103 Movies You Have To See or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Poll

[Starman!]

Too late

[LucasM]

I wasn't in good shape then.  I still am not.  I have grudgingly accepted that I have no clue when I WILL be.

So, since others seemed interested, this is what I wrote on June 22 about Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  [What I substituted for it was here: http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php?topic=24476.msg731269#msg731269.]  But there were people (one who 'Liked' my post simply saying I had a differing view on it that I wasn't posting then), so I thought I'd make it available.

But I didn't post it at that time because I had no energy to write responses to any questions/comments about it then.  I have less now, so won't be able to elaborate [like my posts usually need it?].  So please take it 'as is': my opinion.

= = = = = My June 22 'removed' post: = = = = =

Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Let's go back to the roots of this particular story.  If you know or are related to any LGBT kids or young people who are going through a rough time, show them this.  Remind them that it gets better.  That's as socially significant as it gets and isn't that one of the points of this list?

I agree on the comment about part of the point of the list being socially significant film.

But I watched this film and saw a very different 'meaning' and point to it.  What I saw I have no doubt that the writer/star was not trying to portray.

The rest of this is spoilered both for plot points and so people with strong attachment to the film can more easily skip this post, as I do not wish to potentially interfere with someone else's appreciation of the film.
[[EDIT: With this first paragraph, I was not claiming to be an 'expert'.  I was merely saying what background I have that colored my view of the film.]]  Before getting to the film, I had best explain that while I was working on my doctoral thesis, I worked as a therapist doing 'regular' psychotherapy (i.e. not neuropsych-related).  Because it was nearly universally what my clients needed, I took time away from my dissertation to inundate myself with numerous books and journals, and went to seminars, on how to treat abuse and neglect survivors.  [Because of how much effort I put into this, my thesis took far longer to get going.  But I had a moral obligation to not short-change my clients.]  Clients told me how much more I understood about what they were going through than previous therapists they had seen.  In a short time, the people who I was working for told me that they were then sending me, "all the difficult cases," because I was helping those I already had.  [e.g. a suicidal 20 year old with a severe eating disorder and the emotional age of a toddler, a dissociative identity disorder client, and more].  Before getting to Hedwig, let me be clear: I have recommended books such as 'When Rabbit Howls' and 'The Obsidian Mirror' to clients, so I do not have any aversion to 'difficult media' to begin with.

What I saw in the film, beyond the horrors experienced by Hedwig, was that - at no time - was there anyone who was actually supportive and accepting of Hedwig as Hedwig was.  At the end, as he walks away, my thought was, "so he's supposed to be happy and alright now?  There's nothing else supporting that: he's just alone and walking away from the audience vanishing into black shadows (which would filmically symbolize 'disappearing', possibly death)."  So to me recommending this to someone having a troubled time would suggest to them that they will never be accepted as they are and they are destined to be alone.  I would see this increasing difficulties and depression for far more LGBT people than I could see it helping.

For people who have attention to having inappropriate genitals to their gender - if they were planning to surgically correct that - I could see Hedwig greatly increasing their anxiety about such surgery.  So, again, I can much more easily see the film being damaging than helpful.

With the song 'Makeup (Wig in A Box)' all I hear through the entire song is, "bury your feelings and put on a nice, happy face for the outside world."  I don't get elated by the song, I feel deeply disturbed by it.  What I heard in the lyrics was Hedwig basically saying, 'if you feel lousy inside, cover it up and plod through your life.  No-one wants to know your difficulties.'  Burying difficult feelings and disturbing thoughts and covering them up with a surface appearance that you are OK is one of the classic paths of events that can end up with suicide.  Not that covering up always leads to suicide, but suicide is quite often preceded by covered up feelings and thoughts.  Covering up one's feelings does always lead to 'not getting mentally healthier' however.

So that's my take on the film.  Others' experiences and perceptions of it, judging by the voting and other comments, clearly are different.  Different opinions are what make the world the varied place it is.


[I have been near tears from exhaustion the last couple days... I damn near cried just a few minutes ago because petting my cat, in the dark, with very soft music on, was taking too much out of me MENTALLY.  For that reason, hopefully my thoughts came across as I meant them, but they may not have.  But the main points kept circling around in my brain and I knew if I didn't get them out, they'd keep draining more and more energy from me by being 'sustained', than they would if I just wrote this.]

[Johnny Unusual]

I missed out on this one, but here's my must see list:
9 - Blade Runner (technically I did see it, but there are so many cuts.  The Director's one is the best, right?)

Yes.  My personal belief is that one of the studio execs was afraid to admit he didn't comprehend what was going on in the film, so he required that there be a 'noir' voice-over on the theatrical release.  For anyone with the ability to comprehend science fiction/action film memes, the voice-over is not only redundant, but generally considered annoying.

Interestingly, it turns out there are several director's cut, and the first one is actually not a director's cut at all and took out the Vangelis soundtrack.  I recently saw the one that came after that and it was good, but I hear "the Final Cut" is supposed to be the best one.  Is Ridley Scott a sort of reverse George Lucas?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I missed out on this one, but here's my must see list:
9 - Blade Runner (technically I did see it, but there are so many cuts.  The Director's one is the best, right?)

Yes.  My personal belief is that one of the studio execs was afraid to admit he didn't comprehend what was going on in the film, so he required that there be a 'noir' voice-over on the theatrical release.  For anyone with the ability to comprehend science fiction/action film memes, the voice-over is not only redundant, but generally considered annoying.

Interestingly, it turns out there are several director's cut, and the first one is actually not a director's cut at all and took out the Vangelis soundtrack.  I recently saw the one that came after that and it was good, but I hear "the Final Cut" is supposed to be the best one.  Is Ridley Scott a sort of reverse George Lucas?

There is a 3 or 4 hour documentary that explains it all on disc 2 of the 5 disc set, and is amazingly interesting considering it's so long.  In it the banker guy admits he didn't understand the movie and insisted on the narration, and still claims it's the best version.

There are lots of versions of the film:

Workprint (the one that scared the money guys and lead to the narrations and happy ending being shoehorned in)
US Theatrical
International Theatrical
US TV broadcast cut
"director's" cut (not done by Scott, although he gave notes to the guy that did it)
Final cut (Scott had control over this one)

Looking at the Wikipedia page there is a 7th version I don't remember hearing about before, only shown once in San Diego, you can read all the differences between the versions on that page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versions_of_Blade_Runner

[Kete]

It's alive!!!

I found this interesting:
Bill Hader's list of 200 essential movies that everyone must see

[Kete]

If you're curious.....

Movies that overlap between our list and his:
Airplane!
Back To The Future
Beetlejuice
The Big Lebowski
Blazing Saddles
The Blues Brothers
Boogie Nights
Brazil
A Clockwork Orange
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
Evil Dead 2
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ghostbusters
The Incredibles
MASH
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
The Princess Bride
Raising Arizona
Shaun Of The Dead
Toy Story
Up

Additionally, movies that we only nominated but that overlapped with his:
Annie Hall
The Apartment
Arsenic And Old Lace
Better Off Dead
The 'Burbs
Ed Wood
A Fish Called Wanda
Four Lions
The Gold Rush
The Graduate
It Happened One Night
Kung Fu Hustle
The Naked Gun
Nashville
Out Of Sight
Sherlock Jr.
Waiting For Guffman
Withnail and I