Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

There's a old movie, The Last Angry Man, with Paul Muni (well, it would have to be old since the guy has been dead a long time) which was on TCM about a year ago (possibly during their Oscar-movie film time.) This is not a typical Muni movie. Any film buff could tell you that Muni made his name by playing "others" and usually famous others: Pasteur, Zola, the farmer in The Good Earth, Juarez and still always looking like Paul Muni. Now that's a gift!

In The Last Angry Man, from what I remember and it isn't much, he played an MD as an honorable man, the "last angry man" against injustice, who was the object of a TV documentary. The one scene I remember well is when he walks downstairs from treating an angry, verbally abusive boy. Before he leaves, the boy calls him back upstairs and you think the kid has seen "the light" but he hasn't. He's just an abusive and the walk back up the stairs gives Muni a fatal heart attack.

What I also took from this movie is: good guys get screwed.

Fast forward to today and a blurb in Balloon Juice about an online book group which is reading Nixonland. People who had lived through Nixon's reign had comments about the depression they feel when they relive this time through the book. This comment by Frosty summed it up and surprisingly brought back my memory of TLAM:

Essentially, my entire adult life has been fighting and losing the same fucking battle against the same evil people.

I said that I would look at some themes you could discuss with young girls re: the Twilight movies today. I was pretty optimistic when I wrote that last Monday but speaking with the girl later made me realize that you are talking into a paper bag if you think that young girls want any uplifting social values from these movies. I think the question of eternal life as a young, beautiful person is fascinating. I think it might lead to a discussion of the shallow values which Western society praises. Why would you want to live forever? Doesn't Rosalie have the best take on this when she votes "No" to Bella's wish for eternal life: This was not a life I would have chosen for myself. I wish someone had been there to vote "No" for me.? I still think the Twilight movies, shallow though they are, do have important talking points. Unfortunately, I don't think this is talking which will accomplish anything with infatuated teen girls.

Gotta go. A busy morning and evening (afternoon's a cake walk.)

Next week: Kristen Stewart in The Runaways.