Peyton Place

 

Peyton Place is a chance to enjoy a widescreen view of Mark Robson and Jerry Wald's panorama of small town New England life and environs in 1941. Yet, for all its beauty, Peyton Place is the namesake of small town pettiness and vicious gossip.

Peyton Place is a small company town in the hill-mountains of New England. It opens with a sequence of typical rural New England scenes depicting the structures of the region thru the seasons. According to the Meeker Museum, the critical hilltop scene where Allison and Norman climb to her special secret hilltop to exchange their first kiss, was filmed at Mount Battle near Camden, Maine. The view is spectacular befitting a cinemascope production. But you do not need special places to establish that the towns of the region are romantic looking little postcards of themselves, most scenes of even people walking and shopping lend themselves to professional photographers and their cameras.

In the 1956 novel Metalious begins this regional vignette with her statement that "Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one can ever be sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay." From there on the relationship of human beings, their society, nature, and place is center stage. The sunlight, trees, and lakes, meld into position with the people, their lives, and the buildings of town.

Small Towns. The focus of the work is the closed society that small towns can become. Indeed, Peyton Place has become synonymous with small town gossip and hypocrisy. The underlying struggle of the plot is for the town to change so that its youth will stay. Those youth see the outside as freedom from the impending trap that the town can become for those who fail to immediately fit its rigid structures, and even for those who do fit. The sequel, Return to Peyton Place follows this theme to its fullest. Allison feels confined by the narrow-mindedness of those who dominate the town and condemn her friend Selena because of her low class position. The town is offers limited opportunities. New York is Allison's goal with its freedom and chances to become something.

Downtown. Just the downtown, by itself, is a postcard from the past. The stores are small, but filled with the basic goods people need. Prosperity is apparent in that her mother owns a small dress store, yet lives in a fine home with a cleaning woman to take care of keeping it that way. In that prosperity Constance, the mother, develops her web of lies to protect her flirtation with the outside and its wickedness. In the lie she maintains a solid position in town.

Poverty and Class. Selina Cross comes from the "wrong side of the tracks." A stereotypic description, but she literally does in this film. Following the opening credits Michael Rossi drives into town to take on the position of principal at the high school and to challenge to town to do better than it has at educating its children. He is stopped at the rail crossing in front of Selina's shack. He notices the squalor, and talks about it later. The Cross household faces its first crisi after he drives off across the tracks to the right side. The problems of the Cross household serve as an underlying background theme. Being from the wrong side of the tracks makes respectability and acceptance impossible. Industry. Harrington Mills dominates Peyton Place. It is the major employer, and both the overriding reason for people to be in Peyton Place and for those who want something better out of life to want to leave. To work at the mill is to be trapped. It is a textile mill, the basis of industrial development in New England. It is historic, but hardly a rewarding future.

Made in the 1950s as a "potboiler," Peyton Place is today one of those novels and films that seems a stereotype, but in reality is the source of the stereotype. The coming DVD should offer the full cinemascope image that movies sought in the 1950s to compete with television. The enhanced picture will only make the geographic qualities of the film loom larger on the mind. Peyton Place is a classic film in substance, and classic in its use of the environment.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2002. Geography in Media: Peyton Place. Dakota Alliance XIV (1): February 2004: 7.

Monsoon Wedding [2001]

