[rescue] Bad UPS II: The Sad Mac

[velociraptor]

On 10/7/05, Charles Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com> wrote:
> velociraptor wrote:
> > Kubrick never intended to be subtle in his commentary on the
> > frailty and inadequacy of human language and communication.
>
> Well, we see different things then.  I think some of his stuff was very
> subtle, certainly moreso than this one.
>
> I like Kubrick, just not that movie.  To me, this is a lot different
> than his other work, and not among his best.
>
> I found that some of it went too far over the top or was too absurd.
> There is a point at which exaggeration loses the message instead of
> reinforcing it, and tends to drop the viewer out of the movie instead of
> keeping their attention.
>
> Of course, I don't tend to like exaggerated humor as a medium for ideas
> except in rare circumstances anyway, so it may be that more than
> anything else.

I think this is more a matter of personal taste myself.  Sometimes
you have to hit people with a trout to get them to get the point.

> > Every single movie he made concerns the topic.
>
> Can't agree with you there, and can't imagine what makes you say that.
>
> Kubrick talked about and covered a lot more themes than just that.  The
> theme of human language and communication failures is not exactly rare,
> and all films that feature are going to be about that to a degree.

I didn't say that he didn't cover other themes, I said that every movie
has the language theme.  Though I do consider the inadequacy of
human language to be his primary theme in the major works of 2001,
Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange.  Watch these films and note the
juxtaposition of music and spoken words, and his emphasis becomes
quite clear.

On some days I rue the skeleton-picking bent that six years of literary
analysis gave me (BA in English plus a close shave with a MA in
English--a mere 6 credits shy).  Though, I can now go to the lowest of
low-brow action flicks and generate interesting critical conversation
that goes beyond, "Wow, those blue screens sucked," or "Geez, could
they have used more explosives in 90 minues?"  :-D

=Nadine=