong place and I ran like I was competing, which was all wrong for me. Plus, the course began with a steep-ish hill. It took me awhile to focus and settle into a pace.

I tried keeping up with these two women with whom I played leapfrog: I passed them, then they passed me, and so on. Near the end, they passed me and stayed ahead. I wanted to catch them one last time, but I came up short. That's okay, though. I still beat my previous time by a minute!

I spent the evening with Virginia and friends in Manhattan — a "Friendsgiving," I guess. It was one hell of a day overall.

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Once again, look for my piece on Anthony Mann & John Alton in the next issue of the film noir newsletter The Dark Pages, due out December 20.

Writing the article was a real education. I learned more about noir in general than I knew before, particularly by watching the movies. I plan to write about some of the ones I watched here, so look for that.

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Real life has delayed Anna's guest post. It's been pushed back to this month.

More after the jump.

Excelsior!

His name was always at the top of every Marvel comic book when I grew up. The first page would have a small box that briefly described the character, in a sentence or two, and then the words: "Stan Lee Presents."

I knew who he was because he was on TV, sort of. He would do voice-over introductions to The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends on Saturday mornings.

It was comforting, in its way. To my mind, it was like he was the caretaker of the Marvel Universe, a constant, active presence who acted in its best interests, though I couldn't have phrased it that way back then.

I met him at a convention once. He autographed for me some comics he had written, including a special issue of my favorite comic, Fantastic Four.

Marvel Comics used to have a newsletter-type page in every comic. Sometimes he would say a few words in it, usually reporting from Hollywood about the in-roads Marvel was making: a new TV show here, a new video game there, that sort of thing. It was exciting.

Those in-roads laid the foundation for the Marvel kingdom of today: a subsidiary of the mightier Disney empire, true, but his creations — in collaboration with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and all the rest — have never been more popular. (Whether or not this has translated into higher sales of the comics themselves is another story.)

Recent years have not been kind to him: embroiled in one lawsuit after another, not to mention a contentious relationship with his daughter. I can only hope he made peace with her before he went to that great bullpen in the sky.

Today is a sad day for Fandom Assembled, but we will never forget him and his great gift to American popular culture. I have distanced myself from the comics; they no longer mean to me what they once did. Still, if it weren't for them, my life — the friends I've made over the years, the passion I have for visual art in general — would be quite different.

Face front, true believers.

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

The James Mason Blogathon is an event celebrating the life and career of the actor, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. For a complete list of participating blogs, visit the link at the host site.

Heaven Can Wait (1978)
YouTube viewing

Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait has nothing to do with the Don Ameche film of the same name; rather, it's a remake of the Robert Montgomery film Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which must have been a little confusing when it came out in 1978, but whatever. (In 2001, Chris Rock starred in a third version, Down to Earth.)

I wasn't fond of Jordan, not necessarily because of its premise — afterlife bureaucracy condemns a man to death before his time — but because of its poor plotting. Heaven attempts to improve on the original, and in a number of ways, it does, but I was still uncomfortable with the whole theme of fate, and things being "written," not to mention the lack of accountability for the mistakes made by the afterlife bureaucracy.

That said, Heaven was entertaining, in a 70s kind of way. Beatty not only starred and co-directed, he co-wrote the screenplay, with Elaine May.

Beatty was a "New Hollywood" icon. After the tremendous success of Bonnie and Clyde, he positioned himself as a multitasker, writing, producing and directing the films he wanted to make at a time when young filmmakers had an unprecedented level of power in Hollywood.

In the Peter Biskind book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, the pages on Heaven depict Beatty as a "finicky, obsessive" nitpicker. He butted heads with Warner Brothers management over the film's budget before taking it to Paramount, where he fussed over the potential female leads for not being his ex-flame Julie Christie. In the end, he talked Christie herself into the film.

Beatty's perfectionism paid off: Heaven was nominated for nine Oscars, including Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay.

