Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Meryl Streep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meryl Streep. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2018

TOXIC-EXPLOITIVE and WELL DONE


shadow dance
    Just that time of day, the golden hour and the trees dance with their shadows.
     Wanted to start with something mellow, because a few graphs down we step into something deep.
America at its best
      The POST is one of those films that makes you wish everyone would take a couple of hours off to go see and then join into a national conversation.
       It is a beautiful and literate script by Josh Singer and Elizabeth Hannah and masterfully directed by the maestro, Steven Spielberg. They make it a great film, and so do Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks,  Matthew Rhys, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Tracy Letts, Carrie Coon, Bruce Greenwood as Robert McNamara, Sarah Paulson and in fact the entire cast. But what makes it important is the history, the constitutional, philosophical and political undercurrent and the decision of the Supreme Court. 
        We would be a worse nation if we did not know of the Pentagon Papers and learn how Presidents and a series of governments lied to us and then tried to hide behind national security. Worse too if the Supreme Court had not decided in favor of a free press and the right to publish.
       These issues, framed between the drama of Katherine Graham trying to manage in a man's world (another important storyline) and the battle between her as publisher and Editor Ben Bradlee, over the right and need to publish without interference, make for material that goes to the very heart and soul of this nation.
      Aside from being a great and entertaining film, it postures important questions for this very time in America. We swamp dive later. More immediately we tip toe along the fence line. 


about men and women
     Readers, please be gentle and think this through. If you don't, it may be  as Ed Murrow once said, "this just might do nobody any good."
       I subscribe to the notion of a "toxic masculinity" a variety of men behaving badly, very badly. It could be sexual aggression, manipulation, an exclusion of women, all of which have no place in civilized and decent social behavior.
       We have seen men fall because they possessed a toxic masculinity and made victims of women and other men. But we should remember not all masculinity is toxic and we must protect that fact. 
       Once a movement to redress grievances begins, pent up anger, injury and a desire to even the score can begin to affect our vision and shade more fine lines of distinction and even reason. There are indeed good men who possess and display a healthy masculinity. In fact they are allies in the #metoo, #timesup, human rights movements, as they should be. 
      It is my belief this needs to be understood- it important for men to begin to take ownership of how boys are taught and trained and how they learn what is proper and what is not. Good men need to teach and mentor boys. 
      It is a sick irony that some women who have been victimized work in an industry that helps explain why men behave badly. Television, Film, and music have profound impact on social mores and the adoption of masculine and feminine identities. 
      Violence that is so prevalent in forms of music, gaming, film and television also has a sexual component. 
       Once parents took it as a major responsibility but something has happened since those days. It's a challenge to find parents who even teach manners. Gone are the days when a majority of families taught their off spring to be ladies or gentlemen, to be courteous and respectful. Media is as dominant as parental guidance. 
       Yes we need to spend a lot of time as a culture figuring out the what and why for toxic masculinity and what can and should we do.
       But we should widen this discussion-and please hear me out. We should also address Explotive femininity as well. 
       Exploitive Femininity? Here's a notion-do you remember how you reacted when you saw Madonna's Like a Virgin video? I saw it in the newsroom on a pre-release. Some full disclosure here--I absolutely believe in artistic freedom, even to the point of making me, or anyone else uncomfortable. I am against any kind of censorship. I am an absolutist on the right to free speech. At the moment I saw the video I thought on the one hand, she was doing a good job of emoting sexuality and on the other, oh my gosh how is this going to shape the behavior of my daughters? That was a long time ago, tame by today's standards, and before dancing, body movement, style, lyrics became as explicit as they are.
        Any woman, for that matter anyone has the right to dress and express themselves as they wish without fear of being assaulted or violated. But- there are also consequences to every behavior.
      When little girls are taught to flaunt, tease, pose, act, pretend in behavior that is sensual or sexual, beyond their age or maturation, they are being trained in sexual exploitation. Four and five year olds being taught to move like  Beyonce, Lil Kim, Miley Cyrus, etc. etc. is twisted, and maybe even worse. How many kids are growing up wanting or pretending to be a singer who continues to visit their own genitalia? There are consequences to every behavior.
       Do you remember when strippers did their thing in bars and when cheer leaders acted more like gymnasts? I happen to think the human body is a beautiful thing, but it seems even professional dress is a lot more explicit and revealing. Who ever heard of side boob revelations? It's even a form of social media reporting. There is a time and place for everything. Again there are consequences.
      How many of you who have managed in an environment where there was a woman on staff who plied her wiles to woo, influence or try to manipulate you. I've attended  discussions where management techniques to stop and disarm the exploitation were on the table. I shut down those kind of advances, not so much because I was a paragon of virtue but because that kind of behavior was toxic, dangerous and could lead to serious repercussions for the manager and the company. Still there are people who use their sexuality as a tool. That too is Exploitive Femininity.
      I am not for a moment trying to dampen the reckoning that is underway and long over due, but I think our national conversation must be expansive, holistic and honest. All pieces of the sexual political puzzle need to be on the table.
     The point here is to suggest there is a lot about how boys and girls pick up cues as to how to be men and women, straight or gay, that needs examination and fixing. Now that we live in a world where trans, and in transition are identity groups, the conversation needs to be enlightened, intelligent and non judgmental.  It is complex and multi faceted.

