which several are scheduled this year, are events in
The Blonde in Torment: Two Cinema Classics +
With the conclusion of 2023, two cinema classic anniversaries went by unnoticed and without any fanfare. Unless unbeknownst to me, Turner Classics might have paid homage to either or both? We’re talking, the 90th and 60th of King Kong and The Birds respectively. With that realization, an imagined juxtaposition formed in the mind’s eye. At least in this mind’s “I”.
Blondes have always been a source of fixation in Hollywood movies. Especially those of old, filmed in black and white. Where the contrast is even more dramatic and calls attention to itself. And when they are in distress, so much the better. Alfred Hitchcock’s fascination, infatuation, and ensuing harassment of blondes, on and off screen, is well documented. You might have noticed the many. Beginning in his American film making career with Joan Fontaine.
Books have been written on the subject.
But before Hitchcock, there was Kong.
Made in 1933 just six years after pictures learned how to talk, comes this beauty and the beast monster of a film, King Kong. And the damsel in this distress, just had to be blonde. Somehow having Kong take a brunette to the top of the hyper-phallic Empire State Building' would not have had the same sense of titillation in the minds of the moguls making the movie. And their efforts were thinly disguised (along with some gruesome violence) in the original version, which was reedited some five years later. And poor Fay Wray was the brunt of it all.
Abducted by a swarm of "native" extras on Skull Island, she is about to be tied and offered up as the quintessential white woman sacrifice to Kong. That is, after they first are about to...well, to think when I first saw this as a kid, thought this was just a scary movie about a giant ape. And how cool were those special effects. How did they do that? In 1933 no less. Especially a wonder, to young eyes.
Overlooked by me in ‘53, was the libidinous way Kong looked at Wray (i.e. Ann Darrow, her character), probing, poking around at her body, her bare legs flailing about as she tries to free herself from the firm grip of his enveloping hand. In the original version he is even seen taking off her clothes and sniffing his finger as to get the scent of her. Which can still be seen through the omnipotence of YouTube.
The sexual innuendo throughout was invariably ignored by reviews of the film at the time of its release. Variety called it...
"Highly imaginative and super-goofy yarn is mostly about a 50-foot ape who goes for a five-foot blonde." And goes on to opine that... "With the blonde still screaming while in Kong’s palm atop the Empire State, after having screamed all the way from the first reel, another of the unbelievable facts is that Kong shouldn’t drop her and look for a non-screamer–even if he has to settle for a brunet."
The stereotypical brand of sexism of the time, screaming here louder than Fay Wray ever could.
On the other wing, The Birds, strikes a different tone in blonde torment. Tippi Hedren does not feel sexually threatened by some beast pawing at her (again, that would come by way of Hitchcock off script), but rather being almost pecked to death. At least there were phone booths back then to which her character Marian could retreat at one point to save her life. Literally. A cell phone would have been of no help here.
To be fair, blondes are not the only ones subjected to such misery in these classics. King Kong is an equal terminator, killing off a few natives and city dwellers in New York, regardless of gender or coloring; hair or skin. And in The Birds, long before her Newhart years to come, husky-voiced Susan Pleshette, decidedly brunette (and one time lover of the male protagonist in this film—I guess you had to be blonde to get the man), does have her eyes plucked out. The chivalrous Rod Taylor using his coat to shield the gruesome view from an understandably frazzled Tippi Hedren.
Classic films with 50th anniversaries coming up in 2024 include the Godfather Part II, Chinatown, Young Frankenstein, The Conversation, Blazing Saddles, Murder on the Orient Express and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Though none of these deal with that chestnut of a cinematic fixation of the blonde in torment, as Linda Loman once said of salesman husband Willie, "Attention must be paid." For one reason or another, these films are worth another look.
Quote of the Month
Each month in these Musings, I will usually include a quote I've come across online or in print, or simply by way of my meanderings through life in general. Something I find interesting whether I agree with it or not. Especially when it mirrors in some way, something I might have written or said. For is not one of the small connective moments in life being able to turn to someone, even a stranger, and say, “Did you see that too?” And it need not be earth-shattering. And most times isn't.
A couple of months ago as I waxed euphoric about living in New York City, I stated that...
“one should enjoy the act of simply walking the streets not knowing where a day might lead, and what surprises might be encountered along the way.”
Naturally, as I was walking through the Museum of Modern Art recently and came upon this affixed to a wall by way of introducing an exhibit, it became the Quote of the Month for this month.
Resilience in Lieu of Resolutions
It is customary with the arrival of a new year, to make resolutions to change some of the bad habits that have dogged us, not only in the past 12 months, but in previous years as well. Often at the top of the list is dieting. An urgency invariably brought on by holiday indulgence. And we all know how that goes. Point is, New Year's resolutions are meant to be broken. We even take a certain pride in doing so. And laugh off our failings as if to imply...Oh, look at me. I live such a spirited life, what's another few calories. Or another this or that—fill in the blanks. Which is why I abandoned the practice long ago. Instead, focusing on maintaining resilience throughout any year. Which strikes me as being a more strategic approach toward self-betterment than making specific resolutions. My partner made a wry observation that one would need to be resilient to attempt to make and keep resolutions.
