Apples kick orange’s ass
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Jock existential crisis, boo boo I can’t be mvp of the homecoming game forever
That shit’s deep, bro
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So for starters a movie can have MULTIPLE readings and readings that seem contradictory can be true at the same time.
“I’m not so sure that I agree that a film trying to say something about a “universal truth” is problematic. Isn’t good art supposed to be saying something about ourselves on a fundamental level?”
The part that’s problematic is what the movie is saying is a universal truth. It can come down to universal truth for who? Does this movie speak to universal truths for women? Does it pass the Bechdel test?
Also bad art often thinks it’s saying something about ourselves on a fundamental level.
What I’m talking about is that subtext matters. Also author involvement in a work should be taken for consideration.
Cory wrote a great article that articulates this last bit very well about a work of fiction that claims to be making unassailable universal truths. It’s short and highly recommended.
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You are very passionate for someone who admits they may have misremembered the film.
It has nothing to do with many of the themes you’ve associated with it – this movie is nothing like Porky’s or Animal House except for a college town setting.
It has some serious problems. They are not the ones you’ve identified so passionately. Dave totally lies to a woman to convince her to date him and not someone else.
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Yup. I used to like it for those reasons, and maybe still do.
Or it might just seem too constructed and built for me. One of these days I’m going to write my long article on “reality authenticity” that 60s and 70s films have.
It has nothing to do with feelings 13-16 year old suburban white boys feel.
Got it, didn’t know I was reading it wrong.
EDIT<<
Now that I think about it Animal House def has a jock vs. non-jock theme in it. Guys sticking together. Women as objects. Isn’t Porky’s a coming of age story too?
I get it. I’m being a bit snarky, well maybe a quite a bit snarky.
You can like the movie. It’s fine.
I just like to throw alternatives to typical readings of movies out there for the lurkers. And Yoyodyne.
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Banzai Institute vs Yoyodyne… yep, checks out
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It’s about 18 years olds. And while the viewpoint is undeniably male and doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, the themes of the characters’ angst are mostly around class and economics rather than the imagined suffering of a generic male.
I’m all about the snark.
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With all due respect, it might be that your memory of all the movies in question may not be the strongest.
I don’t think I’m any closer to figuring out what you think is problematic here.
Well, to be fair, most movies sound a little trite if you’re reductive enough.
Mob existential crisis, boo boo I can’t stay out of the family business forever.
Beach town cop existential crisis, boo boo there’s a big fish swimming around and people might not be able to swim.
Popular girl existential crisis, boo boo my mean friends are terrible people and my boyfriend is killing them.
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Relax, he’ll get his chance to be a sports star when he’s middle aged. Albeit in a different sport.
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This really is a college town. More so now than when that was filmed, we’ve lost the major blue-collar employers and they’re (probably) not coming back.
It’s shocking how much of what was filmed is still here… and also shocking how much is not. The Stoller house is right across the street from me – the owner keeps it looking like it did, and bicyclists come to pay homage fairly often.
BTW, the truck/bike scene on the highway, IN 37 close to Martinsville… just recently that became part of I69. No more bikes on that road! (Not that it was very often bicycled before… ) The (crushed) limestone business around here got a big temporary boost. Lots of little quarries reopened for a while. Several of the biggest building materials quarries are still open here and in Bedford… though their workers were never called “Cutters”, that’s fabricated.
I feel like the town/gown separation is growing these decades. “Every year it’s never gonna be me” – someone with opportunity, a chance at an improved life… That’s starting to feel like an epitaph for the middle class, of any age.
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Does waking up as a giant cockroach count?
I hate when that happens
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Yeah! Going Goth is half the fun!
I mean look at Dennis Quaid now, doing insurance commercials. Talk about a cutter. Fame is mean.
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I got to see this as a sneak in an absolutely packed theater. The crowd just went wild over it, it was so damn good Then they released it and the marketing for it just sucked. The film didn’t do as well as it should have.
Also: “Hey kid, punch the clock!”
ETA: Anyone remember the TV series? Starred Sean Cassidy.
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I wouldn’t call it ‘fun’ exactly; but if you strike ‘go all goth’ and replace with ‘appear like the blatantly unemployable fodder for the “social safety net” you may well be, with predictable consequences’ the incentive is vastly more evident and compelling.
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I clicked through and was surprised it was not another Jeff Goldblum video
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“the last time boomers thought they were cool”
SEE ALSO: The Big Chill and thirtysomething
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Stealth JG video.
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/me hesitantly raises his hand
Though most of my memories of that time are of the Six Million Dollar Man, MAS*H and Happy Days. And a lot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, and NBC Mystery Movie.
My first exposure to the movie was in the novelisation. It was one of those books that we all bought the Scholastic paperback of and then went over it in class. Do they still do things like that in elementary school?
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