I didn't think it was nine Oscars worth of great, but I liked the humor, and the way the editing accentuated the pacing, making you really aware of the funny lines when they land. Dyan Cannon was great; she got a Supporting Actress nod — and so was Jack Warden, playing the same character as James Gleason in the original, and like him, getting a Supporting Actor nod.

We, however, are here today to talk about James Mason, taking over for Claude Rains in the role of Mr. Jordan and not doing much other than being stately and dignified.

Mason had a very long career, working steadily from the 30s to the 80s, mostly in high profile films on the big and small screens, including North by Northwest, A Star is Born, Lolita, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and many more.

His story was not unusual for Golden Age actors: started in British theater, then transitioned to the big screen during World War 2; came over to America and found greater fame. With his first wife, he co-wrote a book about cats, and illustrated it, too. Here's The Paris Review on his book, including some of his pen and ink drawings. They're pretty good.

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Other films with James Mason:
Forever Darling

A star is linked

Not a whole lot to talk about this month. Cynthia Nixon was robbed, the novel rewrite is going great, and things between me and Virginia are swell. The Neil Simon Blogathon is in a couple of weeks; there's still time to join Paddy and myself for the occasion, if you want in.

Let's jump straight to the links for once!

Raquel answers questions from her readers.

Ivan discusses the century-old comic strip Gasoline Alley and the two films inspired by it.

Jacqueline ponders whether this Depression-era film endorsed socialism.

Jennifer talks contemporary high school movies and compares them with her own experience.

Le writes about a very early Ernst Lubitsch silent film which challenges gender roles.

Variety's coverage of Cynthia Nixon's loss in the New York primaries.

What are Feedspot's choices for the Top 30 Classic Film Blogs?

The Wizard of Oz ruby slippers, after having gone missing for 13 years, have been found!

Gauging the truthiness of films "based on a true story."

Bullwinkle and political satire.

Is it possible liking trash cinema makes you smarter?

Claudette Colbert liked cooking desserts.

Armie Hammer hearts scooters.

Finally, best wishes to Crystal of In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood, who's recovering from surgery.

Infinite links

Lynn discovered a website for something called New Plaza Cinema, and it looks like it's built from the ashes of what was the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. A group is looking to start up a new indie theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side. So far, they're still in the embryonic stage, but the fact this is in the works is encouraging.

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So last month I met a multiple Emmy winner. Now I'm not sure if I should mention who it is, because of the circumstances: I met her at her home, where she and her husband host a soiree for musicians on a regular basis, but I think it's a private function. Nothing illicit went on; in fact, it was very sociable, a party, basically, but I don't know them, and I don't know how private their private lives are, so in this instance, I'm gonna play it safe. She won her Emmys for a TV show you all know and love.

Virginia invited me to this gathering. She plays an instrument called a viola da gamba (it's kinda like a cello) and she was part of a number of musicians and singers who put on a variety show, basically, playing classical music and modern compositions that sound like classical music. She also sang with a small group.

The Emmy-winning hostess has her awards on display on a shelf. I looked closely at the statuettes, but I was too afraid to touch them, since they belonged to a stranger and all. They're about a foot tall, maybe a bit more, and they're as elegant as they look. And they were the real thing.

I didn't get much of a chance to talk to the hostess about them because she was busy with other stuff, though I will say she was quite nice. Virginia has known her for awhile; they seemed really familiar with each other, as the hostess was with many of the people at the informal recital. So in my own personal Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, I can connect to some pretty famous people now...

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Big thanks once again to everybody who came out and/or spread the word about the Time Travel Blogathon, and to Ruth for co-hosting with me. I knew time travel films didn't begin with The Time Machine, but there were more of them from the distant past than I realized, done in a number of ways, so this was enlightening.

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A few more words about Cynthia Nixon: I think it's absolutely fair to question her qualifications for holding such a high position as governor, especially New York governor, but at the same time, she's a citizen too, and if she thinks she's got the goods, then she deserves to take a shot. I admit, I'm giving her more of the benefit of the doubt than the former TV star currently in the White House, but then she seems to actually have a brain in her head.

