July 15, 2006 at 11:40 am (Film and Myth)
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Only In Hollywood
It’s time for the envelopes, please. Tango hands out the Oscars for Most Dangerous Romantic Movie Myths
My friend Michelle and her on-again-off-again were off. Again. She complained that he just wasn’t going to the right lengths to win her back. “I need a big gesture,” she said. “I need roses. I need tears. I need Lloyd Dobler on the front lawn with a boom box raised over his head.”
Another friend, Laura, had not met anyone even halfway decent in months, and was starting to wonder if her best friend, Tiny Tony — a sweetheart who is unfortunately short, bald, and bulbous — might be the guy for her after all. “I’ve never been attracted to him or anything,” she said. “But maybe it’s a When Harry Met Sally situation. Maybe we’re meant to be and I just haven’t noticed.”
After almost 15 years as a faithful fan of romantic comedies, I’ve come to a painful conclusion: The movies we watch to supplement our love lives are actually sabotaging them. They make us wonder why our ex hasn’t appeared in our yard playing “In Your Eyes” at midnight even though, if he did so, we’d file for a restraining order, not a marriage license. They lead us to believe that an older, more sophisticated man who criticizes the way we look/talk/ dress will fall madly in love with our made-over selves — if it was good enough for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, it’s good enough for us.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:35 am (Film and Myth, Star Wars)
Star Wars as Personal Mythology
by Jonathan Young
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Once again, an installment of the Star Wars series has become a movie event of galactic proportions. The spiritual underpinnings of the story have been widely recognized as a clear part of its enormous appeal. There has been much discussion on the mythic dimensions of the film. Now that the commotion has settled down, perhaps it is a good time to reflect on the implications of the tale for those interested in the life of the soul.
Early in the film, an imposing spacecraft is speeding through the darkness between planets. There is a crisis, and two Jedi Knights are on their way to help. The call to adventure is similar in all these movies because it matches experiences that are known to the audience. The events that cause us to develop strengths often begin as bad news. Something calls us to solve a problem, or survive an ordeal, and through this difficult process, we find that we are capable of more than we thought.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:33 am (Film and Myth, Star Wars)
Galactic gasbag
Beneath all the pseudo-mythic Joseph Campbell hogwash, the roots of George Lucas’ empire lie not in “The Odyssey” but in classic and pulp 20th century sci-fi.
By Steven Hart
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April 10, 2002 | Another “Star Wars” movie, “Episode Two: Attack of the Clones,” is about to hit the cineplexes. As with all cosmological phenomena, certain strange and even frightening things are likely to happen as the event horizon draws near.
Hardcore fans will prepare for opening night by polishing their toy light sabers and getting their Darth Vader costumes taken out an inch or so. Fast-food joints and toy stores will fill up with merchandise bearing the faces of alien creatures. And some gullible middlebrow — most likely Bill Moyers — will once again recite the pseudo-religious doctrine that attributes the phenomenal success of the series to producer-director George Lucas’ skill at tapping underground streams of ancient legends, using Joseph Campbell’s work in comparative mythology as his dowsing rod.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:31 am (Film and Myth, Star Wars)
An American Mythology: Why Star Wars Still Matters
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Note: This essay, which was written for Catholic World Report magazine, is partly based on reviews and essays that have previously appeared at Decent Films and in the National Catholic Register.
By Steven D. Greydanus
The circle is complete.
The saga that began in midstream over a quarter century ago with Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi — also known to aficionados as Episodes IV, V, and VI, respectively — has at last come to a close with the May release of Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, the third and final installment in the new trilogy of “prequels” detailing the back story to the original trilogy.
Though the new prequels have been widely contrasted unfavorably with the original trilogy, the Star Wars universe remains a cultural institution of immense proportions. Its impact on Hollywood alone has been incalculable. It’s impossible to imagine Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Matrix, or The Lord of the Rings without Star Wars. In fact, Lucas’s bitterest critics charge Star Wars with nothing less than “ruining” Hollywood by turning it from the gritty, “relevant” sophistication of films like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and Annie Hall toward juvenile fantasy, spectacle, and romanticism.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:18 am (Children's Literature and Film, Christianity, Film and Myth, Narnia)
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VERJEE: The new film “The Chronicles of Narnia” tells the tale of four children who tumble through the door of a magical wardrobe, then they discover a wondrous land where animals speak and unicorns roam.
