i feel as though I should buy tickets right now. I didn't have anything censored from me when I was a kid. I think it made me develop my reading and film preferences earlier and without much peer pressure. And now I'm faculty at UW-Madison. Rave, I hope your child at least comes to visit my office.
On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 7:16 AM, Martin Baxter <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Say it again, Mr Worf! > > > On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 11:22 PM, Mr. Worf <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> The article's title should have been "some people have totally unrealistic >> opinions of how 11 year olds act when adults are not around...." >> >> People have also forgotten how things have changed. When I was 12 there >> were 12 year old hookers and heroin junkies in the bad parts of town. >> Worrying about a fictional 11 year old on screen and her influences on kids >> is silly. >> >> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:03 PM, Martin Baxter >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Puh-LEEEEEEEEEEZE! >>> >>> I come from The Projects, where FIVE-year-olds know more cuss words than >>> I've heard come out of her. >>> >>> >>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Kelwyn <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Profanity-slinging kid does damage in Kick-Ass' >>>> >>>> By MARK CARO >>>> >>>> A pistols-wielding girl massacres a suite's worth of thugs, exchanges >>>> brutal blows with the kingpin and uses language that might make David Mamet >>>> blush - if only because it's coming out of the mouth of an 11-year-old >>>> girl. >>>> >>>> The movie may be called "Kick-Ass," a title that already has some >>>> parents shielding their young'uns from the marketing campaign, but the >>>> pre-release publicity has focused less on the high school-age male title >>>> character than the diminutive Hit Girl, played by now-13-year-old Chloe >>>> Grace Moretz. One of the film's explicit trailers plays like Hit Girl's >>>> greatest hits, complete with her dropping "f" and "c" bombs and shooting a >>>> doorman through the cheek while dressed in a schoolgirl outfit. >>>> >>>> This is all played for kicks, of course. Director Matthew Vaughn's >>>> R-rated "Kick-Ass," which opens Friday, is a comic book movie based on the >>>> work of Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., so everything is delivered >>>> inside giant, nothing-reallycounts quotation marks. >>>> >>>> Still, you can't forget that you are watching an 11-year-old girl >>>> causing violent mayhem and taking punches in the face from an adult, all >>>> while out-cussing Tony Soprano. Sure, you can't take your eyes off Hit >>>> Girl, >>>> but is this a good thing? >>>> >>>> "I don't know that it means anything other than the destruction of >>>> civilization as we know it," joked film critic-historian Leonard Maltin. >>>> >>>> "There's always that question of whether movies lead social change or >>>> reflect it. I always think the answer is somewhere in the middle, but >>>> there's no question that movies and TV shows have broken down or dissolved >>>> a >>>> lot of barriers of what is considered acceptable for men and women and boys >>>> and girls." >>>> >>>> Hit Girl certainly marks the extreme end of a progression that can be >>>> traced back a few decades. Audiences were shocked when Linda Blair spewed >>>> profanities and vomit as the12-year-old possessed girl of "The Exorcist" >>>> (1973), though they could console themselves that it was the devil's doing. >>>> >>>> Also in1973, Tatum O'Neal played the sassy-mouthed (PG-rated), >>>> cigarettesmoking, 9-year-old con artist of Peter Bogdanovich's "Paper >>>> Moon"; >>>> she became the youngest Oscar winner, for best supporting actress, the next >>>> year. >>>> >>>> Jodie Foster became another troubledgirl icon with her Oscar-nominated >>>> performance as the 12-year-old prostitute of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi >>>> Driver" >>>> (1976). >>>> >>>> No cheap thrills were meant to be derived from her mean-streets >>>> situation; here was a girl who needed protection - and got it from Robert >>>> De >>>> Niro's unhinged title character. Yet the director's seriousminded >>>> intentions >>>> couldn't keep John Hinckley Jr. from being so smitten with Foster that he >>>> tried to impress her by shooting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. >>>> >>>> Thematically, the closest movie precedent to Hit Girl may be Natalie >>>> Portman's 12-year-old Mathilda, who learns hit man Jean Reno's tricks so >>>> she >>>> can avenge her murdered family in Luc Besson's "The Professional" (aka >>>> "Leon," 1994). But Besson is ultimately a sentimentalist who spares >>>> Portman's character from doing the lethal work, whereas Vaughn isn't >>>> exactly >>>> concerned about Hit Girl getting blood on her hands. >>>> >>>> Or, as the "Kick-Ass" press notes state: "Hit Girl is a sparky, spunky >>>> force of nature, likely to be an instant professional icon redolent of >>>> Jodie >>>> Foster in 'Taxi Driver' and Natalie Portman in 'The Professional.'" (No one >>>> from Lionsgate or the film was made available to comment.) >>>> >>>> "The notion of innocence in this society is gone," said Neal Gabler, >>>> author of "Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality." "It's not >>>> just a function of violence. I think it's a function of a certain social >>>> cynicism that has just built and built and built over the years where >>>> people >>>> believe in nothing." >>>> >>>> Which isn't to say violence doesn't play a role. "There was kind of a >>>> firewall between kids and violence, and that firewall is completely gone >>>> now," Gabler said. "Kids sit around and kill people on video games." >>>> >>>> And if the finger-waggers come out against "Kick-Ass," then the movie >>>> essentially has done its job. >>>> >>>> "If you're making this movie, you want people to disapprove because >>>> popular culture has always been a form of rebellion," Gabler said. "One of >>>> the reasons American popular culture is so 'trashy' is not because >>>> everybody >>>> is stupid; it's because people love the idea of challenging official >>>> culture." >>>> >>>> Yet don't assume that the reactions to Hit Girl will be anything close >>>> to universal. Melissa Silverstein, who writes the feminist blog Women and >>>> Hollywood (womenandhollywood.com), saw an advance screening of >>>> "Kick-Ass" and said she was surprised by how torn she felt. >>>> >>>> "It was disturbing, but I was also empowered in the same moment, and >>>> that doesn't happen very often," Silverstein said. "It just kind of flew >>>> into the face of all expectations of how girls act on screen, and that's >>>> what was so exciting and breathtaking. I couldn't help but feel some >>>> semblance of excitement as a person who's watched male comic book >>>> characters >>>> save the day time and time again." >>>> >>>> At the same time, though, she was "ambivalent about someone who just >>>> kills people for the sake of killing," and the casual use of a certain very >>>> vulgar anti-female epithet bothered her. "I saw all the boys sitting around >>>> me loving that, and they loved it a little too much." >>>> >>>> Given that one of the movie's teen boys is so wowed by Hit Girl that he >>>> declares he'll wait for her to come of age, male reactions to this >>>> prepubescent character could represent another can o' worms. >>>> >>>> Silverstein didn't think her portrayal ever became "icky" in a "Lolita" >>>> kind of way. >>>> >>>> Still, the image here of a young heroine certainly differs from earlier >>>> times. >>>> >>>> "For prepubescent guys you have to create a different kind of love >>>> object in this cynical and far less innocent kind of world," Gabler said. >>>> "How do you design a Shirley Temple for this era?" >>>> >>>> Step one: Give her a gun. >>>> >>>> Mark Caro: [email protected] <mcaro%40tribune.com> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! >> Mahogany at: >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ >> > > >