 
Monsoon Wedding [Mirabai Films 2001] is Mira Nair's wonderful film following the wedding of a middle class Punjabi family in New Delhi, India. While delightful, it offers a rarely seen look into postmodern Indian life. Rather than the stereotyped scenes of holy men and villages racked with the poor, it takes us into the lives of a richer, hidden India. We see the contest between postmodern values and tradition. What else but a wedding could put these two next to each other. Just like in America!
The list of what one can see is extensive. It starts with wealthy housing, but goes on. They use cell phones and are plagued with bad signals. One expects the Verizon fellow to ask "Can you here me?" A television program debates old versus new values and pornography. The kids act like US teenagers. One is accused by his parent of sitting in front of the television too much. A mother, living in a poorer section of town bemoans to her son how her stock picks have prospered. The men are in western clothes until the wedding. They drink scotch. They swear like crazy. The wedding kicks off with a traditional picture taken by paid photographers. We find out that the bride is "not a morning person." Like young adults in North Dakota, she wants to get out of this place, to America, of course. The bride shares a popsicle with a friend. The older men use a golf cart on the spacious course. They drive nice cars and one can spot Coca-Cola signs in the background.
Tradition is represented by the older characters. The structure of the wedding is traditional. There are lots of nose piercings. The women generally wear traditional or near-traditional clothes. A grandmother is looking for grandchildren before she dies. The father of the bride and the wedding planner argue over the color of the wedding tent. The planner wants to save money using white, but this is a funeral color in Asia. It must change. Color is also important for the bride as part of a Punjabi ceremony is for her hands to be painted with henna [it lasts about a month or so]. There is a lot of eating of marigolds.
Allyson Johnson [music editor] did a beautiful job of mixing traditional sounds with their postmodernized versions. The beat and sound are of a postmodern India. Of course, everybody dances. It is a wedding.
Physically the character hate the hot weather [hence monsoon], but the rain only seems to have a limited impact on them. The western fear of being wet-only disregarded in Singing in the Rain and once in the works of Tom Robbins-is not present. The rain is OK. This is a natural element of life. With all of this, what can be seen?
Culture inertia and cultural change are contrasted. The normal stereotype of Indian life is that of the village deeply buried in poverty. Monsoon Wedding illustrates that way of life only in the background. Rather it shows the life of India's growing middle class. This will update the viewer's mental images to the reality of a country that is known for poverty, yet has nuclear power, the bomb, and a large computer sector.
People are people. That people are in love and with the wrong person, a common theme on the soaps, transfers to India. People around the world swear; they seek improvement; they have internal fights within the family.
Monsoon Wedding is a great film for taking a look at postmodern India. India is a place different from what most people think. See it here.
It also is an excellent film to introduce young Americans to the films of Bollywood. While structured more like an American film in that it lacks the plot/music alteration of typical Bollywood films and is shorter in length, it brings postmodern life in India clearly to the screen. Once introduced to these films, the wide variety of Bollywood materials is an open door to seeing life in India.
Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2002. Geography in Media: Monsoon Wedding. Dakota Alliance XII (4): September-October 2002: 7.

The Matchmaker [1997]

 

The Matchmaker. Janeane Garofalo's [The Truth About Cats and Dogs, "Seinfeld"] is a geographic treat to watch. After a few minimalist scenes of Boston, you are off to the Galway Bay area of Ireland, including a trip to famous Aran Island. On this trip you combine the hypocrisy of American politics with the intimate lives and surroundings of a small Irish village and its people.

The basic storyline finds Marcy Tizard (Garofalo) as an aide to a Senator running for re-election, and not doing very well. Senator McGlory sends Garofalo on a mission to find his Irish relatives in a desperate attempt to make him seem more Kennedy-like, thus gathering in more votes in Massachusetts.

The geography now begins. Garofalo arrives to a rainy greeting, finding herself taken deeper and deeper into a more non-urban environment. The vehicles of small, the roads become narrow, and the traffic rare. Ballinagra, her destination, hugs the road and the hills.. It shows the age of Irish villages and the lack of modernity. It has wooden buildings that open on to a sidewalk. The hotel is family run and steeped in another age. It is not a Ramada or Holiday Inn. There is a clear sense of age and some disorder.

But something is strange about the village. It is filling with buses of men and buses of women. Garofalo has landed in the middle of a matchmaking festival. The search for McGlory's begins, complicated by the fact that Dermot (Milo O'Shea), a matchmaker, wants to couple her with someone.

In the coming scenes we get to see the interior of Irish pubs and lounges, stores, and houses (cottages). The cottages are of traditional Irish construction. Their interiors are simple, like the clothes of their owners. They are restful. The pubs are places of crowds, dancing, drinking, hope, and searching. Outside, the clouds never go away [reflecting the slight lift of North Atlantic Drift air]. The landscape is striking. The hills are prominent. The soil is rocky.

