As of Fall Semester 2012, the Film as Literature class blog is now at the following address:
www.kmwfall2012.wordpress.com
The Film Club site is still at www.lagunawoodsfilm.blogspot.com
My (very) personal (and often spiritual) site is still www.cinememoir.blogspot.com
Hope all is well with you. See you at kmwfall2012.wordpress.com
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
NEWS NEWS NEWS AND LINKS...
There's lots to report as of April 4, 2012, so below are relevant notifications and links in ascending chronological order:
Trending NOW! Summer Session registration has begun:
As you all know, telephone registration is no longer available. However the Emeritus Institute is doing everything possible to assist those students that are unable to use a computer. We will have staff from Admissions & Records at many neighborhood sites to register our students. Please click link on the right (under the heading "Pages") to see a listing of dates, places and times.
To view a list of all Film as Literature classes to be taught by Karen Merced Willner this summer, click here.
APRIL 13: Santiago Canyon College International Film Festival begins:
The Languages Department of the Santiago Canyon College in Orange is offering a FREE foreign film series on Fridays beginning April 13. All films will begin at 6 pm on SCC Campus in room D-101. Schedule: April 13: Coco Avant Chanel (France); April 20: Il Postino (Italy); April 27: El Bola (Spain). For more information call (714) 628-4938 or 628-4742.
April 26: Newport Beach Film Festival begins:
For complete information on the Festival's web site, click here.
May 1: Film as Literature field trip to the Newport Beach Film Festival:
- Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Location:
NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL
FASHION ISLAND CINEMAS
401 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660
Time: Any 3 hours between 2pm and 8 pm. - You must sign the “Field Trip Insurance Waiver”
- You must provide your own transportation
- You must purchase your own tickets
- Senior discount prices are available at the box office in person only (after April 27).
o SENIOR TICKETS: $10
o REGULAR TICKETS: $12
o SPOTLIGHT/SPECIAL EVENTS: $25-50 (including post-screening parties)
Brochures with festival schedule will be in the LA Times April 22. Complete schedule and full-price ticket purchase available now at http://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/
Set aside the date! The field trip is open to all students enrolled in the Film as Literature classes taught by Karen Merced Willner. For students who cannot attend, the regular Film as Literature class will meet at Sea Country on Monday, April 30, from 1-4 pm.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Roger Ebert on Bride of Frankensten
Recently, our Monday "Black and White" themed Film as Literature class saw and discussed Bride of Frankenstein. Click the link below to read Ebert's "Great Films" essay on Bride of Frankenstein which includes, among other things, more information on perceived gay content in the film.
http://rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19990103%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010307%2F1023
http://rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19990103%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010307%2F1023
Monday, September 5, 2011
The Question of The Help: Where is the authentic voice of Narrative Parity?
by Karen Merced Willner
Currently #1 at the box office for the third week in a row, The Help presents uncomfortable questions to the US
True diversity in culture is found when a variety of authentic voices tell their own stories and are heard by all. When the breadth and scope of ethnic experience is fully expressed and widely accessible through an art form, there is a kind of narrative parity which moves society forward and promotes cohesion among once disparate cultures.
Minority voices continue to struggle for narrative parity in the US
Must a dark Black actress only hope to be cast as a mammy figure, are only fair-skinned Halle Berry
Certainly, The Help is a beautifully-acted, engaging movie. But it is also a White “feel good” movie, self-congratulatory as the White princess-savior descends upon the down-trodden Black maids to encourage and inspire them. Yes, there are exchanges and the maids rescue her right back. Not unlike Pretty Woman: despite Julia Roberts’ declaration of empowerment at the end, Pretty Woman is still about a hooker with a heart of gold, and despite its own declarations of empowerment from the central Black character’s voice-over at its end, The Help still smacks of White paternalism.
A diplomatic Roger Ebert writes:
“The Help” is a safe film about a volatile subject… We are happy for the two white women, … but as the film ends it is still Jackson , Mississippi
The Association of Black Women Historians concludes its published response to the film thusly:
In the end, The Help is not a story about the millions of hardworking and dignified black women who labored in white homes to support their families and communities. Rather, it is the coming-of-age story of a white protagonist, who uses myths about the lives of black women to make sense of her own.
