Further to my review of Match Point - and it has been interesting to note that the most spirited defense that anybody can muster of it is "I can't remember that I was so appalled" - I watched The Social Network last night, which is a far far far far far far far do re mi far far better film. EXCEPT for five minutes in which the excellent meathead twins row at the Henley regatta, and then attend a reception afterwards. Women are loitering in gigantic frothy hats, a string quartet is playing something blandly Mozartian, so you know you MUST be in England because all we ever do is go to receptions with big hats and string quartets, and an elderly English man claims that his daughter is "majoring in French literature" at Cambridge University. FAIL. DOUBLE FAIL. Seriously, if you're Aaron Sorkin, how difficult is it to get a British person to read one page of your script?
I am going to organise a field trip for notable American screenwriters to take a tour of the UK. I will show them around myself. Who's in?
Employee gets laid off due to extreme body odor: ‘I genuinely felt bad for
him. He had only just started the job and hadn’t really had the chance to
show what he could contribute. You could tell he felt embarrassed and
ashamed’
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To pass the smell test
I felt really identified with this story because I've had to deal with this
issue multiple times in my life. I don't mean with my bo...
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I saw this on Wednesday and missed the 'majoring in' line, probably because I was too busy trying to decide whether the caption "Henley-on-Thames" would have had an additional line of "London, UK" when the film was shown outside these sceptred isles, or whether they decided that having a man in a boater lean across shot just after the caption faded would be enough.
Oh dear. I watched half of Social Network last night and got tired of speed with which main character speaks. Will keep my view on the 'greatness' of the movie until I see the ending. Good but not so spectacular so far, for me. English episode is telling me that other parts may be equally 'hollywoodised'.
I spent just last 10 years in England and would like to book a seat in your bus/cinema/whatever you organise for your American friends. Curious to see 'real England'...
Ooooooh! I'm in!
I would particularly like to do the Oxford section of the trip. This would include
a). the Cowley Road Carnival - yes! We do ethnic!
b).the BMW plant or Didcot power station - yes! We do industrial!
c). Blackbird Leys and Barton - yes! There are rough parts of Oxford too!
d). To finish - Cornmarket at 2am on a Saturday night.
If there's any time left we could maybe look at a college or something....
Really, really like The Social Network. Fetishised version of Henley, I agree, but I'm pretty sure that Harvard finals clubs' parties aren't more or less equivalent to high production pop videos or episodes of CSI set in nightclubs. It's not more fetishistic than Lewis is of Oxford, but it's the thing I found annoying, and I found it annoying with ref to Harvard as well as to Henley.
(Word verification: 'dermism' which sounds like something Snoop might say he majored in.)
Never mind how England is portrayed in The Social Network; is this really what life in the top universities in the States is like? If it is, I'm full of despair. My elder daughter, who has a major crush on Andrew Garfield, rolled her eyes and told me to stop dragging my feminist agenda into it and to enjoy the movie. (Yeah, mummy's a dinosaur...)
Okay, it's a well-made film, but I seem to remember your doing a post on the Bechdel Test. Now, I would say The Social Network pretty well flunks the Bechdel Test, but (sigh) maybe that's the point.
I can admire the performances and the structure of the movie, but dammit, we're talking about events that happened less than seven years ago, and if we're to believe this movie, women are every bit as marginalized and objectified as they were fifty years ago, although now they are allowed to become lawyers. Every single girl in this film is band-box pretty and usually scantily-clad. Didn't spot a genuine relationship the entire movie. This film depressed the heck out of me. Was that the point?
I'll be rooting for the The King's Speech tonight. (Which, come to think of it, also fails the Bechdel Test. Damn. I really am a dinosaur...)
I've been kicking the portrayal of women in The Social Network around in my head, trying to decide if it's misogynist or representing misogyny, and the absence of any conclusions have prevented me from blogging about it. I might yet, though.
I'm not logged in right now and my word verification is 'brest'.
Have to confess to having NO desire whatsoever to see The Social Network, mainly because I find Facebook infantile and everything I've read about the Zuckerberg kid makes me want to throttle him. So I think I might pass on that one...
Persephone, now is probably not a good time to tell you that Andrew Garfield was at school&uni with my niece... I even saw him in an early school role, which lamentably I can barely recall because it was a dire piece of apocalypitical nonsense penned by their drama teacher. I think his career has improved somewhat since then...
Haha, so very true. I was really pleasantly surprised by this film but I do so agree about that scene! (In general, in fact, I thought the 'rowing twins' were among the least convincing characters).
What worries me further is the suspicion that America (especially 'Ivy League College' America) is likely to be far removed from depiction in this and other films as well... But at least 'Legally Blonde' doesn't appear to have any claims to verisimilitude (more's the pity?)
However, in the meantime I am happy to sign up as a tour guide in your new venture. I'll take Bath.
Pedro
Well, Jane, you also saw Andrew Garfield in Doctor Who. What did you think of him then. I thought he was one the better things about a not-so-great episode...
London, England. Paris, France. Rome, Italy. WHERE ELSE IS ROME GOING TO BE??
@Persephone (with apologies to Marie for this Andrew Garfieldcentric conversation) - oh, hadn't realised that was him! Yes he was good in that v poor episode. Also good in Dr Parnassus, which is when we realised who he was. Just looked him up on wikipedia, and my kids are going to be very excited by mention of the theatre group they attend of which he is the most famous alumnus(i?)
@Jane Henry, Andrew G might be the troupe's most famous alumnus. He and his hypothetical brother might be the troupe's most famous alumni; your daughter might someday be the most famous alumna, and were she joined by an equally talented sister, they might wind up being the most famous alumnae.
(As JH said - with apologies to Marie for this Latin-pedantic-centric digression.)
Oh, and The Social Network was grating and tedious.
@Ben Johncock Paris, Texas
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