Of special note is a visit by ferry to the Aran Island (Inis Mor). The Aran Islands have a gloomy emptiness. The struggle of its settlers to turn barren limestone rock into a habitable place must have been monumental. It is like North Dakota late in the afternoon on a near winter fall afternoon, before the snow paints it white. The light casts shadows that make it seem empty. It seems haunting. Aran is a treeless, rocky place with fields built up by the work of its settlers. Indeed, the soil that is found in some places is totally imported. The fields have stone fences and look unproductive. It is a place of escape from British imperialism over the centuries, here an escape from even the village and its light press of people. The characters get the time to talk out in a place of oppressive emptiness. The edges of both round and connections begin.

An ultimate geographic question is being asked by the film in another context: is one escaping or finding "life" when one leaves the urban core to live in the rural area? Garofalo is beaten up by urbanity from the first time her face is on camera. She has that urban edge of skepticism and doubt. She is pushy. Yet she is drawn to the country. Sean Kelly (David O'Hara) , her love interest, is a reporter who has given up on city life to pursue writing in the village. Her edge shows when she meets him. She calls him "Paddy." Then she has to apologize saying she thought everyone was called "Paddy" in Ireland. Sean has left the urban world and the film proceeds to work on her interest in following along.

Is she escaping? Is he? Well, the answer is obviously no. The pathway is eased by the discovery of technology in the remote corner. It bothers her that she is remote from her world. She says, "It's so beautiful here. If it just had the New York Times, it would be perfect" and "I long to fax someone." Sean has a notebook computer and fax machine. [The notebook could even be a Mayville/Valley City State IBM Think Pad, it is not clear]. Another computer pops into view at a surprise spot. The vast beauty of the region and the attractiveness of rural living contrast with a lack of sophistication in most residents, who make the screen and the primitiveness of it all. Yet technology's presence signals that it is a part of the postmodern world. Early modern comfort with postmodern communications, the combination greases the path to rural happiness.

One problem with the film as a learning tool is its "R" rating. Profanity is constant. You do get the same word in two versions of English, yet it is massively used. On the other hand--and not going as far as to rate it acceptable--, the profanity comes from both the early modern and postmodern characters. It crosses the urban-rural continuum. The film has good entertainment values, but probably makes the "date movie" list. That Garofalo is the star sort of puts it in that category.

[Joffe, Mark (director). 1997. The Matchmaker. film. N.p.: Gramercy Pictures.]

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 1997. Media Beat: The Matchmaker. Dakota Alliance November-December 1997: 5-6.

Lawrence of Arabia

 

David Lean's 1962 production of Lawrence of Arabia is one of the most geographic-oriented films ever made. The physical setting of northern Arabia to Syria is a constant through the film. The human condition of the area and the impact of outsiders on life is the essence of the film.

The film deals with one of the two major causes of the current crisis between the peoples of the Middle East and Western society: the takeover of the Middle East by Britain during World War I. The other cause is the conflict between the values imposed by modernized society upon more traditional bundled societies. This problem is a result of the first. Hence in Lawrence of Arabia one views the development of the root cause of Islamic anger.

T. E. Lawrence is a British officer assigned as a liaison between the main British forces in Egypt and the Arabs of the area around Mecca and North headed by Prince Feisal. Those Arabs are fighting against the Turks who have controlled the region for centuries. The Turks joined the German side in World War I. They are an enemy of the British. The larger issue for the British is that the Turks appear defeatable. If the strained British Army could push the Turks back to Turkey, the potential oil deposits of eastern Arabia could become theirs.

While the British leadership thinks little of the Arabs as fighters, Lawrence rallys the Arabs in a grand guerilla battle against the retreating Turks. At the same time Lawrence adopts the dress and mental constructs of the Arabs he leads. In the end the Arabs, and Lawrence, expect a nation of their own in the area. The reality is that the British and French have agreed to divide the area. This is finalized in the Sykes-Picot Treaty. As the Arab force seizes Damascus, the goal, the betrayal scenes are icons setting the stage for the current problems.

The film was shot on location. The physical and human dimensions are fantastic. In the film the desert is second only to Peter O'Toole, playing Lawrence. Especially when seen on the big screen of a theater, the massive scope of the sands, and their emptiness, is what the word spectacular was created to describe. The scene where Lawrence and tribesmen cross the Nefud Desert into Aqaba gives the viewer the clearest sense of what the desert is like short of walking across itself yourself. The film sticks to the dry sections where plant life is not seen. It is painful to watch. The sense of burning heat is stifling. The harsh life and death reality of desert travel is chilling. This is followed by a lesser trip west to the Suez Canal.