Stories of Whites who risked and even lost their lives for the sake of Civil Rights are valid and needed. But these are not the only stories. There are too few authentic empowerment narratives of and by African American filmmakers. Any projects with diversity behind as well as in front of the camera that reach the radar of general audiences tend to be comedies – Death at a Funeral; Madea movies and the rest of Tyler Perry’s growing canon. Serious films include two excellent and overlooked independents: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) with Laurence Fishburne and The Great Debaters (2007) with Denzel Washington. But with the exception of Spike Lee’s masterpiece Malcolm X (1992), and Kasi Lemmons Talk to Me (2007), I can think of no other major Civil Rights era theatrical films coming from Black sources over the last 20 years..
It’s nice that a well-meaning White Southern woman wrote The Help, and good for her that it was turned into a well-made and successful film. But I tend to agree with Michele Wallace, who wrote in the August 2011 issue of Essence:
I WONDER IF OTHER BLACK WOMEN who see this film will ask, When will we witness the mostly unsung heroism of the Séptima Clarks, the Ella Bakers, the Fannie Lou Hamers and so many others to the civil rights struggle in America
The more uncomfortable question is, if the stories of these unsung heroes do make it to the screen, will producers and distributors have the courage to invest in and promote these films as generously as The Help has been supported, and will White audiences embrace them with equal enthusiasm?
Links of interest:
Association of Black Women Historians Response to ‘The Help’:
Roger Ebert’s Review:
NPR Interview with “The Help” cast member Octavia Spencer (Minny):
Eudora Welty's Jackson
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Gene Kelly (8/23/1912-2/2/1996)
This week, Gene Kelly would have turned 99. He enjoyed acclaim during his life, and that acclaim persists after his death. Yet, arguably, his full contribution to dance as an art form has not been recognized.
It is both fortune and misfortune that his career overlapped that of the other greatest dancer of film, Fred Astaire. They were, and continue to be, thought of and referenced in tandem, compared and contrasted and considered endlessly as to which one was the best.
They were both the best, each bringing unique and transformative aspects to the dance as presented on screen. Astaire’s feet never seemed to touch the earth. Kelly, though equally graceful, remained firmly grounded, with a lower center of gravity.
Fred Astaire, for all his white-tie romance, remained subtly aloof from his partners, always dominant. In 1949’s Barkleys of Broadway, his final cinematic pairing with Ginger Rogers, there is a moment during a low key tap sequence when he reaches over and tweaks Roger’s chin affectionately. It is a memorable moment, almost stunning, because it is uncharacteristic of the restrained Astaire we had observed for decades.
Gene Kelly, on the other hand, connected to his dance partners intensely, periodically allowing them to dominate him. He even let them be taller. Look again at the fantasy within a fantasy sequence from the “Broadway Melody “ballet in Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Cyd Charisse veritably towers over him, demonstrating the emotional sway she holds over him. Her endless scarf billows in the air, wraps around him, consumes him. However, while Kelly allows himself to be thus overwhelmed, he is still able to secure his own space: costumed, as always, to showcase his compact muscularity; infusing – as always – a deeply masculine athleticism into his choreography.
He was obviously, at heart, a teacher. Gene Kelly ran dance schools in his native Pennsylvania
Because of the influence afforded him as a movie star, Gene Kelly impacted dance and the popular notion of dance and dancers well beyond his medium and his life. Due to his efforts, ballet became a major musical staple. The strenuous gymnastics of today’s choreography, demonstrated for the masses on “Dancing with the Stars,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” et al, can trace its roots back - ultimately - to Mr. Kelly. (Credit must be given here to the Nicholas Brothers, Harold and Fayard, sadly relegated to specialty numbers. Had they been allowed major motion picture vehicles of their own, who knows what the extent of their influence might have grown to be.)
Next year, Gene Kelly’s centennial will bring tributes, retrospectives, and marathons commemorating his place in film history. Let’s hope that the full breadth and scope of his contributions to the entire world of dance will be acknowledged.
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