That said, between Nixon, the Rock, Oprah, the girl from Clueless, and who knows who else, America does seem more preoccupied than ever with celebrities either running for office or flirting with the idea at least (though we're nothing compared with countries like India). If there weren't so many precedents, I'd suspect the current president opened the floodgates somehow; I dunno.

I would feel more confident about Nixon if I knew she had experience, I admit, but I'm willing to give her a chance to prove herself worthy. She's aware of the transportation crisis in NYC (which is about more than the local subways and buses and impacts more than just the tri-state area) and says she'll make it a priority of her campaign, but it's still way too early to decide if she can win.

Links after the jump.

New year's links

Dan Talbot

For the second year in a row, I spent New Year's with Sandi and her choral friends. They performed their annual show in Manhattan and we went out to a dinner party afterwards.

This year's show included, besides classical music selections, a James Bond medley, a Beatles medley, songs by Coldplay and Adele (imagine, if you will, hearing "Rolling in the Deep" sung by an operatic diva in an orchestral arrangement — in a church!), and even "Bohemian Rhapsody"! I teased Sandi about it afterward because she has no love for rock music, though she didn't think it was a bad song — she just couldn't understand what the lyrics meant.

On a sadder note, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas owner Dan Talbot died over the New Year's weekend. I wasn't aware of how deep his roots in the indie film market were until his name came up in relation to the sale of the theater; he did much to support independent and foreign cinema from a very early time period.

Unfortunate as it is to say, his death leaves us with very little hope that the Lincoln will be saved, but stranger things have happened — and while this closing is supposed to be for repairs, no one knows for absolute certain what the plan is if and when it reopens. This is why my movie posts include the theater I saw it in, folks.

Meanwhile, the plan for the novel is to start revising this month. It's more of a mess than I realized, but they say that's not necessarily a bad thing at this point. It may have taken me four years to reach this stage, but at least I haven't gotten tired of it yet. My fear is that I will get sick of it before it's finished, but I think this means more to me than that. Anybody want to be a beta reader?

Your links:

Silver Screenings Ruth examines Casablanca from the perspective of the bit players who were actual European refugees.

Le looks at the long and distinguished Hollywood career of that noted comedic thespian, Porky Pig.

Monstergirl is back with another epic post, this one about the Bronx' own Martin Balsam.

Even if the Lincoln Plaza reopens, what will happen to films already booked there?

My prediction came true much sooner  than expected: meet the documentarian who unraveled the secret of Tommy Wiseau.

Another piece of Cecil B. DeMille's buried Ten Commandments set has been excavated.

Here's an early review of a forthcoming movie written by Greg Sestero and featuring Tommy Wiseau in a supporting role.

Want your own portrait of Jennie?

How cable TV, specifically TCM, rescued certain Christmas movies from obscurity.

What did critics of the day think of How the Grinch Stole Christmas when it first came out?

Come back tomorrow to find out the theme for this year's blogathon!

Disastrous links

If I were to guess, I'd say most of us knew, or at least suspected, sexual harassment existed within Hollywood and either accepted it as fact or perhaps assumed there were channels through which someone could go in order to combat it - SAG, for instance. 

If there's any justice, this current wave of exposure will have repercussions beyond the film industry because it is by no means limited there (as long as it doesn't morph into a witch hunt); what I wanna talk about, though, is how do we, the movie-going audience, move on from here?

When I talked about Bill Cosby earlier this year, I had said I have too many good memories of him on television for them to be easily erased by the mountain of accusations leveled against him. On a fundamental level, this feels right. Kevin Spacey's career as a Hollywood actor may be finished, but no one's gonna erase American Beauty from the record, or The Usual Suspects or Seven; he still did excellent work in those and other movies.

