The comedic documentary The Yes Men Fix the World opens with liberal-minded Bichlbaum posing as a spokesperson for Dow Chemical Co., announcing that the company will take full responsibility for the toxic pollution in Bhopal, India, and fully compensate the victims of the 1984 pesticide plant catastrophe. The bogus interview, aired live on BBC, reached 30 million viewers and caused Dow's stock to plummet by more than $2 billion in 23 minutes
...The Yes Men take on Halliburton, Exxon, and HUD, attending a string of business conferences to deliver outrageous presentations of increasing hilarity, Bichlbaum and Bonanno prove that wearing a suit has never been more radical.
It is now available on DVD.
We either laugh or we cry. Right now, I could use a laugh.
Today I would like to share some views of the goddess temples of Malta while we consider reactions to the new film Agora, courtesy of Jason at The Wild Hunt. The movie was filmed on the island.
Jason writes:
The movie “Agora”, which centers on the life of Neoplatonist Pagan philosopher Hypatia, had its first official screening at the Cannes Film Festival and initial reviews are trickling in from the entertainment press...
“…there is much in the picture to sustain sympathetic interest, including its dedicated historical perspective, intellectual seriousness and credible presentation of epic film elements that have often tripped up filmmakers in the past. Then there is the physical side of the production, which is genuinely impressive. Lensing entirely in Malta, Amenabar has fleshed out real locations with extensive sets and helpful (and largely undetectable) CGI extensions to provide a striking impression of a legendary ancient city. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas has mixed traditional Greco-Roman style buildings with Egyptian motifs and various interior decorative influences to palpably evoke a Mediterranean port city where many cultures convened. Gabriella Pescucci’s costumes colorfully support this approach, and Xavi Gimenez’s widescreen lensing captures it all with colorful mobility.
I knew this was in production and I've been both hopeful and worried about the ways in which it will present this ancient Pagan scholar, teacher and herione. This is the review at Jason's blog that made me happy:
Oh, to be atCES now that winter's here. I would go as much for the sunshine as the tech, since it's in Vegas, but like everyone else, we are traveling less, so I will content myself by reading about it on CNET.
Today we look (yet again) for the propane truck to arrive. If the truck driver sees the tiniest bit of snow, he scurries like a timid groundhog back into his truck and won't come down our road for another week. (1)
Sia
(1) Our home and water heaters both run on gas and we have a propane tank in the side yard. Try getting that re-filled during a snowstorm....which is why I spend my time reading up on solar panels and affordable electric systems. One of these days, we'll get off the grid, but that day is not yet here.
Today I would like to share what Beweaver said about an interfaith conference on her campus. Here is an excerpt:
I’m probably no more enlightened than I was when I awoke this morning but I feel very much lighter. Walking back from the small university arena, I was struck by the falling cherry blossoms and told myself, you must remember this day, these blossoms, this song. The Ode to Joy is sounding in my head and I keep humming it. Walking through thick snow banks of cherry blossoms I felt at peace.
I was on my way back to my office after seeing and hearing His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and a large panel of spiritual leaders discuss compassion. How do we get rid of the anger in our hearts? How do we deal with those who practice violence in the name of religion?
Enjoy her post (1). If you like her writing, she also has a lovely follow-up post on compassion.
Video from Caddyshack. That, and Lost in Translation, are two of my favorite Bill Murray movies. He also did a remake of The Razor's Edge, adapted from the book by Sumerset Maugham; something Murray wanted to do for years. He did a fine job, but the film was ruined by the poor performances from other actors. I recommend the 1946 version with Tyrone Power. Most people have seen another of his films, Groundhog Day. It's the best movie I've ever seen on personal redemption....and it's funny.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bette Davis. While her movies may seem dated to modern eyes, the issues her characters confronted, and the spitfire dames she played are in many ways superior to the weak minded-scripts and paper thin characters in so many current films. Those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's, remember a time when strong female role models were few and far between. Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Barbar Stanwick, and the other independent minded women who came of age in their careers at the height of The Woman's Picture during the 1930 and 40's were a welcome change from the dolls and victims we so often saw on the screen and the fluffy, chesty actresses of our own day who so clearly would do anything for love. A Bette Davis character would do quite a lot for love, including committing murder, but she would never, ever give herself away. The woman herself was a no pushover, either. She was, among other things, a pioneer, and served as the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a role she held in 1941. She left her studio when it would not give her the quality scripts she wanted, a thing unheard of in her day. She was also the first woman to secure ten nominations for the Best Actress Oscar. Since then only Katharine Hepburn and Meryl Streep have surpassed this figure. Johann Hari writes this about Betty Davis in her essay titled Where Have All the Strong Women Gone?
She was not only a woman; she was an electrical storm with skin. With nothing but raw talent and raw determination, she became the most famous woman in the world, taking on the Hollywood studio system, the FBI and the Catholic Church.
For a while, this not-especially-beautiful woman in her forties ruled Hollywood, playing tough women who chose their careers and their own desires over sacrificing for men or children or a picket fence. She never pretended to be dumb, or a little girl. She didn't do soft, or simpering. She had a voice like sour cream, and eyes like a raven. Humphrey Bogart said about her: "Unless you're very big she can knock you down." And she was one of the great events of her time.
She was popular with the mostly-female movie audience - women like my grandmother, who gave me my first glimpse of Bette Davis movies from her lap - in part because her characters will not accept 'their place.' They want more, more, more. It was not easy to be a strong woman then; she said, "When a man gives his opinion he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion she's a bitch." But she fought, and women responded to it. She was only the most shimmering example of a generation of tough Hollywood women whose characters saw the world as a place not to cower from or simper at, but to conquer: Mae West (who made her first film at 40), Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Barbra Stanwyck, Rosalind Russell, Marlene Dietrich, and more.
It is not surprising, in a desperate search for women operating outside of marriage and motherhood, that there is a retraction to classic cinema. By transforming "the fat lady with the heavy brows and all the hair," (66) into an articulate woman able to make choices, Now, Voyager is justifiably a classic of cinema. As Stanley Cavell has realised,
Here is this woman retracing the reigning concepts of her life - what a mother is, what a child, a home, a husband are, what happiness is - and yet this man stupefyingly asks her whether she will be happy. (67)
What questions would the contemporary women's movement ask of Charlotte Vale? Re-evaluating texts such as this serve to inscribe, rewrite and interpret a feminist history. We need to return to Bette Davis, and her films. A new theory of femininity can emerge when we look at - and through - those eyes.
At the conclusion of Now Voyager, Charlotte Vale does not ask for the moon, but remains satisfied with the stars. Contemporary feminism needs a Bette Davis, firebrand women who are tough, resolute and passionate. She worked hard, thought deeply, and spoke out while post-war masculinity congealed around her. Shadows of men were cast in relief through her light. Leaming has missed the point of both Bette Davis's life, and post-war feminism, when she asserts that "whereas [Orson] Welles was always fighting for something, Davis only knew how to fight against - and therein lay all the difference." (70) Feminism, at its best, fights against patriarchy, against colonialism, against ageism, against economic rationalism. Only by waging the good fight against the powerful, can feminism and contemporary resistive politics combat for social justice.
Turner Classic Films will showcase her work in honor of this occasion. Go watch Now, Voyager, Jezebel and All About Eve.