The human side, beyond the political and social issues of the conflict, is perhaps best seen when his hosts challenge Lawrence's acceptance of the desert. It is pointed out that Lawrence loves the desert and its brutalness. The Arab actually prefers the oasis where his feet can cool in the rare desert waters.

Problems? The film presents some problems for less informed viewers. First among them is the image gained from the harsh tribal Arabs of the early 1900s. Many flocking to Lawrence's side are poor desert dwellers hardened by their lives in one of the World’s most brutal environments. Some might confuse the images in the film with those of current peoples in the Middle East. Of great significance would be the image of hostility shown as the group approaches Damascus, and the lack of cooperation in Damascus. Neither yields a positive sense of these people. Second, is the fact that the film develops a positive sympathy toward the Arabs. After September 11 this should be a major teaching goal for many, but the difficulty should be obvious. One must accept and view the film with the fact that here is the cause of why they are angry with us. The British took their country. Later, the creation of Israel would result because Britain would be in a position to establish it. The British possessed the land. The United States and France would agree. The betrayal continues, only the United States joins the British team.

Lawrence of Arabia is a classic film filled with significant geographic, political, and social content. If you have not seen it, rent it soon. If you have seen it, watch it again.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2002. Geography in Media: Lawrence of Arabia. Dakota Alliance XI (5): December 2001-January 2002: 7.

The King and I

 

Rogers and Hammerstein were masters at taking stories and turning them into musical memories. The King and I was their saga exploring Anna Leonowens's 19th century adventures in educating the King of Siam on the ways of the modern world.

It is a geographic gem on two levels. First it deals with historic Siam, now Thailand. The musical makes Siam a mystical place. Second, it deals with issues important to understanding the role of colonialism in world society..

Its plot In short: Anna is employed as a teacher at the court of the King of Siam in the 1860s. She has been brought in from England to modernize the educational processes at the palace so that the British can be impressed that the Siamese are not barbarians. She and the King spar over the issues involved, including the rebellion of two lovers at court. The musical is filled with engaging and memorable songs like: "Hello Young Lovers", "Shall We Dance", and "Getting to Know You".

For the younger viewer, the simple geographic lessons are those of a different culture and a warm physical environment. Siam [Thailand] is a warm place. Just the dress of the King speaks to this. The dress of the remaining non-western cast and the social rules and customs explored in the musical will strike the younger viewer. That the British are a threat to a character they should generally come to like--the King--, should create a moment of wonderment for these viewers because the British are viewed as so friendly.

At a deeper level, The King and I is a lesson in colonial relationships. Siam curiously was one of the few non-European places to avoid direct colonial control. While seizure was avoided, domination by the colonial powers was not. The show is testimony to the pressures placed upon the King by the British.

Through the story we can see how the powerful industrial countries imposed values and cultural change while supposedly just pursuing economic and political goals. This is a lesson our own society, and our students, are presented with every day in terms of American life. The King felt compelled to change. His self-concept was damaged and the door to change opened. The young prince was more influenced by the West than the King. He embraced the concepts because his teacher favored them. Anna educates him to change, while it kills the King. The young prince has less personal investment in his sense of kingship then his father does.

American myths are imposed upon Siam. Helping Lincoln is a positive idea for the King. He can send an elephant to help Lincoln fight the Civil War. He can assist the outsiders. Only the audience and Anna appreciate the foolish look of his gift. The use of Uncle Tom's Cabin as a vehicle to change Siam and its palace culture illustrates the power of media. It is used to illuminate the internal tensions of Siam. The young lovers are not in tune with the traditional ways and power relationships. Love demands change so that true love can triumph. Love can be seen as a theatrical ploy or cover for a larger statement on the desire for freedom in Third World peoples. Love comes first in a movie, but then I what respect and the right to vote.

Turning to the physical geography, the musical has its weaknesses. The focus is upon indoor settings. For an vivid outdoor setting, Jodee Foster's Anna and the King presents a slight revision of the story, but moves beyond the stage to the river and rainforest. The views are spectacular, particularly near the end of the film. No songs, but more scenery.