Flawed people are capable of great works of art. Should discovering the flaws negate the work? I say no. Barbara Stanwyck was a right-winger who was rabidly anti-Communist and she is still my favorite actress.

I think we, the audience, have to be very careful not to look upon movie stars, or celebrities in general, or anybody in the public eye, really, as role models. Back in the studio era, it was easy to fall for the myth of the star as a larger-than-life demigod, because that's how they were sold to us -- but it was as much a lie then as it is now.

We need to draw a line in the sand that separates our respect for movie stars as entertainers from admiration little different from idolatry. That's not easy... but I think it's necessary. We just don't know who these people really are anymore. We never did.

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The novel is done! This draft, anyway; the next phase is revision, but I won't start that until next year. I have a fairly good idea of what needs fixing, and of what needs to be researched. I'll know more once I get feedback from my beta readers (I want four, but I'll settle for three).

Once it's DONE-done, as in proofread and strengthened, will l I try to take it to the big publishers, or will I self-publish it? Still don't know for sure. I'm reading so many writing blogs, learning all kinds of things about the industry and Amazon and e-books and this and that... It's safe to say it'll be awhile before I decide one way or another.

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This has been a hard week for me, so I'm gonna talk about two new movies here instead of giving them separate posts: 

- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was quite good. Frances McDormand's character is justifiably angry over the lack of justice for her murdered daughter, and that anger threatens to consume her, but we run out of movie before we discover how far she's willing to go. That was deliberate on writer-director Martin McDonagh's part; I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but regardless, this is a dream role for McDormand and she nails it.

- Coco comes a year after another animated movie set in a foreign culture about a young guitarist, Kubo and the Two Strings, but Pixar takes a different approach, using a holiday, the Day of the Dead, to define this world, the way it works, and how the characters act within this world. I was unfamiliar with the specifics of the holiday, so I had to really pay attention to understand why X does Y and how that will lead to Z, but it was so worth the effort. The opening act was a new Frozen Christmas short featuring the magic snow golem Olaf, and I hated him within the first two minutes. I'm in no hurry to see the original film.

Links after the jump.

Loving Vincent

Loving Vincent
seen @ Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, New York NY

I threw out most of my oil and acrylic paintings prior to my move to Ohio, in an attempt to straighten my closets and unburden myself of non-essential material, but I remember some of what they looked like. They were from my high school and college years, which also includes the summer I spent in a painting class in Barcelona. None of the work - none of what I remember, anyway - was anything special. My artistic talent has always manifested itself better in pencil and pen & ink and watercolor; oils, and especially acrylics, were a different animal.

Ye royal links

Just when I had begun getting used to arranging my Sunday nights around Feud, it ends. I know some TV shows make an entire season's worth of programming available at once, but I still believe there's something to be said for the experience of spending the week thinking about what will happen on next week's show, hurrying home in anticipation of a new episode, shutting out all potential distractions so you don't miss a thing. It seems like you appreciate a show more that way, instead of consuming an entire season in one evening or one weekend. That's too easy.

I've been drawing again. There are local Meetup groups devoted to figure drawing and outdoor sketching I've been partaking in lately. It's made me aware of the things I'm still good at and the things in which I've gotten rusty. So be it - as long as it means I can still draw. Art has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Wouldn't want to give it up.

I recently downloaded a video game based on the movie Office Space. All the familiar characters in Mike Judge's comedy are there, and like the movie, the goal is to steal money from Initech, pennies at a time, so you can quit your job and retire. It's a strategy game; placing characters in critical positions, accomplishing mundane tasks that earn you game money, using that money to buy items that'll help you win.

I've played similar games, but this one seemed almost too mundane. The initial thrill of seeing scenes from the movie reenacted and familiar lines and items reproduced wore off after awhile. What's left wasn't enjoyable enough to return to again and again. A Star Trek game I downloaded was the same way (though that did at least have starship battles). Maybe other people can play these kinds of games.

Anyway, your links:

Raquel and Danny cover the TCM Film Festival.

