Kerry wrote:
> Kevin, love ya man but sometimes I think you argue
both ends
> against the
> middle. Aren't these sly winks and call-outs just
common, everyday
> allusions that in what the academics like to
describe as "great
> literature"
> referred to Greek and Roman mythology, but in pop
culture usually
> refers
> back to earlier examples of the same pop culture?
Either way, it's
> a little
> gimmick to help engage the knowing audience,
no?
And I don't mind that, classical scholar that I am. But when
it dominates the story to the point that it's all about the
winks, not the story, it's not an example of the genre so
much as it's simply satire or parody of it.
Which is fine. I loved the MAD take-off on CHINATOWN, but
most days I'd rather watch the film again rather than re-read
the parody.
The way things are going, if they remade CHINATOWN today, it
would be as a parody of (Ooops! "Loving homage" to) detective
films.
I can see it now. Mike Myers IS Jake Gittes!
> Or at other times a
> kind-of short-hand for bringing the audience up to
speed as in
> "Okay you
> know that, right, now here's this." Granted, it
should not jerk you
> out of
> the story. Is it the quantity, the lack of skill in
application, or
> just
> your own over-familiarity with the genre that makes
the use of this
> technique so distractingly obvious, do you
think?
The quantity, definitely. I certainly can't gripe about the
skill of the call-outs in BRICK or KISS KISS. But even as I
was smiling and enjoying it, I occasionally felt the
self-consciousness of it all oozing out of the screen.
Fortunately they were both strong enough flicks to survive
it.
Yes, maybe I'm too familiar. But you never complained about
my familiarity on that memorable night behind the Tim
Horton's in Saskatoon.
> See here you seem to argue for the old tried and
true instead of
> the new
> with allusions to the old tried and true. Doesn't
that simply
> amount to so
> much allusion that the new is undistinguishable from
the old?
Not necessarily. Granted, I'm a sucker for the tried and true
-- good story, strong characters, that unexplainable
rrrraarrrooommppphhhrrr that brings it all home -- and I
don't mind a reasonable amount of allusion. We can't ignore
the past, obviously, but if you're always looking in the rear
view you're never going to get to where you're going.
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.thrillingdetective.com
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