The musical and the newer film have both been banned in Thailand. The Thai government has been concerned about the historical inaccuracies of the film. These seem to center around the non-existence of the love affair between Anna and the King, and the general image of their beloved King in those stories. In the end, Anna is a true figure, and the modernization of Thailand began during this time.

The King and I is a wonderful tale. It has songs that have thrilled millions. Underneath, there is a dark side that is clear in the film if you are looking for it.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2001. Geography in Media: The King and I. Dakota Alliance XI (4): September-October 2001: 7.

Endless Summer

 

Endless Summer sounds like a student's dream, but it is a classic film from 1966 that follows the trek of two surfers trying to surf around the world in an attempt to have an endless summer. Bruce Brown produced not just a classic film of early surfing, but a historical statement of the geography of surfing. He also produced a wonderful look at the beauty of surfing. For all of us children of the sixties raised on images of surfing, this film is a record of that dream.

The film reflects the geography of surfing in two main ways. (1) The nature of the surf at particular places around the world results from the physical geography of coastal structure and weather. Surfable surf is not universal. The nature of the coast determines whether waves will break in surfable ways. There is also a seasonal component to that surf. While the film attempts to create an endless summer, surf is often better in the winter in some places. (2) Local culture is important. Surfing is widespread, but not all cultures engage in it. Especially back in time, local culture had impact upon any activity in spite of its global nature. Surfing was historic in some places, while only a few odd souls engaged in it in other places. Then, there are variances in local customs such as clothing and gender involvement.

Hawaii. The film keeps harking back to Hawaii, the hearth of surfing. The warm waters of Hawaii promote surfing to the point of crowding and accidents. Its beaches vary in their surfable nature. Waikiki Beach seems very popular with surfers possessing a variety of skills. The Pipeline has significant surf, but is shallow and the underwater surface consists of sharp coral. The film even points out that only a few ride the Pipeline. "Some are sportsmen, some are nuts." Then there is Waimea Bay. At certain points the surf is massive. Some may recall the film Ride the Wild Surf which followed the contest that develops to be the last one to ride the surf here. Of course, Jan and Dean sang the theme song to that great film noting the waves were some 30 feet high. The surfers look like they are surfing down the slope of a multistory building. Only the best surf here when the surf is up.

California. The traditional place for surfing in the 60s was Malibu in California. The beach films were focused here, as well as other beaches. What Americans see as surf and surf culture is Californian in nature. Sub-Saharan Africa. African beaches had no reputation at the time of the film, yet very desirable surf conditions were found. In Dakar, Senegal; Accra, Ghana; and Lagos, Nigeria; the surf was wonderful. The film does take an out-of-date view of African culture and peoples. There are no local surfers except one group that seems to know how to surf with their boat.

South Africa. Surfing is just arriving in South Africa in 1966. The spread of culture had a slower pace then. At Cape Town, Durban, and Cape St. Francis, the film appreciates the surfable beaches. The surrounding environment gets a good viewing, including Table Top Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope, and animal life [giraffes, sharks, monkeys, and zebras]. That the American landscape looks similar does not escape note.

Australia. They surf both western [Perth] and eastern [Melbourne, Sydney] beaches. Surfing culture is better developed than in South Africa, and women fully participate. The only problem is that the surf seems poor. They explore the principle that the surf was always better yesterday. Winter, it seems, is prime surf time.

New Zealand. The short, simple scenes of the landscape set off New Zealand eminently well. They combine mountains with a quick stop at the areas of "bubbly mud," --or mud pots in Yellowstone terms. Surfing is underdeveloped. The varying nature of the surf is emphasized as they find a place were a ride can go on much of the day.

Tahiti. The barrier reef restricts surf potential here. They are told that the place has nothing for them, but they find it any way. Unusual is that one beach has two-way surf. The surf rolls in, but then the beach creates a wave back into the ocean.

They end up in Hawaii, again. It was heavy on their minds throughout the film. Then the sun goes down on the endless summer.

I watched it on AMC [American Movie Classics]. They followed it with a clip of the Beach Boys live singing "Dance, Dance, Dance." A perfect choice.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2002. Geography in Media: Endless Summer. Dakota Alliance XII(3): Summer 2002: 7.

