Author Topic: Cellar Scribblings  (Read 12514536 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17660 on: September 16, 2022, 10:40:05 am »
It certainly is fair, and I suppose many an academic hour is spent on that. But I wouldn't "call them out." To me that phrase sounds like an attack--like attacking a work because it reflects the time in which it was created.

I guess it's a matter of what degree of opposition or disagreement you're comfortable with. I would agree with FRiend Lee's assessment:


Frankly I'm getting tired of opera, particularly classical opera. The storyline is always a variation on the woman who went wrong and is punished by losing her reputation or dying and the men are always strutting around. I don't get excited about the women's lamenting or drama and the men's bravura.


I'm not into opera but I think the same sentiment applies to literature. I would never advocate banning a book, but analyzing and criticizing outdated gender assumptions in canonical works seems completely valid. And if that criticism rises to level that could be described as "attacking" -- whatever that means in regard to long-dead authors and works in the public domain -- that wouldn't bother me in the least. Those on the other side are free to argue that the literary value of the work outweighs such issues.

I guess another way to put it is, sure, works are a reflection of their times, just like historical figures are. To some extent I'm able to compartmentalize and separate, say, Thomas Jefferson's severe flaws from his intelligence and insights or whatever. But I don't just shrug and say, oh well, lots of people owned slaves and raped and/or slept with them back then so it's no big deal.

Traditional education (and maybe education now as well, or at least in Florida  ::)) ignored Jefferson's faults. I think literary education has done the same with these gender issues, or at least did when I was taking literature classes (which admittedly was so long ago Tostoy was practically still alive  :laugh:).



« Last Edit: September 16, 2022, 12:27:35 pm by serious crayons »

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17661 on: September 16, 2022, 11:12:14 am »
Opera is supposed to be so highbrow, but it's not! Most of the characters are so one dimensional and stereotyped. The music is often wonderful, but the style of singing can sometimes be overblown. On the audience side, I have issues with people who want to be seen at the opera, although Denver is an eclectic crowd with children and people wearing cowboy boots. And the price of it...I could see a dozen movies for the same price. Not that I have to pay, but when I go with M. I feel obligated in other ways.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17662 on: September 16, 2022, 12:32:35 pm »
Denver is an eclectic crowd with children and people wearing cowboy boots.

Is it such a formal occasion they dress up in their black jeans?  :laugh:

The cultures of Denver and Minneapolis are somewhat similar, but when in Denver I've always noticed that many more people wear jeans. I started joking that in Denver people wear blue jeans all the time except when they go to weddings and funerals -- then they wear black jeans.

 


Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17663 on: September 16, 2022, 01:08:31 pm »
Is it such a formal occasion they dress up in their black jeans?  :laugh:

The cultures of Denver and Minneapolis are somewhat similar, but when in Denver I've always noticed that many more people wear jeans. I started joking that in Denver people wear blue jeans all the time except when they go to weddings and funerals -- then they wear black jeans.

Do they wear black cowboy boots for formal affairs?  ;D
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17664 on: September 16, 2022, 03:09:44 pm »
Do they wear black cowboy boots for formal affairs?  ;D

One would hope!!  :laugh:



Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17665 on: September 16, 2022, 03:29:39 pm »
Do they wear black cowboy boots for formal affairs?  ;D

One would hope!!  :laugh:

Of course an image that will remain burned in my mind forever is a commercial with a pre-Magnum, P.I. Tom Selleck in a tuxedo--and cowboy boots. I'm sure I remember that correctly.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17666 on: September 17, 2022, 12:05:33 pm »
Of course an image that will remain burned in my mind forever is a commercial with a pre-Magnum, P.I. Tom Selleck in a tuxedo--and cowboy boots. I'm sure I remember that correctly.

Signature mustache?


Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17667 on: September 17, 2022, 04:00:24 pm »
Do they wear black cowboy boots for formal affairs?  ;D

Not always! See photo.
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17668 on: September 18, 2022, 03:08:54 pm »
Signature mustache?

Absolutely.

And now they're probably dying it and his hair for his role in Blue Bloods.

Interesting thing I noticed about Selleck's office set for the TV show. There is a large photo of a younger Theodore Roosevelt hanging on the wall; Teddy has his own trademark mustache and spectacles. He really was the commissioner of the New York police department at one time early in his career. So there we have Tom Selleck with his own trademark mustache--and he always or at least often wears eyeglasses in the office. I'm sure this is deliberate. It's probably been commented on a lot other places on the internet.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Cellar Scribblings
« Reply #17669 on: September 18, 2022, 03:13:01 pm »
Not always! See photo.

Yes, but that's a woman wearing brown boots. I was speaking of men--as in wearing black boots with a tuxedo. The gentleman in the photo is wearing some sort of black footwear with what I presume to be a tuxedo, or at least a three-piece suit.

In that white gown the woman looks like a bride. I might have expected her to wear white boots with a white gown--certainly not brown.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.