Jennifer toured the Warner Brothers studio.

Ivan reassesses the acting career of Ronald Reagan.

Aurora gets her lunch money stolen by Butch of the Little Rascals.

Jacqueline on Feud.

Ryan Murphy and Feud cast members at a Q&A.

Was this French comic book an unacknowledged influence on Star Wars and other modern SF franchises?

The Orson Welles/FDR connection.

A new photo book contains candid photos of Old Hollywood stars as they're being made up.

If this isn't the definitive Friday the 13th franchise appreciation post, I don't know what is.

The Wonders, the fictitious pop band from the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, recently reunited.

Finally, a virtual hug goes out to my pal Paddy, who hit the big six-oh last month.

Link in the shell

Why no links last month? Long story short, I was sick the last week of January (I'm better now) and I didn't have a great deal to say at the time, so I decided to forget about it. No big deal, really.

I never would have dreamed, in all my years of blogging, that my choice for film of the year would match the Academy's. Perhaps I should rethink what I had said about how the Oscars rarely reward the truly deserving. Warren Beatty's announcement faux pas aside, Moonlight winning Best Picture rights the wrong of Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash, anoints Barry Jenkins as a new directing talent (even if he did lose Best Director) and just plain makes sense. Bravo. Now Star Trek Beyond losing Best Makeup, on the other hand...

Bill Paxton was never flashy, but he was a reliable, down-to-earth presence in many high-powered action movies... and yes, he was in that Big Boat Movie, too. I think his best film might have been A Simple Plan, a suspenseful character study about greed and the ways it messes with your head. Also check out One False Move, another good thriller. He was a fine actor who had an excellent career.

I'm gonna try something different for the next two months: blogging about a new TV show as it airs. You may have heard by now about the forthcoming FX mini-series Feud: Bette and Joan, starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as, respectively, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Obviously, this is of interest to film buffs, so I thought I'd try writing about it, week by week. It airs on Sunday nights, so my reviews will be the following Mondays. I doubt it'll be difficult; I hope it'll be fun.

The Jack Lemmon Blogathon is coming at the end of the month. Le and I thank everyone who's participating. Looks like we got a fair amount of contributors. That's great. I'll also return to the Queens World Film Festival, so look out for that. Busy times ahead.

No links last month means you get more this month:

Kristina interviews a filmmaker who looks for the connections between film and fine art.

FlixChatter Ruth provides an update on her debut film in progress.

Phyllis loves Carole Lombard's jewels.

Silver Screenings Ruth proves Erich von Stroheim was no dummy, even if he talked to one.

Fritzi goes deep in her analysis of a Paul Robeson melodrama.

Le reads Buster Keaton's autobiography.

Paddy, meanwhile, reads three books inspired by Keaton.

Dick van Dyke on Mary Tyler Moore.

Glenn Close is reviving Sunset Boulevard for the stage.

Finally, this isn't directly movie related, but the next time you watch a video at home, try cooking up this recipe for caramel marshmallow popcorn.

Lust for Life

The Kirk Douglas Blogathon is an event honoring the life and career of the actor-producer on the centennial of his birth, hosted by Shadows and Satin. For a complete list of participating bloggers, visit the link at the host site.

Lust for Life
library rental

When I ran a Google search on the name Vincent van Gogh, I was surprised at the number of recent articles about or related to him. For instance: there's a new book out containing previously-unseen drawings of his that some people say are fakes. Another new book about the 19th-century Dutch painter claims he cut off his ear because his brother Theo was getting married. A third new book claims the Metropolitan Museum of Art's VVG painting is fake too. Plus, there's an upcoming VVG biopic requiring over 60,000 original oil paintings to animate.

Over a century after his death, the strange life and brilliant career of VVG continues to captivate modern art lovers and incite discussion. Despite his talent, the dude had some serious mental issues. He was the original tortured artist. The theories as to why he was the way he was abound: he was bipolar; he was epileptic; he was a mama's boy; etc. It's unlikely we'll ever know the truth.