Cleopatra

 

An epic film, steeped in controversy and scorned by some, Cleopatra nonetheless represents Hollywood's classic view of the world. The film is the story of Cleopatra VII's reign as Pharaoh between 51 and 30 BC, and of her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She was the last pharaoh, and her life and loves can be considered valiant attempts to maintain Egypt in the face of growing Roman power.

While the film begins with Caesar's attempts to control the empire in Europe, it soon leads him to Egypt and the arms of Cleopatra. Love follows as Cleopatra hopes that her bearing of Caesar's child will contribute to the maintaining of Egyptian power. With Caesar's death at the hands of Brutus and others, this collapses. Beguiled by her in Rome, Antony eventually sails to her side in Egypt, a move that leads to their deaths.

The geography shown in the film is stunning. Spectacle is an undercurrent in films of Cleopatra's genre. There are several aspects to the geography in the film.

Rome and Alexandria. The film divides between two main sites. Starting in Rome, and some surrounding countryside in Europe, it comes later to focus on Alexandria, Egypt. The film shows a duality to both places in that the focus on the environs of the powerful is countered with some limited sojourns into the areas of average folk. The film draws little distinction between the environments of Rome and Egypt. Cultural differences seem significant, but physical differences are minimal.

Desert. The warmth and dryness of the desert is present from near the start to the end. While not the most clearly shown environment in the film, the desert is present in the important battle scenes. The sparseness is clear.

Color. So many of the often seen images of Egypt and Rome lack color. The historic record indicates that they lived in worlds of color, but age has robbed that color from view in favor of bare rock. The King Tut exhibit that toured the United States 25 years ago brought that color, particularly the gold, home to the Americans who had an opportunity to see it; but the usual views of the pyramids and the Roman ruins show bareness. If color exists it is in the form of chipped paint that is often compromised by darkness. Time has taken the color away, but film restores it to view. Cleopatra brushes that color back on the rock. The clothes sparkle. The curtains are resplendent.

Water. The Nile flows through numerous scenes. The classic shapes of the ships, the docks, and just the bright blue of the waters capture the camera's attention.

Interaction/Integration. The geographic activities of interaction bringing integration are illustrated in the film. The interaction of Rome and Egypt brought their integration as trade and political units. As the film takes place this is not new. Egyptian grain has long held a position in the Roman world.

I saw Cleopatra when it was new in 1963-64. I liked it. I am surprised by the fact that many thought it less than a great epic film. I was beginning my high school years. I was awe struck by the splendor, by the magnificence of it all. The press had built it up some so maybe I was ready for it, but it was special in any case. I think has a role to play in showing me the power of the media. After 50 years I still find the power of blue eye shadow on a woman irresistible, the same for single shoulder tops. Cleopatra had to be the source of these long held facets of my mind. Ah, the power of media.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2002. Geography in Media: Cleopatra. Dakota Alliance XII(1): February 2002: 7.

Cabaret

 

Cabaret is a cross-section of the poorer and seedier side of pre-Hitler Berlin. The cabaret was the Jay Leno monologue of its time. Leno has been identified as a major news source for many Americans. Patrons of cabarets were treated to a voyeuristic look at their society, just like Leno provides. The patrons of this cabaret get a look at the decadence and decay of a world that has lost its sense of morality and footings in the solid cement of historic culture. Its resemblance to current entertainment is scary. It is not just a slice of another culture, it is a full helping of a culture being harangued and battered by itself.

Cabaret, the film version, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1972. It stars Michael York, Liza Minelli, and Joel Gray. The plot is fairly simple. It is the very early 1930s. Michael York's character has come to Berlin to study. On the side, he teaches English. His customers mostly are Jewish persons getting ready for some place else. Liza Minelli, as Sally Bowles, is a singer at the Cabaret. Finding each other at a rooming house occupied by people on the sidelines of society, they engage in a strange and convoluted romance. The real focus of the show is the cabaret acts, where even the "orchestra is beautiful."

