Disney's Fictional Fahrenheit? (M. Night Shyamalan's new movie another Bush Bash)

Fox News ^ | 7/27/04 | Roger Friedman

[jalisco555]

Forget "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Disney, which didn't want to release the controversial nonfiction film because it deemed it too partisan, has another political movie about to be released.

In fact, M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" could turn out to be more anti-Bush and more controversial than "Fahrenheit" simply on an artistic level.

snip

In the case of "The Village," when the cover-up is suggested, it's all you can do not to laugh out knowingly, because the message of the film seems so clear. It's almost as if Shyamalan is saying that the woods — called the "Coventry Woods" here — are the red states.

[Modernman]

Understood but the enemy picked Red for the Bush states, not us.

No. Blue is used to represent the incumbent, red the challenger. Bush's states will be blue this time around.

[drjimmy]

These wackjobs could find a political undercurrent in a Speedy Gonzales clip.
And don't think for one second that it is just a coincidence that Speedy is an illegal alien from Mexico.

[Benrand]

The Scarlet Letter...aren't, in stories, doors or other things marked with red paint signifying something bad is gonna happen to the person who lives there?

[Neever]

How about red standing for the fear of the communist threat in the 20th Century?

I haven't seen the film, but if the little village and the scary creatures engage each other, it might also suggest that confrontation, war, disease, are all an unavoidable aspect of life: that, no matter how much we try to escape our mortality, death finds us.

You have a good deal of wiggle room with this, which is precisely what the director wants to convey to you. In the process, he wants to scare you to death.

I think the red states thing is a bit of a stretch, unless there are numerous lines in the movie that suggest otherwise.

I'm going to see the movie and judge for myself.

[Modernman]

But as it turned out, the message was that our fears are justified, and instead of talking we need to smash their heads in with a baseball bat.

That is the best plot summary of Signs I've ever read.

[CFC__VRWC]

Look at the byline - it's Roger Friedman, Fox News' resident Ebert wannabe. This guy is total loony leftist Hollyweird panty sniffer. No doubt a lot of this is his projecting his loathing of George Bush and all things Republican onto this film, for no other reason than to drive conservatives nuts. I would treat anything he writes as garbage.

[Modernman]

I agree, it sounds like it's reaching... however we did give Shyamalandingdong's people the shock and awe

No, we didn't. Shyamalan is Hindu and he attended Catholic schools growing up.

[mtbopfuyn]

We hadn't planned on seeing it, period.

[j_k_l]

"Seen the way the writer-director intends it to be, as an allegory about the culture of fear — the same culture of fear that Michael Moore has been bleating about since September 11th, 2001 — "The Village" should speak to the soul of the anti-Bush movement more than Moore's film."

Moore was attempting to create a culture of fear and anger towards Bush and the Republicans. I don't see Moore as trying to anything but use fear to promote his agenda. Roger Friedman is making a H U G E leap and I very much doubt Shyamalan would agree with this intrepretation.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

I take this review with a huge boulder of salt. Friedman claims that the woods represents the "red states," and supports his theory by quoting the director as saying he made the movie with thoughts of the 9/11 disaster...

I completely agree with you. Friedman is trying to hitch his cart to the F911 buzz. Fear as defined by the 9/11 disaster is not the same as fear of fallout from Iraq.

From article: It's almost as if Shyamalan is saying that the woods — called the "Coventry Woods" here — are the red states.

Friedman seems contradictory here. The woods are the red (Bush) states and the fear-monger elder played by William Hurt is supposedly a Bushie? Shouldn't the village represent the red states???

[hispanarepublicana]

I remember a behind the scenes show about the sixth scene where everytime you saw the color Red something was going to happen.

Kind of like everytime you saw oranges (the fruit) in The Godfather, somebody was going to die.

[Varda]

Why does anyone pay attention to Roger Friedman. This is the same wacko who floated the conspiracy theory that NewMarket and Gibson were avoiding Jews and big cities with Passion of the Christ.

Shyamalan on the other hand has a track record of making decent suspense flixs that I'm not embarrassed for my family to see.

[SpinyNorman]

"You know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."


LOL!


Rudyard Kipling, wrote in the 'The Betrothed', "A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a Smoke."

I am sure Slick Willie would have something to say about that!

Dan Akroyd, as Sigmund Freud in an old SNL "Anna Freud" skit: "Sometimes, Anna, a banana is just a banana."

[hispanarepublicana]

haven't seen the film, but if the little village and the scary creatures engage each other,

I have a steak dinner riding on a bet that says we'll never actually see the creatures on screen in full in the movie. I made the bet after seeing the trailer. That's how I would have made the movie, anyway. What is in our imaginations as to "what's in the woods" is much scarier than anything M. Night could conjure, because fear is subjective.

[Tinman93]

"In fact, M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" could turn out to be more anti-Bush and more controversial than "Fahrenheit" simply on an artistic level."

Sometimes, there are things posted here I just have to filter out. This statement is one of them. Grasping are we...

[Lancey Howard]

Like I said - - Friedman is a troll at Fox News.
I have no doubt that this piece was thrown out there by Friedman in an attempt to try to incite a few gullible conservatives into taking rash action ("boycott, boycott!") against an innocent film, thereby making fools of themselves and discrediting all conservatives. It will be interesting to see if a few insurgents disguised as "conservatives" show up to pretend to take the bait.

Ailes should get rid of Friedman faster than Jim would throw him out of here.

Regards,
LH

[Modernman]

What is in our imaginations as to "what's in the woods" is much scarier than anything M. Night could conjure, because fear is subjective.

Good point. The aliens in "Signs" were scariest when they were mostly unseen. The scenes in the cornfield freaked me out.

[Choose Ye This Day]

This is Fox News paranoia. This suuuuuuuch a stretch.

Night's movies have all been excellent thus far without a hint of politics; I doubt very much he would ruin the formula.

[Strategerist]

I have a steak dinner riding on a bet that says we'll never actually see the creatures on screen in full in the movie. I made the bet after seeing the trailer.

Must....resist...temptation...to....give....away....the...plot...twist....I've....read....on...the....internet......

Think hard about what the "creatures" could be.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Sometimes a banana is just a banana, Anna.