Strange Fictions

Apart from watching quite a few of the Star Wars movies (after I caught the "Revenge of the Sith" on TV), I haven't been watching much else owing to the fact that I'm burdened with memorizing the strange inflections of Old English and exploring the even stranger comics of Alan Moore (hmmm I might just write an entry about that ...).

Anyway, one thing that I finally watched (yes, I'm always several years behind), was "O Brother Where Art Thou?" This was promising because of the supposed inspiration from Homer's Odyssey. I didn't find that many parallels, either between the protagonist or the plot (some people who obviously know both works much better than I do have found extensive links) but I was pleased that the soundtrack was so brilliant. It's really one of those films (like Almost Famous) where the music becomes a character in the mix. Of course, in "Brother", music is crucial to the protagonists because they end up making a hit record that (they don't know about as they continue their scoundralling -- which is a nice comment on the way the workings of the media has shifted so tremendously, and I suppose a backward glance on the idea that Homeric performance and transmission may have been aural in nature ...) but the rest of the film is bouyed up by music that I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I enjoy (my common justification for liking "old time gospel and country blues": "it may not sound interesting but it's really fun to play").

Of course, writing this entry reminds me that I have watched something else: a little Spike Lee film on the IFC called "Bamboozled". It's a satirical look at big networks and an attempt to re-work "African-American" steroetypes. It was a pretty strange experience (with so many layers of irony that it became quite difficult to locate some ground beneath your feet -- whatever happend to that U2 song/Rushdie book anyway ...) The film stars Damon Wayans as a VERY middle class (read "white") black television executive who decides to mock his network (and his boss, who's a white guy who thinks he's "into black culture") by scripting an extremely offensive variety show: based on the black-face minstral shows of the 20s and 30s (see DVD cover left). Of course, things get out of hand and the show becomes a hit, with tragic consequences for all involved. Jada Pinkett-Smith is excellent in this, as Wayans' assistant!