Stardust trailer rant, part II

[madbaker]

The other trailer worth mentioning was for a film called Across The Universe. Directed by Julie Taymor, who is a Broadway director - she did the original Lion King stage show, as well as the Anthony Hopkins Titus Andronicus. So you know it's going to be stagey, and indeed people randomly break into song.

Film summary from IMDB: "A dock worker Jude travels to America in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy. When her brother Max is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism."

Film summary from madbaker: "Hair redux. A British hippy and a U.S. hippy compete for the same hippy chick to the sound of (surprise!) Beatles cover tunes. Gratuitous shots of Vietnam contrasted with self-righteous protesting against The Man." (I didn't know that the chick was the American's sister - it's not clear from the trailer.)

Can we as a country get over, once and for all, the delusion that the '60s were a magical time of rebellion? That wearing tie-dye, following the Dead around the country, and using patchouli oil instead of bathing all grant moral superiority? That chanting "peace and love" will make bad people stop doing badness?

Maybe it's because I'm not a Baby Boomer. I don't have that purple haze of misty-eyed nostalgia when it comes to the '60s. I just see pointless self-indulgence with bad hygiene, and I can still get that just by walking around most of San Francisco.
The best line about hippies comes from the Kingdom of Loathing: "What, does the Earth Goddess cry when you bathe or use deodorant?"

In other words, I don't plan to see this movie.

Comments

[deathbytamarind.livejournal.com]

Don't forget it was a ten year excuse to do drugs and fuck randomly and never quite deal with the consequences.

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, that was one of the trailers that I found compelling enough to write down. I blame the Beatles covers. Then again, I like musicals.

I don't think it's going to be all hippy-optimistic as you think. I suspect a rather darker undercurrent is going to be there. But I could be wrong.

Did you get the trailer for the next Elizabeth movie? That looks like it's going to kick serious ass.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

The hippy-optimism to which I was referring is a constant nostalgia thread in our culture, not in this movie in particular.
I'm tired of it. Go away, dirty hippies, and never darken our door again.

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

Saw the same set of trailers when we saw Stardust. My G-d, this looks painful. So I guess the idea is in line with "We Will Rock You", "Movin' Out", and "Mama Mia"...just that they went straight to the movie theatre with it ('cuz Broadway didn't want it? :) )

Curious to see the Elizabeth "sequel"...