"The Prom" Attacked Small Town Hicks For Most Of It's Two Hour Running Length Then Tried To Shift Course In The Closing Minutes
These comments might surprise a few people, but so be it.
I was reading an article about the Academy Awards the other day and a new movie called "The Prom" was given a passing mention. I saw it was Meryl Streep, my favorite actress, and Nicole Kidman in a movie about a few washed up Broadway stars who hear about a high school lesbian in a small town in Indiana who is being prevented, by the local PTA, from bringing her girlfriend to the prom, and so the New York elitists decide to go to Indiana and help the girl live her prom dream and change the PTA's mind.
That's the plot, the movie also contains endless singing and dancing, and we are talking virtual wall to wall here. It was fun to watch Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman singing and dancing for the first hour or so , then it started to feel like a little overkill.
Thats not the problem with this movie though, which is a film adaption of a Broadway play, I guess. The problem is the movie is filled with numerous digs at small town people, ranging from the obvious one about their non acceptance of lesbians in their midst, but also wisecracks about their clothes, the cars they drive, the entertainment forms they patronize, the restaurants they go to, their furniture, etc. etc. The dismissal of the "flyover country" lifestyle is also suppose to contain a self satire of the entitled east coasters personal shortcomings, but I didn't think it quite came off that way in the film. While I was watching it I was thinking, this is why Trump supporters hate NY liberals.
And the movie relentlessly lets us know how ok it is to be gay. And when I say relentless I mean relentless. And of course it is ok to be gay, and small town people who think otherwise have to change. The "hicks" in the movie do change, but not until the last few minutes of the film, after they have fought against accepting the teenage lesbians for almost all of the 2 hour and 15 minute running time.
What kind of irks me is that I have the feeling that Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman and the creator of this film, Ryan Murphy of "GLEE" fame, who is gay himself, think all this was perfect.
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. While I was watching it I was thinking, this is why Trump supporters hate NY liberals.
There's something to be said for that. I was reading the A Prayer for Owen Meaney the other day and there was a tangent about how the tactics and fury of the anti-war protesters during Vietnam led people who would otherwise have stopped supporting the War to maintain their support for it much longer than they otherwise would have. Similarly, Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton in large part because Republicans despised her so much. It's a part of human nature.
"small town Americans" have been shit on for decades, Jon Stewart made his career of caricaturizing and ridiculing them. When the culture at large has made it acceptable for you to be ridiculed, you tend to rally around someone who will stick up for you, even if they are an ass, rather than be patronized by people who mock you.
The movie makes its leads ridiculous. Their opinions are hardly damning.
What you are arguing is that the New Yorkers dismissal of the Indiana hoosiers way of life is cancelled out because the Broadway characters in the movie are themselves caricatures of east coast artsy liberals.
I didnt see it that way. It is true that the actor characters dialogue is self satirical, it is also aimed at ridiculing their "lessers" in flyover land. Yet for most of the film the Ny'ers are seen as self important people whose HEARTS are in the right place, while the small town folk are seen as misguided bigots with no taste in food, clothing, etc. without the redeeming factor of having their heart in the right place.
That's what I meant... but you've said it much more clearly...
I dont agree that that is the main impression most people will take from this movie.
I don't either. I didn't say it was the main idea. I was reacting to the idea that the film mocked hoosiers. Sure it does - it mocks everyone. Hoosiers and everyone else. That's not the point of the movie.
It's a feel-good movie. Everyone is an SOB with a golden heart, coming true in the end. It's not-serious entertainment.
Far as I can tell from my wanderings around the states, snobs are snobs because they have money, prestige and power. It is these snobs who fill the role of the "elites." So, I consider the whole "bi-costal elites" thing a partial myth made up to divide voters from their votes. Just like the whole Red State-Blue State meme.
That said, I think that we could all se a little humility when discussing issues with people. You learn a lot more by listening and then responding than by riding in to "fix" someone's point of view.
It’s hard not to deride stupidity when you witness it, and lord knows we’ve seen a lot of it in the past decade. I’ve noticed an increase in the usage of the phrase “hold my beer” lately, even by pundits.