CLANCY: Sounds really good. On the surface, “The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe,” the whole setup doesn’t seem to be deeply spiritual story. But why are the marketers focusing so much on religious undertones as they promote the film?
Delia Gallagher has more on that.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:14 am (Children's Literature and Film, Film and Myth)
‘Nemo’ fans net fish warning
Animal welfare groups cite concerns in latest film pet craze
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(CNN) –The hit Disney movie “Finding Nemo” is bringing smiles and sales to pet stores, where clownfish, blue tangs and aquarium accessories are flying off the shelves.
But the retailers’ glee contrasts with a sense of frustration among animal welfare activists.
“Probably every shelter in the world cringes when a pet gets hot in the movies, on TV or in a commercial,” said Kathy Bauch of the Humane Society of the United States.
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July 15, 2006 at 11:12 am (Film and Myth, Star Wars)
The Gospel of Star Wars
Posted by JediToren
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 12:03:21 AM
What constitutes the truth, or canon, of Star Wars according to Lucasfilm?
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One of the most heated debates in the world of Star Wars fandom is the issue of what is considered true, or canon, in the Star Wars Universe. As geeky as it may sound, these debates frequently get as intense as debates on the Christian/Catholic canon. The issue has been around since Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was first published a few months after the release of Star Wars, but it didn’t really become a major issue until the 90’s, when Lucasfilm began authorizing whole series of novels and comic books depicting the further adventures of our heros, as well as exploring the ancient history of the galaxy in the Tales of the Jedi comic books.
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December 26, 2005 at 3:32 pm (Film and Myth)
The Times
October 15, 2005
Shoot to kill
By Danuta Kean
Writers, beware Hollywood producers bearing cheques. You may not recognise the film that results
EVEN BEFORE GRIFFIN MILL landed a killer punch on David Kahane, the screenwriter in Michael Tolkin’s novel The Player, readers had known that Hollywood is not kind to writers.
If you are the author of a novel adapted to film, the experience can be even more brutal, which is why John le Carré gives a robust warning: “There has never been a more difficult time for authors to deal with the film industry, because there are so many arseholes functioning in it who should not be near it.”
Not that the creator of George Smiley and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold feels bitter about his latest adaptation, The Constant Gardener, with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, which opens The Times bfi London Film Festival on Wednesday. Far from it. “It was a very positive experience and quite unlike any other I’ve had with an adaptation,” he says.
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December 26, 2005 at 3:31 pm (Children's Literature and Film, Christianity, Film and Myth, Narnia, Pullman/His Dark Materials)
Pullman attacks Narnia film plans
Author Philip Pullman has attacked plans to turn The Chronicles of Narnia into a movie series, calling CS Lewis’ books “racist” and “misogynistic”.
The first film in the series – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – is due to be released in December.
His Dark Materials author Pullman said the 1950s stories were “reactionary”.
“If the Disney corporation wants to market this film as a great Christian story, they’ll just have to tell lies about it,” he told The Observer.
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December 26, 2005 at 3:30 pm (Children's Literature and Film, Christianity, Film and Myth, Narnia, Pullman/His Dark Materials)
Holy war looms over Disney’s Narnia epic
As the UK prepares for a CS Lewis movie blockbuster this Christmas, a row has broken out about its Christian message
by Paul Harris
Sunday October 16, 2005
The Observer
To millions The Chronicles of Narnia are a childhood tale of wonder and triumph now made into a film that could inspire millions of children to read. To others, including the celebrated fantasy author Philip Pullman, they are stories of racism and thinly veiled religious propaganda that will corrupt children rather than inspiring them.
Either way, one thing is certain: this Christmas, and perhaps the next six, depending on sequels, everyone will be talking about Narnia. Disney is already in the middle of one of the biggest marketing campaigns in recent cinematic history. It is trying to lure both mainstream filmgoers and evangelical Christians, who will respond to CS Lewis’s parallels between his characters and the Bible. HarperCollins is set to publish 170 Lewis-related books in more than 60 countries, many of them Christian-themed works. Disney has hired Christian marketing groups to handle the film.
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