Posted on 02/16/2005 9:11:41 PM PST by quidnunc
As the Oscar campaign comes down to its climactic concluding days, I've been amazed to see much of the ferocious battle for Best Picture improbably and irrationally focused on … me.
In recent weeks, some of the nation's most influential cultural observers have chosen to concentrate their Academy Awards commentary on my harsh reaction on radio and TV about the deceptive packaging of Clint Eastwood's boxing-and-euthanasia epic, "Million Dollar Baby." Roger Ebert raised the issue in several columns, attacking my decision to mention the movie's crucial assisted-suicide theme as "unforgivable." Maureen Dowd portrayed me as a witless censor (and even coined a new word, "Medvedized") while suggesting that consistency demanded my objection to classic suicide scenes in Shakespeare. Frank Rich berated me as a leader of "the usual gang of ayatollahs" in a column titled "How Dirty Harry Turned Commie," comparing my criticism of Eastwood's film to the lunacy of the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating 10-year-old Shirley Temple in 1938. In more than a dozen other commentaries, from the Los Angeles Times to the Houston Chronicle, outraged observers expressed not only disagreement but denunciation of my unpopular position as a skeptic regarding one of the most absurdly over-praised movies in recent Hollywood history.
Initially, the condemnation centered on my alleged role as a "spoiler," suggesting that I had maliciously damaged the commercial prospects for "Million Dollar Baby" by "describing its plot in great detail" (according to Roger Ebert). As a matter of fact, I never disclosed specifics on the movie's dark surprise, nor indicated which of its endearing characters chose to exercise "the right to die."
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(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
I think this is funny, coming from the same people who think leaking secrets that hurt national security is perfectly OK.
They do have some notion of what right and wrong might be--at least they think they know of one small instance.
What National security secrets have been leaked by Hollywood?
Well, one could say that in her present mentally ill state she was rendered incabable of taking care of herself. It's not the equivalent of a person of sound mind making a clear decision to kill themselves.
Thank you. Good article.
This article was posted the other day. It was loony then and it's loony now. Neo-Nazi movie, my ass!
Knowing how all the plot twists and turns, how the story concludes, etc. would ruin the whole purpose of going to see a movie.
Besides, it's a Clint Eastwood movie. He's known for having dark endings to his productions (I don't say story, because examples like Million Dollar Baby and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil were based on previously-published works). Speaking of which, where's everyone's outcry about the latter having a story revovling around the murder of a homosexual by his lover? Sometimes, seeing something like that on FreeRepublic wouldn't surprise me.
And for the record, yes, I loved Million Dollar Baby. Why? Because, throughout the whole film, the audience was engaged in the story. The pure emotion Eastwood pours into his film flows out onto its viewers, and the victories and losses are all reasons to cheer or gasp. I also reccomend that folks should at least *watch* a film before placing harsh criticism upon it (I imagine several on here judging it solely by its ending have yet to view it). But then again, that would just make too much sense, even though the ending may come to be "too offensive" for some.
Off topic but congratulations of your one month anniversary of being Smoke-Free.
Tuba-Dude---there's certainly a balance to be struck between spoiling the movie for someone and given them an honest picture of what to expect.
If a movie is advertised as a light-hearted family comedy, and halfway through a Jason-like character emerges and hacks everyone to bits with an axe, I think I'm going to be justifiably pissed. On the other hand, despite what I said earlier in jest, the plot secret in the Crying Game was important to conceal. Somewhere in the middle there is a balance and we need to find it. With Million Dollar Baby, they did not.
You say "Besides, it's a Clint Eastwood movie." Well, look, that's not good enough. Clint Eastwood is a talented man, he's got range. So if I hear a radio spot for this movie trumpeting it as some triumphant movie about the determination of a young female boxer and the redemption of a crotchety old trainer, I'm not thinking "Ooh, this is going to be dark" just because it's a Clint Eastwood movie.
I have no interest in preventing anyone from enjoying this movie. But for those who say "if you don't like this kind of material, don't watch it" to have any credibility, they have to be willing to allow us to find out in advance that it's something we don't want to watch. I can be flexible for the sake of surprise but Hollywood has to respect our wishes too.
I will be honest, from the trailers I didn't get that it was going to be like Rocky. The trailer looked more depressing than uplifting. And I believe the text that ran through the trailer hinted that things were not going to end as they traditionally do in sports movies. And of course there is the fact that it is an Eastwood film. How many has he directed with a happy ending?
I have to be honest I don't watch much TV at all so I missed the TV trailers. All I have to go on are the radio spots I've heard, and they sounded downright inspirational.
I think Clint has dealt his own death blow some time ago, specifically with Mystic River. He directs two actors who are known by conservatives to condemn America. Now he makes this movie. I wonder what the likes of Down and Ebert were saying about Clint when he made entertaining films such as Dirty Harry and Every Which Way But Loose?
My gosh...talk about drama queen. He didn't like the movie. Fine. Is it his job to destroy it? I don't get it. I did not interpret this movie is a pro-euthenasia movie. I didn't. It was a story about a man torn. This is where I part ways with the fanatic right. There's not room for human failure. And, as Hannity said yesterday, the people who want to hijack FR.
Medved has always said that hi8s quarrel with the movie was with the way it was marketed — as a feel-good boxing movie on the order of 'Rocky' — when in reality it is about assisted suicide.
I havn't seen the movie, and I won't because I only go to certain kinds of movies.
That's where I really get pissed off...this movie was never marketed as a feel good movie. Any idiot could see by the grainy way it's filmed that it was not going to be Rocky. That's ridiculous. And so what, really? Are conservatives that prune-faced that they can't sit and watch something they disagree or don't understand? Talk about a bunch of cry-babies.
Look, I think anyone who sees this as "pro death" movie is a lunatic and has their own agenda they want to attach top this movie. Capiche?
Popular culture both reflects and shapes art; non-durable art generally echoes the background noise and means nothing in the long run, the tableau is not the tapestry.
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