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Saturday, August 11, 2007Alternate endingsOkay, what's the deal with "alternate endings"? All the DVDs being released these days advertise alternate endings. Do we really want that? Personally, I want to know how the story ends. Just tell me! If there are three different endings, how do I know which one is real? I remember when the movie Clue came out in 1985, and theaters were playing three different endings across the country. I felt cheated. How would I know if I got the "right" ending?! That's the point of suspended disbelief, right? We, the readers (or viewers) are swept into an alternate reality for a brief period of time, where the characters are "real" and the events are "really happening." Imagine if Margaret Mitchell gave an alternate ending for Gone with the Wind (Scarlett finds another guy?)? What if, in one version, the Great Gatsby turned out to just another rich guy? What if Thelma and Louise stopped at the edge of the cliff? They may be fictional characters, but if a writer has gone to all the trouble to make them real to us, shouldn't their happy endings (or their demise) be "real" as well? Call me old fashioned, but I want a beginning, a middle, and an end. Just one, thanks. posted by Donna Birdsell at 7:30 PM 0 comments Monday, August 06, 2007Ruminations on HairsprayIf you haven't seen the new movie Hairspray, you've gotta go. The music is catchy (I've been singing it in my sleep for two weeks) and the cast is great (especially Queen Latifah, who I absolutely love in everything she's been in. Okay, maybe not Taxi, but everything else.). Nikki Blonsky, who plays the lead character Tracy Turnblad, is fantastic as well. It's different from the original, which was written and directed by John Waters and starred Ricki Lake and Divine. That version was much edgier, with a definite freak factor that isn't present in the new one. I liked it for its subversive undertones and campy unpredictability. But this version is much more innocent. I took my kids, who absolutely loved it, mostly because of Zac Efron of High School Musical fame. What?? You've never heard of High School Musical? Then you obviously live under a rock (or you don't have children between the ages of 6 and 16 living in the house). If you are this uncool and/or unlucky, let me fill you in. High School Musical is a Disney Channel blockbuster that stars each and every teen actor from the Disney Teen Actor Factory. There's singing! There's dancing! There's a completely sweet and innocent love story! There's marketing out the wazoo! And to be honest, if you twisted my arm, I'd actually tell you it was good. The songs and dances were fun, and the message was great. Follow your dreams. That can never be bad, right? That's much the same message as Hairspray, except that Hairspray is set in the '60s, against the backdrop of integration and the fight for racial equality. This message is toned down a bit in the new version, but it still served as a catalyst for conversation between the kids and me about the history of race relations in our country. But mostly, it was just a lot of fun. John Travolta plays the role of Tracy's mother, Edna--the part played by Divine in the original version, and by Harvey Fierstein on Broadway. This was actually the only role I had a problem with. Travolta plays Edna straight--not as a man playing a woman, but as an actual woman. Which made me wonder why they didn't just get a woman who could sing to play the part. (Travolta's vocals are weak.) He can still dance, though. Michele Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes and a gorgeous guy named Elijah Kelley round out the wonderful cast. I defy you to see this movie, and not catch yourself singing "Good Morning Baltimore" for a week! --DB posted by Donna Birdsell at 6:08 PM 0 comments Previous Posts:
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