        The work of artist Bryn Forbes symbolizes, for me the intricacies of the debate.
         His recent series A Light Behind Every Window explains the deeply byzantine and abstruse nature of sexual politics.
Frames from A Light Behind Every Window by Bryn Forbes

          It won't be an easy conversation, but it is necessary.
There is a lot to unpack. And, sadly, we have a sick and despicable role model marauding through our culture now and his supporters must come to accept guilt for his revolting and degrading behavior.
not worthy
     Have you seen the video of the idiot in chief blowing the lines of the National Anthem. The National Anthem for heavens sake!! He is supposed to be president and he doesn't know the national anthem?
     His comment-the shit hole statement-confirms his racism. I'm surprised by the reaction(?) of Mike Pence. Oh, you didn't see any either eh? Did he sell his soul to get on the ticket?
     It is bad enough the jerk is fouling the White House, worse that some 30% of American voters still support him. That too is toxic.

      See you down the trail.



       

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

CONUNDRUMS:PROTECTING FREEDOM-QUAKES AND NUKE PLANTS-PELICAN BRIEFS-BRIDGES AND STREEP

A SCIENTIST'S WARNING
     The former senior resident inspector at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant believes the plant should be shut down until it can prove that it can withstand an earthquake along the newly discovered Shoreline fault. The plant is  90 minutes down the coast from the scenes below.
     California Senator Barbara Boxer plans hearings to examine the earthquake risks at Diablo Canyon. The AP reports Boxer says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is failing to do its job to protect public safety.  The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports the NRC says it "does not have a  timeline" for its response to the inspector's criticism.
SPIES HELP
    News organizations report intelligence officers are close to identifying the masked jihadist seen speaking in a video of the beheading of American Journalist James Foley.
     Sophisticated analytical technology has driven the search. In an irony of life the super sleuthing and spy systems, invasive as they are, are tools needed in a world of terror.
      Protecting freedoms and lives in the shadow world is tricky going. It takes a continuous attention to the thin and often permeable line of balance. What may be needed in espionage and intelligence may not look so good in the light of day. A sense of history, judgement and wise oversight is mandatory
      THE GIVER CODICIL
       In 1993 my daughter Katherine read The Giver, the newly published Lois Lowry book about a seeming utopia. The book gained attention then as the utopia of the overview was revealed to be a dystopian state where people were medicated daily to eliminate emotions and where others were killed though the euphemism was "released to "Elsewhere."
       Back then Jeff Bridges was so taken by the story he turned it into a home movie staring his father Lloyd. Now Bridges himself stars as the wizened Giver, the holder of wisdom and history, in the Philip Noyce directed film.  
       I watched the film with my daughter and we discussed how 21 years later the idea of finding a balance where negative emotions and behavior could be controlled for the greater good is still a vexing question. "Nanny state" laws and regulations, preemptive policing, an increasingly medicated populace, an almost ubiquitous surveillance, algorithmic data capture and analysis, political influence of financial interests and etc eerily echo the Lowry premise as well as Orwell's more profound 1984. 
      The Giver transfers beautifully to film, populated by good acting.  Meryl Streep is haunting as a ruling elder. Katie Holmes turns in a solid though limited role as a mother. Newcomers Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan are all excellent.  Monaghan has already earned acclaim as one of the sons in the dysfunctional family drama Shameless.
     Though published as a young adult novel, the 2014 spin of The Giver makes for an entertaining sci-fi posing challenging questions about balance and how much is too far? Not unlike how far do democracies go to protect liberty?  How invasive do we become before we violate what we set out to protect?
      CLARITY
      There is nothing good in the IS. Islamic State is a dangerous menace to a modern world. Disturbingly they are tenacious, manipulative, effective and should be broken and then destroyed. Eliminating an evil like IS will raise hard questions for the world's modern nations, especially democracies.
MORNING BREAK 




  And taking his or her place amongst the pelicans, cormorants and gulls is a heron.

FINDING COZY
   Our cats sleep around.  They'll find a spot, settle in and then in a couple of days, maybe a week,  they move on.  It never ceases to amaze us where they find a bed.  Joy rests here on a box of oil paints tucked at the back of a work desk in Lana's studio.