The Gathering of the Greatest: HB's 'Super Adventure'

The One of My All-Time Favorite Cartoons Blogathon is exactly what it says on the tin. It is hosted by Movie Movie Blog Blog. For a complete list of participating bloggers, visit the link at the host site.

First, we have to talk about the main title.

I mean, I could spend this entire post talking about the main title. It's tempting, but I won't. We really do have to start there, though.

Picture the following scenario in your mind. I must insist you do this because it will help you get into the proper frame of mind to best appreciate today's topic.

Okay. You are ten years old. You are beginning to get into superheroes for the first time. You've already dipped your toe into the world of Marvel Comics and are still wading in the shallow end. You've seen Superman on TV and loved it, though even at that age, you have the vague impression a superhero movie like that only comes along once in a generation. You dig Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, but even as a kid, you can sense its cheesiness. Superfriends might be better if they weren't trying to teach you a lesson all the time. Battle of the Planets rocks, but to watch it, you have to get up at 5:30 in the morning.

So one bright Saturday AM, you go into the living room with your bowl of Fruit Loops, plop down on the couch, turn on the TV, and see THIS:

Fantastic links and where to find them

Things have been going good lately. I've been on a bit of a tear with the novel, which is why I took another week off from here. I had to force myself to break away from it in order to keep the blog going! I feel like I understand my characters better now, especially my female lead. I had been sort of feeling my way through her central conflict for awhile, but then bolt-of-lightning inspiration struck. My scenes are getting longer as a result because I have more to say. I'm still a long way from calling this manuscript finished, though.

Meanwhile, I've also been honing my culinary abilities, such as they are. I got my mother's old crock pot out of mothballs and after at least two decades of inactivity, it still works. I've made a bacon & corn chowder and a chicken parmesan pasta with the crock pot using recipes found on cooking blogs. They both turned out pretty good.

The support from my Facebook friends continues to amaze me. Not the support itself - I've got some terrific friends - but the strong opinions that cooking seems to engender. They say too many cooks spoil the broth, but that hasn't happened to me yet. All the advice I've been getting so far has been useful. My only regret is that I never learned how to cook when I was living in Columbus. I went grocery shopping every week, but almost never for food I could cook (as opposed to heat up in a microwave). I might have saved a fair amount of money if I had!

Three blogathon posts this month, including two in one weekend. I may have a lot of new releases too; it's that time of year. I know I won't be able to see everything, though. I never can. Also, the Alamo Drafthouse has finally opened in Brooklyn. I hope to write about my first movie there very soon.

Also, I wanna send a shout-out and good luck wishes to Ruth from the blog Silver Screenings. She's taking on NaNoWriMo this year. As you probably know, the novel I'm working on was the result of my experience with this annual novel-writing challenge. I think everyone who enjoys writing and wants to push their talent and creativity in strange and unexpected new directions should give it a try. It's not for everyone, but those who attempt it will learn a few new things about themselves and their work. 

Your links:

Le talks about the slapstick tradition in Brazilian cinema.

Paddy, guest blogging at Jacqueline's site, provides a Canadian perspective on American cinema.

Ivan reviews two books about essential genre cinema.

Raquel reviews a restored film noir from Argentinian cinema.

Jennifer strolls through haunted houses in classic horror cinema.

Bring me the head of Christopher Walken!

Robin Williams loved bicycles. (subscription required)

A parent-child relationship examined through the lens of Back to the Future.

Cinematic sex and violence, female edition: a critical discourse. (NSFW)

Finally, in honor of the end of the Obama administration, here's an interview where he talks Star Trek. It has been eight great years. Let's hope the next four are just as good.

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

The Birth of a Nation (2016)
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens NY

Kyle Baker is a cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for both Marvel and DC, as well as other comics publishers, creating a wide variety of comics and graphic novels. Why am I bringing him up here, in a post about the new movie The Birth of a Nation? Simple. Among Baker's body of work includes a graphic novel about Nat Turner and a graphic novel called Birth of a Nation. I can't talk about this new movie without mentioning him.

