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The Culture Tent / Re: In the New Yorker...
« Last post by serious crayons on April 09, 2021, 04:54:59 pm »Is this available only online?
Yes, if you don't want to wait. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/12/the-making-of-midnight-cowboy-and-the-remaking-of-hollywood
That was one of the few articles I thought was too short.
I thought so, too!
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I found it depressing for several reasons. First, it was in black-and-white and showed the gritty side of New York in the 1960s, when Times Square had become squalid. The innocent Joe Buck is traumatized by the culture. The ending is sad; Ratso never makes it to the Florida he has dreamed about. The class system has overpowered America's dreams of egalitarianism (which never really existed in the first place).
Well, to clarify, it's not like I mistook it for a rom-com. The ending is extremely sad. It's possible I was too young to get depressed about stuff like a squalid Times Square.
Years ago, I cowrote a story about depressing movies with a movie critic. I know we mentioned Platoon and Leaving Las Vegas. And there was some other movie out at the time about a refugee family that kept running into tragic troubles. I can't remember the name.
I think a friend who accompanied me to Blue Velvet was sorry she'd seen it, but for some reason that didn't bother me. Again, my youth may have shielded me a bit; the first depressing movie I recall -- I mean the kind that lingers for two or three days -- was Platoon. It's why I hate Barber's Adagio.
One year my mom and brother were looking for a movie to rent on Christmas Eve and were considering Leaving Las Vegas. I had to put my foot down and forbid it, even though I was going out for the evening. That one left me depressed for days, too -- it's very well made, so it's not like people shouldn't see it if they
But I didn't swear off depressing movies until I saw a 1990s Nick Nolte movie called Affliction. I don't remember how it went, but I clearly remember thinking afterward that I no longer want to see movies that leave me feeling worse than I was before, so I decided to avoid them.
Speaking of Nick Nolte, for some reason Prince of Tides didn't depress me too much. In fact I was inspired by that same film critic to write a story about male rape.
I did accidentally watch Requiem for a Dream, and at home on a rainy Saturday afternoon to make it worse. I didn't really know what was going to happen and it was critically acclaimed, so it took me off guard.
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I'm not in the mood for a depressing movie very often, but when I look back on it, depressing movies have been among the best I've ever seen, including MC, BBM, The Hurt Locker, and Slumdog Millionaire. Just a day or so ago, I went to the theater to see the Oscar nominated animated shorts. There were seven of them, some very beautiful, some comical, some heartwarming. But the one I predict will win the Oscar is a very depressing one about gun violence. It's called "If Anything Happens, I Love You."
I distinguish between sad and depressing. BBM was obviously sad but didn't leave me depressed; it left me exhilarated and ready to see it again the very next day! I don't remember being especially depressed by The Hurt Locker, although I can't remember how it ended. I do remember a scene where Jeremy Renner, having been discharged, was grocery shopping and realized how disengaged he felt from that culture, and eventually returned to the war zone. That scene was really useful in helping me understand the culture shock vets must experience when they return from battle to ordinary life.
I can see how Slumdog Millionaire might be depressing, but didn't it have a happy ending?
