Highbrow Reviews Of Ordinary Things - Part 1: Film and TV
Finding Nemo
Andrew Stanton has stepped out of the shadows of John Lasseter to direct his own animation which is evocative of early Czechoslovakian cinema verite at its finest.
In Finding Nemo, the eponymous protagonist becomes separated from his father, Marlon. In the first scene, a barracuda kills Nemo’s mother, leaving Marlon to bring him up as a single parent in a hostile enviroment. The missing Nemo finds friendship in Dory, a parrot fish played by lesbian Ellen DeGeneres.
Stanton’s use of the mis en scene is evocative of both nuances and je ne sais quelles, a postmodern pastiche of road movie and film noir, drawing on influences as diverse as Kurosawa, Warhol, Nietzsche and Chomsky.
Top Marx.
You’ve Been Framed
The clip show has been around as long as celluloid, but this programme elevates it to a prolific status not achieved since the early physical comedy of a young Buster Keaton.
Here are too many recurring themes to explore here, but the most popular seem to be children contorting their faces after ingesting something distasteful and elderly people who do not regain their footing after a fall, instead preferring to adopt a carefree air of nonchalance while remaining fell.
Always in the background is the disembodied voice of the narrator, provided by Harry Hill. This is a reminder of the unconscious mind and the juxtaposition between intention and outcome.
Things I learned while writing this post: my spell checker knows the words pastiche, Czechoslovakian, eponymous, nonchalance, juxtaposition and barracuda.
Plus: Shit from Shinola. Can you tell the difference? Five easy pointers, only in tomorrow’s This Is This
But seriously, Tomorrow: Boom Show Wadi
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Highbrow Reviews Of Ordinary Things - Part 2: Food And Drink
May 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I miss the Jeremy Beadle era intensely, he was a master of the oeuvre.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Oh. Master. No question. Beadle embraced the public with both hands.
May 17th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Could you try Bill & Ben or Teletubbies ?
May 17th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Could do Gillie, but we’re moving on. Next up is Highbrow Reviews Of Ordinary Things - Part 2: Food And Drink
May 17th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I tried embracing the public with both hands. She screamed , called me a pervert, and hit me with her purse.
May 18th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Your spell checker is clever. The predictive text on my mobile comes up with some unusual ones - omfg - which I have NOT taught it, prerogative, which I apparantly have been spelling wrong all these years, and I can’t remember what word I was trying to type in recently but it suggested “Wabash”, I have googled that and it is a city in Indiana, home of Crystal Gayle, as I live in North East Scotland I have no idea why it knows that.
I think my predictive text beats yor spell checker hands down!
May 18th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Jeremy tried to embrace the public with both hands but he had that widdly one that I couldn’t help but stare at.
May 18th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Emom, ‘Wabash’ is also a major street in Chicago where I live. We have weird street names here. I work on Wacker Drive.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Not a bad coincidence Kathryn.
Sam! Well done for taking the bait with the withered hand gag! I knew someone would, I just think we’re all a bit surprised that it was you, that’s all. Bronze Club membership for 6 months - congratulations. No, fuck it, 9 months.
Emom - interesting factoid about Mrs Dankworth.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Darn, I knew it was trap. Too obvious.
Don’t worry, though, I’m even more distasteful in real life.
May 19th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Looking forward to part 2. It means I get to chip in with my review of Coca Cola.
May 19th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Feel free Wendy - look forward to it.