The Philadelphia Story
Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 01:11 PM
(This was originally posted on Moodle in September)
I have seen The Philadelphia Story several times before yesterday's showing and I am amazed that I can always find something new in the film that I had not noticed before. These films have so much more depth and meanings than many of the films today (not to mention better acting). I had not realized how Tracy's mother was basically ignored in the movie by Tracy after she went off with Tracy's father. Tracy acknowledges her mother one time after that when she is drunk at the party and she was surprised to see her mother there. It almost seems that Tracy can only face her mother when she is intoxicated because she is ashamed of her mother's thoughtless behavior. When the mother left with him, Cavell says that "it deprives the mother of her mental competence, so that while she continues to be present, her mind is absent..." (Pursuits of Happiness, 138). I agree with what Cavell says. After she leaves, I feel like she left her self-respect. Why would she so easily go back to him after there was evidence of him "spending time" with a beautiful dancer? She loses her dignity and essentially her independence when she leaves with him.
I find the scene where Tracy's father tells Tracy that she is acting like a "jealous woman" discerning. And perhaps it is because I have not seen another film that has such honesty and hurt in an exchange between a father and daughter. Many films show fathers comforting their daughters when they are upset, but this film shows an entirely different aspect. A raw, but true portrayal of a father saying exactly how he feels, for better or worse. Tracy takes her father's words to heart and I feel sorry for her because he put it so bluntly. Tracy realizes that there was some truth in his words, so the scene that she tells her father that she loves him is especially touching to me.
I also would just like to say how brilliant George Cukor is at casting Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant. I think the three actors did a superb job and I cannot imagine anyone else in their roles. May The Philadelphia Story live on!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve
Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 10:29 PM
(This was originally posted on Moodle in September)
Even as the credits were rolling, it was obvious to the viewers that Peter Sturges wanted us to be thinking about the biblical story of Adam and Eve as we were watching The Lady Eve. Not only is the name Eve in the title, but the snake, otherwise known as "The Devil" is sliding around the screen in the beginning. When Jean sees Charlie, she throws an apple at him to get his attention. She is tempting him to turn around just as Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree. In the next scene, we see Charlie reading a book called Are Snakes Necessary? which I found particularly amusing. Charlie later tells Jean that he loves snakes and he confesses "Snakes are my life". Peter Sturges, who some could argue that he is supposed to be "God" because he wrote the script, punished both Charlie and Jean in this movie as God punished Adam and Eve. Cavell states, "His (Charlie's) intellectual denial of sameness accordingly lets him spiritually carve her in half, taking the good without the bad, the lady without the woman, the ideal without the reality, the richer without the poorer. He will be punished for this" (61). I also think Sturges was punishing Charlie for his stupidity for falling for the same girl essentially three times without even knowing it! Jean also gets punished because "she feeds him with the fruit of the tree of stupidity" (Cavell, 62). She also pretended to be someone she was not.
As I was watching this movie, I did not feel the same sympathy I had for the characters in The Philadelphia Story. As much as I enjoyed Jean's independence, I thought she was quite cruel for impersonating someone just to get back at Charlie. It would have been different if she only confused him for a day, but she kept on going until he proposed again and then they were married, which I think was too far! Even the horse knew that Charlie was making a mistake. He tried to warn him, but who listened to a horse in those days? I also did not feel any sympathy for Charlie because he was so dim-witted. Mugsy knew that Jean and Lady Eve were the same person and he was "named a mug by the author of the film" (Cavell, 69). Jean was not far off when she called Charlie a "mug". He was as dumb as a box of rocks, and I like Henry Fonda, so it was hard for me to see him in such a stupid role.
One of my favorite quotes from the movie was when Jean said "A man who couldn't forgive isn't much of a man". Charlie wasn't much of a man because he couldn't forgive Jean for being a card shark. He also could not forgive Lady Eve for her previous relationships and he did not even want to here what Jean had to say at the end. Clearly, Charlie was not even close to a man.
The Lady Eve is a hilarious comedy, but I think it is funny in a sad way. Many people are gullible and passive, like Charlie, and they would believe the story that Sir Alfred threw at him. Hopefully the world is full of more Mugsy's than Charlie's.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 10:29 PM
(This was originally posted on Moodle in September)
Even as the credits were rolling, it was obvious to the viewers that Peter Sturges wanted us to be thinking about the biblical story of Adam and Eve as we were watching The Lady Eve. Not only is the name Eve in the title, but the snake, otherwise known as "The Devil" is sliding around the screen in the beginning. When Jean sees Charlie, she throws an apple at him to get his attention. She is tempting him to turn around just as Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree. In the next scene, we see Charlie reading a book called Are Snakes Necessary? which I found particularly amusing. Charlie later tells Jean that he loves snakes and he confesses "Snakes are my life". Peter Sturges, who some could argue that he is supposed to be "God" because he wrote the script, punished both Charlie and Jean in this movie as God punished Adam and Eve. Cavell states, "His (Charlie's) intellectual denial of sameness accordingly lets him spiritually carve her in half, taking the good without the bad, the lady without the woman, the ideal without the reality, the richer without the poorer. He will be punished for this" (61). I also think Sturges was punishing Charlie for his stupidity for falling for the same girl essentially three times without even knowing it! Jean also gets punished because "she feeds him with the fruit of the tree of stupidity" (Cavell, 62). She also pretended to be someone she was not.
