(Note: This essay is part of a series that highlights a time when (and how) Hollywood was America’s greatest soft power weapon and consistently made movies that average Americans actually wanted to see.)
I still get angry when I see the Twin Towers in older movies.
Good choice of movies, MFW. Working Girl appealed to men as well as women. As you say, the medicine went down easy and the relatability of the characters smoothed over objections about who needs who. Two observations:
1. I admire actors like Sigourney Weaver who are stars and don't balk at playing characters that might tarnish their "image."
2. Young people today do embrace rule breaking because they are convinced the rules are unjust and therefore don't apply to them. They are often guided into this attitude by their parents, educators, and role models. What they are not prepared for is that if you break the rules and don't have the talent to back up your actions then the system is right in casting you down so that you end up stocking shelves in a company polo shirt.
Thanks, as always. I agree with you, there are two problems... 1) young people think the rules don't apply to them, even hard objective rules like Math and 2) senior executives are afraid to enforce the rules because for fear of cancellation. It's killing the movie business.
We rewatch Home Alone 2 every year with our boys and Kevin's trip to the top of the Twin Towers gets me every time.
Question for you, as a regular reader and commenter, I'm looking to grow this platform and I want to do more of what people like. If you had your druthers, what would you like to see more of here? Less of?
Thank you, MFW. I'm honored you would ask as as a pro. I appreciate your instincts and experience in the business, which is why I subscribed. Plus your sense of humor and easy Star Trek TOS references.
Since you asked, I feel like movies are becoming more safe and formulaic, even in genres I love where you would turn to escape that sort of thing, like science fiction. What is happening to screenwriting that it's not surprising anymore? For example, my son and I went to see The Creator in the theater because it looked interesting and original. But it wasn't. We wanted to like Ad Astra, which also looked interesting and original. But it wasn't. Dune 2 was fine, etc.
Why is everything becoming homogenized?
As a mechanical thing, it's jarring to jump out of the platform to watch YouTube clips and dealing with commercials, etc. Is there a way you can embed clips without jumping out? Probably not.
Basically, you are delivering what I want to read about, like your take on Working Girl. Just keep doing that with details that you catch on particular movies.
Oh, and you can always have Ben MFF back as a guest. Or any of your other Continental Congress colleagues.
Great thoughts, thanks... Ben will definitely be back... I'm editing a Jaws part 2 right now. As far as why movies are so homogenized, I think that's a huge subject that has a lot of potential explanations. Probably the overiridng theme of this entire substack is providing answers to that question in a sort of piecemeal way.
I still get angry when I see the Twin Towers in older movies.
Good choice of movies, MFW. Working Girl appealed to men as well as women. As you say, the medicine went down easy and the relatability of the characters smoothed over objections about who needs who. Two observations:
1. I admire actors like Sigourney Weaver who are stars and don't balk at playing characters that might tarnish their "image."
2. Young people today do embrace rule breaking because they are convinced the rules are unjust and therefore don't apply to them. They are often guided into this attitude by their parents, educators, and role models. What they are not prepared for is that if you break the rules and don't have the talent to back up your actions then the system is right in casting you down so that you end up stocking shelves in a company polo shirt.
Great entry in your series!
Thanks, as always. I agree with you, there are two problems... 1) young people think the rules don't apply to them, even hard objective rules like Math and 2) senior executives are afraid to enforce the rules because for fear of cancellation. It's killing the movie business.
We rewatch Home Alone 2 every year with our boys and Kevin's trip to the top of the Twin Towers gets me every time.
Question for you, as a regular reader and commenter, I'm looking to grow this platform and I want to do more of what people like. If you had your druthers, what would you like to see more of here? Less of?
thanks.
Thank you, MFW. I'm honored you would ask as as a pro. I appreciate your instincts and experience in the business, which is why I subscribed. Plus your sense of humor and easy Star Trek TOS references.
Since you asked, I feel like movies are becoming more safe and formulaic, even in genres I love where you would turn to escape that sort of thing, like science fiction. What is happening to screenwriting that it's not surprising anymore? For example, my son and I went to see The Creator in the theater because it looked interesting and original. But it wasn't. We wanted to like Ad Astra, which also looked interesting and original. But it wasn't. Dune 2 was fine, etc.
Why is everything becoming homogenized?
As a mechanical thing, it's jarring to jump out of the platform to watch YouTube clips and dealing with commercials, etc. Is there a way you can embed clips without jumping out? Probably not.
Basically, you are delivering what I want to read about, like your take on Working Girl. Just keep doing that with details that you catch on particular movies.
Oh, and you can always have Ben MFF back as a guest. Or any of your other Continental Congress colleagues.
Great thoughts, thanks... Ben will definitely be back... I'm editing a Jaws part 2 right now. As far as why movies are so homogenized, I think that's a huge subject that has a lot of potential explanations. Probably the overiridng theme of this entire substack is providing answers to that question in a sort of piecemeal way.