Relevant elements: Crazy families at weddings, the phrasing "my big fat [x]"
Why it resonated: People find weddings dramatically interesting, and most people think their own families are embarrassing
General comments on the film: There's really not much to say about the artistic merits of the film, but it's worth considering how this little movie became a massive box office winner in 2002. Its comedy is broad and sitcommy, so it's not like audiences were struck by its genius, and the star power is of very low wattage--it's not like people were lining up to see John Corbett.
So how did this unremarkable work deliver one of the best returns on investment of its time? Why did it become a word-of-mouth phenomenon? There are several factors, but I think the most significant one is that the movie's depiction of a big, loud, overwhelming, and often embarrassing family during the planning and execution of a wedding appealed to people in two ways. Either they thought to themselves, "That's just like my family!" or they said, "What a zany over-the-top ethnic family! They're so different and cute!" In other words, the film courts both identification and spectacle. Leaving aside the question of stereotyping and cultural sensitivity, it presents what many "non-ethnic" people probably imagine these kinds of families are actually like. Having the hook of a wedding doesn't hurt either, especially for the target demographic of the movie.
I guess it's not surprising that interest in this kind of cultural tourism didn't have much staying power: the 2003 TV spinoff series My Big Fat Greek Life lasted only seven episodes. On the other hand, there are at the moment a handful of "My Big...Wedding" shows on television, and one could argue that the current wave of Italian/New Jersey programs are part of the legacy of this film. So...thanks?
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Cultural Gap Film #13: The Great Escape
Why it resonated: Who wouldn't love to watch indomitable Allied officers try to stick it to Nazis, especially with an all-star cast of macho men?
General comments on the film: Going into this film, I only knew a few things about it: the infectiously whistleable theme song, the fact that it's about trying to escape from a Nazi POW camp, and the presence of Steve McQueen. These factors, combined with the title, led me to expect a grim but gloriously triumphant tale, but that is not what I got.
The film's nearly three-hour runtime pretty much splits into two movies: a mostly-comedy about planning the escape and an action movie about what happens after the prisoners bolt. The lightheartedness of the first half was slightly surprising, but what I really didn't see coming was how badly the whole caper would turn out in the second part. The original scheme aims for breaking 250 prisoners out of the camp to at least force the Nazis to waste manpower in recapturing them, but they only manage 76 before the machinations fall apart. Of those 76, we only see three potentially succeed in getting out of Germany, and 50 are killed. The film plays up the moral victory of momentarily escaping from what was supposed to be an un-escapable prison and causing a bit of enemy consternation, but it wouldn't be unfair to argue that it was more of a "great try" than a "great escape."
Of course, the movie is constrained by its being based on a true story, and what the prisoners manage to do is really impressive, but if it were remade today, there's no way the film would end with Steve McQueen and James Garner back in the POW camp (although they'd probably still have Donald Pleasance shot). A modern production would undoubtedly only be satisfied with the audience thinking, "Yeah! Take that, Nazis!" Instead, this film leaves you thinking, "Gee, the SS isn't very sporting, executing POWs like that rather than treating them like gentlemen officers like the Luftwaffe does."
Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining about any of this. The lack of a riding-off-into-the-sunset conclusion by no means makes this an unsatisfying film. I was just expecting more of a victory along the lines of Victory (1981) instead of a final scene in which one of the most charismatic tough guy actors of the time ends up right where he started--locked in an isolation cell.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Cultural Gap Film #12: Gone with the Wind
Relevant elements: Scarlett and Rhett, Tara, Civil War setting, making a dress out of curtains, "I don't know nothing about birthing babies," "Frankly, my dear..."
Why it resonated: The film took a wildly popular novel and applied the state of the art of filmmaking to adapting it, so it's no surprise that this became an instant classic.
General comments on the film: Several things have kept me from viewing this film until now: its four-hour runtime, my allergy to romantic visions of the Old South, a feeling that I was already familiar with the important parts of it, and so on. The only thing motivating me to watch it was guilt about skipping one of the pillars of film history, and that wasn't enough to overcome the list of cons.
Now that I've seen it, I can say that the things that made me avoid it for so long were certainly present in the film, but I was surprised in both positive and negative ways by other elements. Let me get the negatives out of the way. Even though it's a period piece, the film's gratuitous references to the antebellum code of gentility (riding in buggies in the afternoon without a chaperon is scandalous, young ladies take naps at parties, etc.) start to grate after a while, but not nearly as much as the general shrillness of the movie. And I'm not just talking about Prissy, although I quickly began to wish the collector's edition I was watching were a special version that automatically muted all of her lines. A full half of the characters seem to speak only in melodramatic shrieks and squawks, which I blame partly on the conventions of acting at the time but still find nerve-rattling.
On the other hand, it was fun to see the scale of the film's technical ambition, even when its process shots didn't quite succeed. Though it was used to the point that a third of the movie felt like it was shot in silhouette, some of the shadows-against-an-orange-sky shots were exquisite in terms of creating the perfect atmosphere. And that's to say nothing of justly famous passages like the slow crane pullback to reveal hundreds of Confederate wounded (and nearly as many obvious dummies). Despite being overstuffed with soap opera beats, especially in its last third, the film left me impressed with its ability to maintain a compelling story for such a long time, especially when compared to some of today's hit movies that gasp across the 86-minute finish line. This is a film that announces its grandeur right from the start and never lets you forget just how big it is, but while that often drags a movie down or turns it into a parody, somehow Gone with the Wind manages to bear up under its own weight, and that is no small accomplishment.
Why it resonated: The film took a wildly popular novel and applied the state of the art of filmmaking to adapting it, so it's no surprise that this became an instant classic.
General comments on the film: Several things have kept me from viewing this film until now: its four-hour runtime, my allergy to romantic visions of the Old South, a feeling that I was already familiar with the important parts of it, and so on. The only thing motivating me to watch it was guilt about skipping one of the pillars of film history, and that wasn't enough to overcome the list of cons.
Now that I've seen it, I can say that the things that made me avoid it for so long were certainly present in the film, but I was surprised in both positive and negative ways by other elements. Let me get the negatives out of the way. Even though it's a period piece, the film's gratuitous references to the antebellum code of gentility (riding in buggies in the afternoon without a chaperon is scandalous, young ladies take naps at parties, etc.) start to grate after a while, but not nearly as much as the general shrillness of the movie. And I'm not just talking about Prissy, although I quickly began to wish the collector's edition I was watching were a special version that automatically muted all of her lines. A full half of the characters seem to speak only in melodramatic shrieks and squawks, which I blame partly on the conventions of acting at the time but still find nerve-rattling.
On the other hand, it was fun to see the scale of the film's technical ambition, even when its process shots didn't quite succeed. Though it was used to the point that a third of the movie felt like it was shot in silhouette, some of the shadows-against-an-orange-sky shots were exquisite in terms of creating the perfect atmosphere. And that's to say nothing of justly famous passages like the slow crane pullback to reveal hundreds of Confederate wounded (and nearly as many obvious dummies). Despite being overstuffed with soap opera beats, especially in its last third, the film left me impressed with its ability to maintain a compelling story for such a long time, especially when compared to some of today's hit movies that gasp across the 86-minute finish line. This is a film that announces its grandeur right from the start and never lets you forget just how big it is, but while that often drags a movie down or turns it into a parody, somehow Gone with the Wind manages to bear up under its own weight, and that is no small accomplishment.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)