Movie Monday: Burkas, Public Executions and Twilight

Some random thoughts which, trust me, will lead to a movie theme.

I was sitting on a hill a large field last Friday afternoon watching boomerang throwing, wearing a black cotton long sleeved top and a black jacket. Now, when I dressed early that morning, those two layers were comfortable for the weather. Sitting on the hill, near dusk, the weather had changed - it was heading for the heat spell we would have over the weekend - and I was slightly too warm.

Which started me thinking about women in burkas since I was wearing black and I think I have never seen a burka, except in black. And thinking how hot I was, I was wondering about their discomfort. So I googled “burka and heat” and found some sites which would lead you to believe that covered in black in the heat was a “cool” thing. Just sitting on that hill, I eliminated that possibility.

So taking away all the religious significance of the burka it was also a traditional garb. It has been around a long time; just like the Hassidic women’s garb or the Amish plain dress. If I wanted to stir my brain I could put together a long list.

Then last night I was watching The Other Boleyn Girl - again. TV, even with the movie packet, is so bad. This movie is a pretty unobjectionable piece of fiction and good white noise. They have only two straight-forward public executions, the two Boleyn siblings; no hideous tortures or disembowelments.

But the executions were once public in the western world and that got me thinking: how long were executions public since I knew that the Elizabethans came out in droves for them. Most of my google results were for U.S. and England’s history. The U.S. had outdoor public executions in the 1600's and executions finally came indoors in the early 1900's. (Of course, you could say that executions are still public here since there is still an indoor audience.) England used to leave executed bodies outside to rot and banned their public executions in 1868. Dickens witnessed a public execution (which he was “on line” for from midnight) and related the watching people treated it like a play.

Burkas, public executions, whatever moral objections there are against them, they have been part of the meme for a long time. A way of thinking, a way of looking at crime and punishment; tradition and culture; the roles of men and women. Many may have disapproved but so many just unthinkingly accepted.

Which brings me to Twilight. The movie which grossed almost $400 million world wide and which came in second (well, it was a far second) to The Dark Knight as the most impressive 2008 box office run. (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=twilight08.htm. )

Rob Pattinson is every pre-teen girl’s heart throb. Thank goodness he said “No” when the HP people said: Hey, Cedric, don’t you think you should shave those eyebrows? Who would have thought vampires had such bushy brows?

I think with an IMDB rating of 6.1 and 50 pages out of 105 of “I hate this movie” we can say it wasn't made as Oscar bait. But its gentle vampire protecting the virginal teenager plot has re-kindled the age-old and bizarre meme - the beauty and the beast theme. Like burkas, like public executions, its oddly romantic, warped presences has been with us seemingly forever. Perhaps somehow it fills a psychic need so we allow it to walk among us without much question.

That’s why I recommend the Mutant Reviewers from Hell’s review of Twilight:

http://www.mutantreviewers.com/rtwilight.html

I read: "... Twilight is critic-proof. I might as well not be sitting here, pounding away at this keyboard like a gorilla who just learned how to dominate the home row of keys...

and I thought: This guy is funny. Then I read more and thought: Wow! This guy is good.

He moves beyond the hype; the acceptance of this teen girl/virile lover box-office phenomenon and looks into its message about women in abusive relationships. He made me think out of the box; he was not accepting of the meme.

Be sure to scroll down the page to Sue’s review of the movie and how she interacted with her teen daughter who loves Edward: "Ohmygaw Edward is the best!!!! Sqeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

I’m looking forward to reading more mutant reviews from hell. How can you go wrong on a web site named that?