Imagine waking up every day in the same mundane, ordinary world. Your bedroom is exactly as you left it last night. Somewhere out there is breakfast and toothpaste and laundry and rush hour, all patiently waiting for you to resume the rhythm of your daily life. It sounds... familiar , doesn't it? It sounds an awful lot like actual life. A bit boring, a bit prosaic , a bit literal. Where's the magic? The mystery? The enchantment? If you step into your wardrobe, you'll find... clothes. If you peer down the rabbit hole, you'll see, well... rabbits . A tornado can strike and you'll absolutely still be in Kansas, Toto. (But now with millions of dollars of property damage!) You can drive through the tollbooth and you won't be in the Kingdom of Wisdom, you'll be in New Jersey (I know... what dystopian horror is this?). So what did you expect; some sort of picaresque fantasy? Sorry, but the Real World doesn't have magic portals to enchanted lands, it just has...
Hi there. Are you happy with your life? I'm not asking this out of reflexive courtesy; I'm asking a literal question. Are you happy with the life in which you currently find yourself? This is your actual life after all; you may or not get another one (opinions diverge on that point). Does it bring you pleasure? Are you satisfied with the kind of person you are? When you look at yourself in the mirror, is the person staring back at you a friend of yours, or is it someone you wish would just... go away? Are you doing something that brings you happiness? When you look ahead to the rest of your life stretching before you, do you like what you see, or do you wish things were different? Are there people in your immediate circle who enrich your life, or do they make you miserable? Can you be yourself when you're in the presence of others, or do you feel like you're wearing a disguise all the time? Think about all that for a bit and get back to me. Now, here's a related q...
Consider Hamlet . I'm sure you remember Hamlet. Gloomy guy. Wears black a lot. Talks to himself. Likes to hang out in cemeteries. Now, imagine for a moment that you are Hamlet. You are the Prince of Denmark (congratulations!) and heir to the throne. While you're off at University doing the "student" thing, you receive word that your beloved father (the King) is dead; murdered, it turns out, by your horrible Uncle, who then promptly marries your mother (eww) and usurps the throne, snatching it away from you before you even have a chance to catch the next train home. Your father's ghost (who is, you learn, burning endlessly in some harrowing Purgatory, suffering torments beyond imagining) confirms all this, and urges you to take revenge on his behalf. You're not really the right guy for this sort of thing; you're more the academic type. Revenge isn't your natural style; your first instinct would probably be to write an essay at them or something... bu...
When I launched this series last month I said that we wouldn't be focussing exclusively on feature films (although there will still be plenty of those; don't worry); we would also be showcasing some short films, a few television episodes and even a couple of ballets. Well, this is the week that I make good on all that (and there will be others to come). We're going to have a triple bill no less ( quadruple , if you count the "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon) all directly relevant to the topic at hand. Don't worry; there's no need to panic; I did tell everyone that there would be a lot more diversity in this series, but I guess this is finally the moment when we can fully dispense with any archaic notions about this being just a "weekly film night". (And if anyone still persists in referring to it as "Vicky Park Flicks" after all these years I will personally descend upon them with the very Hounds of Hell. And we will show no mercy...) Moll...
There's an old saying: It takes two to tango. I'm not (just) bringing that up because the Step Up franchise is all about the dancing; I'm bringing it up because the Step Up franchise is, well... a franchise . And you really can't have a franchise with only one film. Actually, I'm not even sure you can have a franchise with two films. Is there a threshold? How many instalments does it take before a series gets to call itself a franchise , anyway ? ( It Takes Four to Franchise? ) There were eventually five films in the Step Up Universe, so the issue is completely moot in this context, but hey; something to think about... In any event, the first sequel is always the moment where the film-makers need to start defining their product. What exactly makes a film identifiable as a Step Up movie? Is it about the further adventures of the same characters? ( spoiler : no) Is it the same writer/director team? (not really) Is it an otherwise unrelated movie that happens to ...
Comments
Post a Comment