Nation came out first, in 2004. He illustrated the story co-written by Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder and film director Reginald Hudlin. It's a comedy about a predominantly black town that secedes from the United States to form their own independent nation. 

A few highlights: their national anthem is a parody of the theme from Good Times; there's a spirited debate over whether Biggie Smalls or Tupac Shakur belong on their currency; and there's a running joke about picking up chicks at Planned Parenthood. There are serious moments as well, including talk about black disenfranchisement and the meaning of patriotism. It's full of the same socio-political humor that made McGruder's Boondocks a successful comic strip and animated series. Baker's color art is organic and lively, with appealing shapes and sensuous, dynamic line work, rendered in lush, bright colors.

Nat Turner came out in single-issue form beginning in 2007, before the collected edition was released a year later. If you know Baker's art, you're bound to recognize Turner as his, but the style is a marked contrast to Nation. The black and white art is sketchier, starker, like the fever dream of a dying man. Even within the raw images, you can detect Baker's fine, trained hand, his eye for fluidity of form and his ability to communicate with pictures. This is key...

...because Turner contains almost no dialogue from Baker. The only text comes from the memoir The Confessions of Nat Turner, written while the 19th century slave rebel was in prison, after his brief insurrection was put down. Baker uses his art to build a narrative from the bare bones of Turner's text, covering the man's life. It includes the depiction of Africans caught by white hunters, their middle passage by sea to America, and their sale as slaves. Reading the book is not unlike watching a silent movie.

Baker initially self-published Turner despite having no experience. As a former comics self-publisher, I can testify to the extreme difficulty involved in getting your book noticed by a marketplace that perpetually glorifies 50-70-year-old juvenile power fantasies featuring steroid cases in long underwear created by white men. Baker was part of the corporate machine that grinds out those comics week after week for a long time. In the afterword to the collected edition of Turner, he says he had to learn how to self-publish, to start and sustain a business, on his own, something many would-be Stan Lees almost never take the time to do beforehand. I didn't!

It's this DIY spirit (and absolutely NOTHING ELSE) that links Baker, I believe, to Nate Parker, the producer-writer-director-star of Nation the movie. Parker was an established Hollywood actor who had been in some stuff (including Red Hook Summer and Beyond the Lights). He put up $100,000 out of his own pocket to fund this film, which conquered Sundance and looked like as sure a Best Picture Oscar contender as I've ever seen... but. (I'll return to that "but" in a moment.)

In Parker's Nation, we see alleged child of destiny Turner (played as an adult by Parker), a slave, educated by a white woman through the Bible. He becomes a Christian preacher. His owner pimps Turner out to other slave owners so Turner can use God's word to keep other slaves - his own people - submissive. When he has his my-god-what-have-I-done moment, however, he chooses to employ that same Bible to justify his bloody revolt.

It's this sort of thing that once again, makes me believe religion is far more trouble than it's worth. If God exists and the Bible is his inspiration, it was still written by mortal men. Throughout the centuries, far too many people took from it only what they chose and used it for their own ends. One group of people used the Bible to enslave another group and to keep them on their knees. The enslaved used it to throw off their chains and reclaim their lives. In both cases, the result is persecution and murder. In God's name.

They can't both be right. Can they?

So here is the aforementioned "but": it would seem Parker has gotten himself into some serious trouble, to say the least. I saw Nation unaware of the scandal. I found out about it the day after seeing the film, and I like to think I wrote about it objectively. I, however, am not an Academy voter.

I hope the allegations are untrue, for the sake of the women involved, and also for the sake of everyone else who participated in making Nation. Parker may or may not be guilty. His cast and crew, however, should not suffer for his sins. This is an important film. I hope the Academy will judge it fairly.