As I was watching this movie, I did not feel the same sympathy I had for the characters in The Philadelphia Story. As much as I enjoyed Jean's independence, I thought she was quite cruel for impersonating someone just to get back at Charlie. It would have been different if she only confused him for a day, but she kept on going until he proposed again and then they were married, which I think was too far! Even the horse knew that Charlie was making a mistake. He tried to warn him, but who listened to a horse in those days? I also did not feel any sympathy for Charlie because he was so dim-witted. Mugsy knew that Jean and Lady Eve were the same person and he was "named a mug by the author of the film" (Cavell, 69). Jean was not far off when she called Charlie a "mug". He was as dumb as a box of rocks, and I like Henry Fonda, so it was hard for me to see him in such a stupid role.
One of my favorite quotes from the movie was when Jean said "A man who couldn't forgive isn't much of a man". Charlie wasn't much of a man because he couldn't forgive Jean for being a card shark. He also could not forgive Lady Eve for her previous relationships and he did not even want to here what Jean had to say at the end. Clearly, Charlie was not even close to a man.
The Lady Eve is a hilarious comedy, but I think it is funny in a sad way. Many people are gullible and passive, like Charlie, and they would believe the story that Sir Alfred threw at him. Hopefully the world is full of more Mugsy's than Charlie's.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
I understand now how Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is Pedro Almodovar's most accessible movie, but I would not necessarily say it was his best. The absurdity of this film reminded me of Bringing Up Baby, especially the scene when Lucia is on the motorcycle, shooting at the cab with Pepa in it. The cab driver was by far my favorite character in the movie. I thought he was hilariously placed, because it seemed like he was the comic relief after a more serious moment in the film. I also adored the scene when Pepa was crying and he also started crying, yelling at himself for not having eye drops. The other scene when he has the eye drops and Pepa uses them was perfectly placed by Almodovar.
As far as the relationships go in this movie, Ivan and Pepa clearly had an unusual one. Ivan was married with a child that Pepa didn't even know he had. She even admits that Ivan doesn't tell her anything. Communicating is a key aspect in a relationship and they definetely did not have that. They were constantly missing each other's calls and messages. Candela is another character with relationship issues. She says that she is used by men and the audience knows that she was used by the Shiite terrorists. The relationship between Marisa and Carlos is also an unusual one. They are engaged, but Carlos can't tell Marisa that he loves her, which made me skeptical if there would ever be a wedding between the two of them. Marisa also seemed to be controlling him and when she was unconscious because of all the sleeping pills, it seemed like Carlos could actually be himself because she wasn't telling him what to do. Carlos also kissed Candela at least three times, which I found absurd because she had just tried to kill herself and he knew that she just had a fling with terrorists. That did not seem to bother him though! Lucia and Ivan probably had the most bizaare relationship, which ended up with her becoming mentally ill and in a mental institution.
Children in this movie came up when Pepa found out she was pregnant. Pepa did not want Ivan, the father of her child, to be in her life or the child's and in that sense that scene reminded me of Antonia's Line when Danielle wanted to have a child but not a husband with it. Marriage did not have a positive connotation in this movie either. Ivan was married and he was also cheating on his wife with at least two other women. Carlos and Marisa were engaged and yet Carlos still kissed Candela several times. He didn't seem to care that she was asleep for so long either. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was extremely entertaining and fit perfectly into the category of the Comedies of Remarriage.
As far as the relationships go in this movie, Ivan and Pepa clearly had an unusual one. Ivan was married with a child that Pepa didn't even know he had. She even admits that Ivan doesn't tell her anything. Communicating is a key aspect in a relationship and they definetely did not have that. They were constantly missing each other's calls and messages. Candela is another character with relationship issues. She says that she is used by men and the audience knows that she was used by the Shiite terrorists. The relationship between Marisa and Carlos is also an unusual one. They are engaged, but Carlos can't tell Marisa that he loves her, which made me skeptical if there would ever be a wedding between the two of them. Marisa also seemed to be controlling him and when she was unconscious because of all the sleeping pills, it seemed like Carlos could actually be himself because she wasn't telling him what to do. Carlos also kissed Candela at least three times, which I found absurd because she had just tried to kill herself and he knew that she just had a fling with terrorists. That did not seem to bother him though! Lucia and Ivan probably had the most bizaare relationship, which ended up with her becoming mentally ill and in a mental institution.
Children in this movie came up when Pepa found out she was pregnant. Pepa did not want Ivan, the father of her child, to be in her life or the child's and in that sense that scene reminded me of Antonia's Line when Danielle wanted to have a child but not a husband with it. Marriage did not have a positive connotation in this movie either. Ivan was married and he was also cheating on his wife with at least two other women. Carlos and Marisa were engaged and yet Carlos still kissed Candela several times. He didn't seem to care that she was asleep for so long either. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was extremely entertaining and fit perfectly into the category of the Comedies of Remarriage.
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