The physical environment of Berlin is shown through its weather, buildings, and scenery. Cabaret presents a variety of details concerning the cultural-historical environment, too. Physically, we see parks, apartments, houses, trains, and clubs. Culturally we see the attitudes of the elite, sexual mores, tension over the growing NAZI presence, Jewish-related issues, violence against Jews and others, and clothes.

The decadence of German society is illustrated via sexuality, hinted nudity, homosexuality, transvestitism, greed, intolerance, and lack of seriousness over its own plight. Cabaret takes the world around it and makes a joke of it. For example, the song "Money Makes the World Go Round" makes its point, as does Joel Gray singing about why people do not like his gorilla girlfriend. He ends with the line "She doesn't look Jewish at all."

The geographic environment shown in the film helps drive these messages home. NAZI Party people are scattered here and there. The homes of the rich and the crowded spaces of the poor make vivid the social tension. The gates, manicured lawns, green of the parks, furniture, subdued lighting, and so forth show the world of the rich as distant from that of the poor. The poor live in crowded apartments where the lights are dim and the company is uncultured.

That it is a color presentation lends even greater reality to the period since it is likely many students see Hitler in black and white. Now I personally find black and white increases the horror of film. For example, Jimmy Stewart's twisted face in It's a Wonderful Life as he faces the reality of Pottersville is not the same in color. A Christmas Carol, with Alistair Sims, is very different when you watch the colorized version. It loses its sense of human crisis. Of course, Steven Speilberg filmed Schindler's List in black and white. Postmodern youth may not perceive things this way. Black and white means "old." It is out.

In the end it is a sexually-charged streak through German life at a crucial point in history. On a deeper level, it is us. The geographic content is the setting for a message of gloom. For students wondering how history repeats itself, how Hitler's time period applies to us; Cabaret is filled with suggestive thoughts. Look past the sexual tones to the subcontext of societal stink. Students who see fascism only as Hitler need realize he was a front for the rich. Cabaret tries to make this point. Even Liza Minelli's green fingernail polish and hair style, and the wild eye makeup of the Cabaret girl's, suggest today's gothic look. The place varies, the social issues remain the same.

Geography as the setting for history, Cabaret has it.  One also notes the similarities of the Caberet to postmodern America.  Decency taking a nose dive as society slips into a fascist mode.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2001. Geography in Media: Cabaret. Dakota Alliance XI(1): January-February 2001: 7.

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Mutiny on The Bounty

 

It was early in the 1960s when I received my first subscription to the National Geographic. Mutiny on the Bounty was being remade and the Geographic was covering the journey of the ship produced for the film to Tahiti. The ship and the island appeared spectacular. The island was lush and the ship spoke to a story that made an impression.

That story was of the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian against Captain William Bligh aboard the HMS Bounty. Pushed to obtain breadfruit plants from Tahiti for transplantation in the West Indies, where they would serve as a food supply for slave labor, Bligh encounters a delay due to his error in attempting to get to Tahiti via Cape Horn. He blames Christian and the crew rather than the inadequacy of the sailing technology. This results in further delay as they reach Tahiti during the dormant season for breadfruit. He has to wait months to merely dig up the plants. As the tension builds, in Bligh and the crew, the return trip results in the famous mutiny.

Hollywood has found the tale worth three major films, but I have found postmodern students getting a little distant from the story. There is a lot to learn and see in each of the films.

The more accessible films are 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty and 1984's Bounty. The former casts Trevor Howard as Bligh and Marlon Brando as Christian. The latter casts Anthony Hopkins as Bligh and Mel Gibson as Christian. Both are excellent films. Both present the story in the changing terms of their production periods. The 1962 film is much more sympathetic to Bligh, but does allow its dandy Christian to develop into an honorable man. The 1984 version gives Bligh no measure while allowing Gibson to be the well-liked character he often plays in films.

From the geographic standpoint, both offer impressive views of the nature of the oceans, and the marvels of Tahiti and Pitcairn Island.

Oceans. In the 1789 the world map is mostly filled in, but the details are missing. As students think about ocean travel during the age of exploration, I am unconvinced that the time involved sinks in. I am not sure that the level of danger does either. The travel is slow, no jets. The travel conditions are poor, no pools and hot tubs. These men are undertaking a risky trip that will last for years under conditions where the boss has no human relations and safety rules to follow.