   See you down the trail.

Monday, January 27, 2014

YOU WON'T FORGET IT and SUN ON CARMEL WHITE

FILM AS MORE THAN ENTERTAINMENT
     From the beginning, film has also been about sociology, politics, or explorations of the nuances of the human experience. Many people connect with cinema as the modern novel; entertainment, escape or a medium for drama. Over the years I've explained to friends why a director, writer, cinematographer, actor or perhaps the scope of a project itself will lead me to plunk down the money for a ticket, even if the film is not, in their minds or the minds of many, entertaining or enjoyable. My attraction might be the craft, skill, artistry, approach or even the topic. This, then, is my raison d'être for raving about AUGUST:OSAGE COUNTY.
      At lunch today I was asked if I "enjoyed" the film. I told her enjoy was not the correct word, but I was enthralled and maybe even mesmerized by the extraordinary acting.  If you are a film fan you've no doubt read the stunning reviews this work has gathered. There is little more that I can add, but to say there was not one character in the film who was not brilliantly portrayed by their actor. The characters were indeed dysfunctional, flawed, pained and painful, deep, conflicted and extraordinarily human and real.  They make you laugh and they make you cry and they confound.  
      Meryl Streep's work will blow your mind, even if you've seen her award winning roles and have marveled before, thinking she can't be any better. Yes, she can and this is it.  Julia Roberts, who I've enjoyed as a movie star but never given much credit to as a deep actress changed my mind about all of that. She's got serious chops. Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper are worthy of Oscar nominations, despite not being nominated. Misty Upham is compelling in her small, but essential role. Benedict Cumberbatch, who seems to be everywhere these days, Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor and Dermot Mulroney all bring characters to life with brilliance, subtle and otherwise. Sam Shephard in his all too brief role, Abigail Breslin and Julianne Nicholson are haunting in their portrayals.  In the case of Breslin and Nicholson some of the most compelling scenes are fueled by their expressions in poignant moments.
       So, dark, sad, riveting and even laugh out loud hilarious delivered by acting at it's best may not make for "enjoyable" but certainly is memorable and powerful.  
PHOTO PLAY
SUN ON WHITE
    January sun and sky mixed with Carmel white and shadows.






See you down the trail.

Friday, February 3, 2012

THE WEEKENDER :) WHAT KIND OF IRON?

REEL THOUGHTS
THE IRON LADY
     First, Meryl Streep is absolutely superb, in all of the 
incarnations she portrays of Margret Thatcher.  
        In many ways the film is also superb, but it has a center of gravity that is disturbing and disrespectful.  
      Thatcher was one of the towering characters of the late
20th Century. Obviously she was a barrier breaker and an historic figure.  Regardless of her politics, and people are still divided about that, she deserves a more appropriate lens by which to view her life and influence.
      Screen writer Abi Morgan, whose credits are the movie Shame and TV movies, is inauthentic, disingenuous
and probably a wholesale fabricator in using an increasingly
incapacitated Lady Thatcher as the touchstone from which she launches into memories.  Speaking with her husband's ghost as a point of departure, for example. It is distasteful, contrived and demeaning to a true historic character.
     The director Phyllida Lloyd, a well regarded director in
British Theater, presides over a film that could have been
brilliant had it not been for her and Morgan's penchant to  make it a bit of a cheap English tattler.
     Despite those serious weaknesses in structure, Streep, Jim Broadbent as Dennis Thatcher and Alexandra Roach as a young Iron Lady were all brilliant. The film is well made
except for its orientation of focus.
      Thatcher's life was towering enough to find another through-line or means of story connection.  Seeing her in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is cheap and in many ways a bit of a shot at her. There is enough known about her, that Morgan and Lloyd didn't have to resort to contriving scenes of
the once elegant lady rummaging around her apartment, disheveled and demented. 
      A personal note-the thing I remember about Margret 
Thatcher, made indelible in my meeting her after she had 
left office, was her supreme command and eloquent use of 
English. She spoke as well as anyone I've known or have seen.
She could be tough, yes, but so well spoken.
      There is a lot about the film that is commendable,
but the horrible contrivance of seeing her as a failing old 
woman is an artistic license that should earn scorn for Lloyd and Morgan. Streep on the other hand becomes more legendary by her uncanny and brilliant work though I wish she had not been called on to play some scenes.
GREAT THATCHER MOMENTS
A Young Iron Lady  1975
Later as PM in the House of Parliament
(Turn up the volume on this)
THE FILM VERSION
Have a good weekend. 
Enjoy the Super Bowl-at least there is a
Manning in it.
See you down the trail.