Resolutions are tactical by nature. Often prompted by the first of January. Clearly it, and its Eve, are the most overrated holidays or mileposts or whatever you might call it, on the calendar. Which is why when I happened upon a list of Expert Tips for Resilience in an issue if Time magazine eight summers ago, it resonated in a way that no tips for making New Year's resolutions ever could. I've actually tapped it to the surface of my laptop. Having resilience seems critical to living, given that lives are made up of inevitable changes and challenges. Often, without much notice.
I found this list to be personally re-enforcing in that for one thing, it reminded that I have exhibited resilience throughout a life, now in its seventh iteration. Given the abruptness and distinction with which they have come into being at times, I view them as being seven separate lives. They bear little or no resemblance to each other. I assume many see their "lives" in that manner, if you pause to think about it. Was that really me at the time in that place?
I do not as a practice, pass along "how-to's" as I come across them. But here's an exception. And as lists go, it has the usual round number of items. In this case "10." With numbers "1" and "10" in particular, jumping out at me. Yes. I've done that! I think proudly. Though number "3," is often in need of being worked on. Especially in these troubling times we seem to be in. The red oak tree pictured here is a symbol of resilience. Happy New Year!
Expert Tips for Resilience
1) Develop a core set of beliefs that nothing can shake.
2) Try to find meaning in whatever stressful or traumatic thing
that has happened.
3) Try to maintain a positive outlook.
4) Take a cue from someone who is especially resilient.
5) Don't run from things that scare you. Face them.
6) Be quick to reach out for support when things go haywire.
7) Learn new things as often as you can.
8) Find an exercise regimen you'll stick to.
9) Don't beat yourself up or dwell on the past.
10) Recognize what makes you strong and own it.
Word of the Month
peloothered /pəˈluθərd/ puh-LOO-thuhrd
adj.
(rare, informal) drunk, thoroughly intoxicated.
Origin
Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence is from James Joyce's 1914 collection of
short stories, Dubliners. Joyce created this word which may be a variation of an older term
with the same meaning: bloothered.
Synonyms
fried wet wasted blind
bombed plastered gassed inebriated
loaded tipsy intoxicated lit
smashed stiff sozzled squiffed
ripped high sloshed soused
besotted juiced blotto stewed
pickled crocked tight hammered
sottish tanked stinking blitzed
blasted looped pie-eyed potted
cockeyed in the bag whipped out in one’s cups
three sheets to the wind under the influence
Used in a Sentence
In a peloothered state on New Year's Eve, he awakened the next day to find himself
in a strange place.
Events and Curiosities in 2024
Trying to predict what a new year will bring is as fruitless as trying to make New Year's resolutions. I relearned that in spades four years ago, as I thought 2020 would be the year of the woman. The year marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Along with all the anticipated hoopla around that landmark event, I thought too, that the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman's portrait would finally arrive. It had been in the works for several years. Imagine. A woman on the face of paper currency. Whatever happened to that idea?
Something called the coronavirus then interceded, and that was it for pretty much any anticipated events for 2020. Cancelations and extreme rescheduling abounded. The 2020 Olympics wouldn't be played until the following year. Of course, the Presidential election went on as scheduled. Which proved to be one for the ages for reasons beyond whatever could have been imagined.
Four years later, it will take no imagination to see that such could be the case with The 2024 Election. So I guess this a prediction after all. There will be blood. Real or metaphoric.
How could there not be? Regardless of one's political affiliations or persuasions, regardless of one's feelings about Trump—one of loathing or fawning—it would be naive to think that there will not be much turmoil and chaos whether he wins or loses again. It's hardly going out on a limb to suggest that barring something unforeseen, Trump will remain in our faces throughout the year. And possibly much longer. With all that that implies. This will clearly be THE event of the year.
Though far in advance of election day, but in the midst of primaries, thankfully, we'll have those two big escapist events, the Super Bowl and Oscars to take our minds off The Matter.
Whether or not we are fans of football, two out of every three Americans will be watching Super Bowl LVIII (from Las Vegas on Sunday February 11th). It has long since become, with all its rituals and trimmings, not unlike a national holiday. Though to be witnessed only through our video screens; inaccessible in the flesh to most Americans. The cheapest Super Bowl seat this year, can be had for $4,300 according to SeatGeeks. (A steal!).
Obviously, who can predict what two teams will be in it, but if the Kansas City Chiefs are —as they were last year and won it— the very presence of Taylor Swift at the game will add a dimension to the proceedings. She, the reigning Time magazine Person of the Year, is a phenomenon hard to explain.
