Cultural Gap Film #9: Footloose

Relevant elements: The music, Kevin Bacon really breaking out, the idea of a repressive town outlawing whatever it is the kids like these days

Why it resonated: I'd guess it was the music and overall energy

General comments on the film: The biggest surprise to me was just how small the stakes really were in this film. I knew the basic premise going in--city boy comes to a small town and ruffles feathers with his desire to dance--but I thought there would be a huge and life-threatening confrontation looming. Instead, the inspirational moment comes in a town council meeting (!?) when the young protagonist makes a Bible-quoting speech, except he has already lost in his attempt to overturn the ban on dancing. That is not the grandest battle ever filmed, especially since the loss is kind of moot anyway, as they just move the dance they're planning so it's a few feet past the township line. Even John Lithgow's stodgy reverend ends up being a fairly reasonable guy who stops people from burning books and is persuaded by gentle explanations that teenagers will do bad things whether or not you let them dance. How do you not let Lithgow breathe fire and chew scenery? Nobody ever wants a reasonable Lithgow.

And so we get the triumphant climax of the film: a bunch of yokels have a school dance...in a blizzard of glitter. That brings me to the most redeeming quality of this film: its unintentionally enjoyable goofiness. First off, what kind of a name is Ren? Also, the teenage deathwish scenes are just laughable, and the apparent epitome of the pernicious effects of rock music on youths is "Dancing in the Sheets"? And what about the classic and unexplainable scenes like Ren and his buddy laying out some exposition for us while practicing a high bar routine or Ren getting so angry at the town's narrowness that he just has to drive to a warehouse and dance it out (with a little more high bar action for good measure). The "romance" storyline is just as perplexing, as seen in one sequence in which Ren comforts Ariel after her boyfriend pummels her, only to chastise her for turning his fight into her own act of rebellion against her father, to which she responds by giving him a wooden music box and insisting that they finally kiss. 

I must admit that the soundtrack is striking. It's basically like someone pressed the "scan" button on 1984. I had no idea that most of these songs were in this movie, except of course the title track, which popped up enough times that I started flashing back to "Moon River" in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Even the musical element seemed a bit odd to me, though, because the people in the town don't dress like they're from the '80s, and they seem equally enthusiastic about every song they hear, regardless of the widely divergent genres offered. In the end, I suppose the idea is that no matter what kind of music and no matter what people do to oppose it, the rhythm is gonna get you. And make you find the nearest industrial building in which to cavort.    

Cultural Gap Film #8: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Relevant elements: Audrey Hepburn's image and style

Why it resonated: The main character's free-spirited self-invention captured the cultural moment of the early 1960s

General comments on the film: Of all the films on my list, I might have had the worst grip on what the movie was actually about for this one. I haven't seen Titanic, but I know the main plot points. The same goes for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and just about every other remaining film. But as I sat down to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's, I realized I had no clear idea of the scenario, plot, or characters. The only preconceptions I had were the iconic image of Audrey Hepburn in a black dress with pearls, a dramatic updo, and a cigarette holder, and the knowledge that Mickey Rooney played an offensive Asian stereotype. Although I'd heard Deep Blue Something's pop song of the same name about three billion times, that tune doesn't actually provide any details about the film other than the fact that the people in the song "both kinda liked it."

Imagine my surprise when a host of recognizable actors' names popped up in the credits: George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen.... And "Moon River" was from this movie! Why didn't I know more about this? As for the plot, it turns out to be a fairly recognizable, if implausible, masterplot: young country girl escapes her restrictive and boring existence by running away to the big city and taking on a sophisticated persona. Throw in a struggling writer straight man, and the formula is complete.

The details, however, are what make this movie striking. The fashion, dialogue, and overall atmosphere of the burgeoning "swinging '60s" feel just right to capture the cultural moment. I kept imagining the creators of Mad Men pausing the DVD to scribble down visual details. Actually, you could say that this film chimes with that series in an important way, as Don Draper's identity switch echoes that of Holly Golightly pretty loudly.

I wish that some version of "Moon River" didn't play every ten minutes (--speaking of not really knowing much detail about something coming in, I'd never really listened past the first line of that song, so can somebody tell me what the heck a "huckleberry friend" is?), and the looking-for-the-cat-in-the-rain romantic ending was cheap and undercut the impact of the narrative, but overall I have to say that I kinda liked the film, too.