Matt Jefferies

To a generation accustomed to images of Sputnik and the Apollo lunar rockets, not to mention countless "flying saucer" images of UFOs, as representative of space travel, the sight of the original Enterprise must have challenged the imagination. It has a kind of saucer at the front, but then it extends downward to a shape similar to a rocket with the nose cut off, and then there are those two big tubes sticking out of the back.

It was an original and highly distinctive look for a spaceship. Looking at it after a moment, it starts to suggest the idea of flight, with those tubes flaring out like wings, and the saucer up front reminding the viewer of a UFO. The disc-like shape below is evocative of the headlight of a car, or even a figurehead, like on a sailing ship. Do you see the recurring theme? Objects designed to put people in motion, to suggest transportation, while being something entirely new.

If you like the look of the Enterprise, you have Matt Jefferies to thank. He served as art designer/production designer for TOS. He designed the ship, as well as the bridge, the ship's interiors, alien planet landscapes, and more. When you hear someone on the show refer to a ship's "Jefferies tubes," they're named for him.

What you have to remember when looking at TOS is, they had to maximize every dollar of the limited budget with which they worked. Often, that meant using and reusing sets, redressing them for alternate scenes, scavenging the studio lot for discarded items that could be used on a set. Jefferies made it work just enough to sustain the illusion of life on a starship or an alien world. Imagination did the rest.

Producer Robert Justman, in the book he co-authored with executive producer Herb Solow, Inside Star Trek, described Jefferies thus:

...Matt Jefferies was the most decent and devoted human being on the production team. He never lost his cool, never lost his temper. His eyes got watery and he would find it difficult to speak when an over-budget show forced me to take away half his construction money. And I'd demand the impossible, that he still provide us with believable sets for less money than it should cost. He'd gulp a bit and finally say, in a very throaty voice, "Well... let me see what I can do. I'll give it a try." So Matt would try harder, and he always came through for us.

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Previously:
DC Fontana
Gene Coon

Suicide links

I was gonna write this month about the new Star Trek series, Discovery, but the news out of Comic-Con was less than I expected. Bryan Fuller says he wants to "strike new ground" with this show, and I believe him. I just wish he was doing it on regular TV and not some special subscription service. Bibi and I talked about Discovery briefly when I saw Beyond with her and Eric, and she's not thrilled about having to pay to see it either. No point in complaining about it now, I guess. I'll watch the free premiere episode and after that... I dunno.

In the meantime, we got the 30 Days of Star Trek coming up here next month. This is gonna be a real challenge, blogging 30 consecutive posts. I've already started writing the first week and a half's worth, and I'm trying to limit what I want to say, but sometimes it's hard. And now I just signed up for a blogathon that happens the first weekend of October, so I gotta make sure I leave time for that too. Oy! But at least I know you're out there reading. July's pageview count was the third-highest in WSW history. Thank you, again. I hope I can keep you guys interested.

Last Wednesday, the 27th, I saw Dog Day Afternoon at Riverside Park's Pier 1 (the hostess kept calling it Pier I as in eye), but I'm not gonna devote a post to it - too many other things I wanna get to before September - but I figure I'll mention it here. Still a great movie, as if there was any doubt. There was this European (I think) couple in front of me who must have thought this was a romantic comedy, because they couldn't stop kissing, before and during the movie. I had to move up front so I wouldn't have to look at them. Weird.

Your links:

Paddy connects the dots between two great Hollywood actresses and one great stage actress, Shirley Booth.

Le explains why she relates to the movie Freaks.

Danny reviews an interesting book about film marketing in the studio era.

Ivan writes about Gene Roddenberry's pre-Star Trek show, The Lieutenant.

And keeping the Trek theme going, Jennifer describes what Dr. McCoy means to her as a Southerner.

Pam digs Astoria's own Christopher Walken.

Check out this tag-team "jam" short story written by a number of notable film bloggers, starring Cary Grant, Mae West, and other Hollywood Golden Agers.

An update on the ongoing restoration of the Loew's Jersey City theater.