The Swift-NFL saga, which includes her romantic relationship with Chiefs' player Travis Kelce, and her appearances at two NFL games, has created a total equivalent brand value of $122 million, according to data provided by MarketWatch (a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company). Yet Swift does not need the NFL to increase her exposure. Every one of her concerts worldwide, of
Oh, the half-time show will be performed by Usher. Referred to as the "King of R&B" by various media outlets.
Followed by...
The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences or
Which will air just a month later on
Sunday, March 10th.
Still the granddaddy of all awards in
the entertainment industries, an esti-
mated 20 million will be watching.
While the Oscars are often the subject of ridicule, and not without good reason (The Slap heard round the world?), we will watch. Or hear much about them even if we don't, because they are another indicator of what phase of the zeitgeist we are in. Are we waxing or waning? And what have we missed? And tangentially, to see who with whom on the red carpet, and what they are wearing. (Meow). As a people, we are drawn to celebrities as moths are to a light bulb. But unlike moths... don't own up to it.
Invariably there are films of interest each year that emerge as favorites, often aligned side by side incongruously. This year brought us...
Barbenheimer: a cultural phenomenon which preceded
and continues to surround the simultaneous theatrical release of two films. Warner Bros. Barbie and Universal Pictures Oppenheimer...The word is a portmanteau of the films' titles. The strong contrast between Barbie—a fantasy comedy by Greta Gerwig about the fashion doll Barbie—
and Oppenheimer an epic bio thriller by Christopher Nolan about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project—prompted a comedic response from Internet users, including memes,
merchandise and memorabilia.
The Hollywood Reporter July 31, 2023
Other films of particular interest this past year include Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things and Maestro.
Then it is back to a world of sports by way of Paris this summer: The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade). We might always have Paris, but not in this way. The last time the summer games were played there was in 1924. And one time prior to that in 1900.
I had only been to the Olympics once before in Los Angeles in 1984. There is something special about them. Like watching young men and women transcending the limits of the body in ways that seem to defy the laws of physics. Sandwiched in between the grandeur of the opening and closing ceremonies. Especially now, as Paris will be doing them in a unique way.
"Paris 2024 is breaking new ground in sports competition by bringing sports out into the city and the same will be true for the opening ceremony, which will be held in the heart of the city, along its main artery, the Seine.
...open to a very large audience, with no admission fee for most of its spectators, who will not need tickets to access the upper quays.... At least 600,000 spectators will be able to attend the festivities, ten times more than in an Olympic stadium.
The river parade will follow the course of the Seine, from east to west over a distance of 6 km. It will depart from the Austerlitz bridge, beside the Jardin des Plantes, making its way around the two islands at the centre of the city, the Île Saint Louis and the Île de la Cité, then passing under the eight to ten bridges and gateways... and lastly the Iéna bridge where the parade will come to a stop before the Trocadéro for the ceremony’s final."
We've made reservations to be there for a week leading into the opening ceremony and early games. The full event begins on Friday July 26, 2024, and closes on Sunday, Aug 11, 2024, and will of course be televised and covered online extensively.
Once again, Paris will be a focal point of attention closing out the year with The Reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral set for December 8th; the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. (One of the Catholic Church’s most misunderstood feast days).
On April 15, 2019 the cathedral caught fire, that was linked to some ongoing renovation work at the time,
causing severe damage. Though the main structure remained intact, and firefighters saved the façade, towers, walls, buttresses and stained-glass windows. The Great Organ, which has over 8,000 pipes and was built in the 18th century was also saved but sustained water damage.
President Emmanuel Macron vowed to have it restored within five years and opened to the public. Which will be the case, though he had hoped it be ready in time for the Olympics. You can expect that this will be an event with much fanfare across the globe. And just a wild guess, but the lines to get in will be pretty long at that December 8th opening.
fini
All cheeky asides aside, both movies are indeed classics as they have held up for generations since their release. They are still riveting; wonderfully conceived and executed in content and style. Especially within that framework of such extended time gone by.
As for torment of blonde women on the big screen, the latest is Barbie. Well, at least when you consider that at one point she is running for her freedom from a team of male Mattel executives in feverish pursuit, trying to put her back in the box where they believe she belongs. The metaphor is hardly lost on the viewer, in this less than hilarious moment in a comedic film. Albeit one with a slew of messages interwoven. A film destined for “classichood,” as I rhapsodized a few months back. And imagine Hitchcock making Barbie?
muse-letter \’myüz-‘le-tər noun
1: a personal message, inspired by a muse of one's own creation, in the course of which, the sender becomes absorbed in thought, especially turning something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively.
2: a letter from one who envisions oneself as a poet as such, "musing" on that which is perceived to be news, or newsworthy, usually in some ironic or absurd way.
pre 2019