Islands. The displayed environments of Tahiti and Pitcairn are rich in detail. The famous openness of the people of Tahiti is made clear from the first. The society is organized. It has its sense of power and pride. All those playing Bligh respect the ability of the Tahitians to destroy them. They also show a massive sense of private disrespect for the "savages." The legendary sexual freedom of the Tahitians is clearly used as the sailors go wild. One gets a good view of culture, including clothing. The films do vary. The 1962 version uses carefully developed camera angles to cover the women, the 1984 version is more honest.

Pitcairn Island is shown in a very straightforward manner in both films. It is a very small [2 square miles] island. Its rugged coast and surface is an essential element of plot development. Of course, its geographic feature of greatest interest in education is that Christian is able to use it as a safe haven because its location has been mischarted on every British map. While latitude figures were long establishable, it was only after Cook's sailing in 1776 that longitude even began to have a level of accuracy. Mislocated, the mutineers could take a chance that no one would find it soon. It was too remote.

This is a story that offers great potential for discussions of leadership. Like Twelve O'Clock High, it offers leadership styles in very clear contrast. Is Bligh correct in his approach to controlling men?

The islands have very important positions in the mental life of many Americans. That push to escape the postmodern world's drive to work and consume is countered by the appeal of the simple lifestyle, one in touch with the environment. While environmental units usually stress fixing up what we have, the remote place of peace has more appeal for some people. Was, or is, that place really one of peace and communion with nature

Of course, the sad end of the Bounty, rebuilt for the 1962 film, came in 2012 when it sunk in the Atlantic while caught up in Hurricane Sandy.

Updated from: Meartz, Paul D. 2001. Geography in Media: Mutiny on the Bounty. Dakota Alliance XI(2): Summer 2001: 7.

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The Finder [Fox]

 

The Finder offers a counter weight to CSI: Miami in showing southern Florida.  The urban-beach oriented CSI: Miami is pushed more into the back waters of the swamp in The Finder.  The Finder follows an Iraq War veteran who has developed extreme abilities to fathoim where something that is lost and sought is to be found.  His apparent long term skills at this are heightened by mental changes that occurred after an IED explosion in Iraq.

His headquarters is dive called the Ends of the Earth in a swmap grove near Miami, at Looking Glass Key.  One gets to see a very tropical looking establishment that looks very run down and is reminiscent of tropical islands places in movies.  Windows?  No, shutters get closed.

The tropical environment is fairly clear in the nature of the dive, its drinks, the clothes, and the weather.  A hurricane provides the setting to use technology and logic to find a killer.  The human Google is bound to be a classic.  Of course, it all gets going as he is boarding up the shutters in anticiaption of the storm.  Other bodies appear or not in the swamps.  All this takes place in a sourrounding of palm trees, of course.  And do not forget the very typical air boats used in those swmaps.

While he has this more non-Miami focus, the urban environment is not ignored.  The show just goes for a bit of eccentric isolation in the world of wonderful weather.

Rome Adventure (1962)

 

Rome Adventure is one of those 1950-1960s potboilers that questions the sexual mores of society as seen and done by popular novelists of the time. In a category with A Summer Place or Peyton Place, but less deep, it pits one generation versus another over the proper nature of love and sex. Given the nature of life in 2012, it seems quaint, even slightly silly, and certainly foreign to postmodern people.

As for geography, Rome Adventure has Suzanne Pleshette fleeing sexual/love issues in the United States by going to find a life in Rome. Meeting Rossano Brazzi on the ship, he becomes the source and model of Italian mores. More important Pleshette meets Troy Donahue at her boarding house and love develops.

Where that love develops is against the setting, the geography of Italy. Early, we get a snap tour of Rome from Barzzi, but it shows only the obvious stereotyped symbols of Rome with a quick fact about each one. They drive by way to fast. We see the Arch of Constantine, the Coliseum, and Palatine Hill. These are what they are, and one wonders if anyone ever really drives in Rome in a sporty car beside a woman like Pleshette explaining that Rome began in 753 BC on the Palatine Hill?

A later we actually get on the tour bus. A real guide explains things we are seeing. Sites include an Etruscan festival of flags and the Baptistry, Cathedral, and Leaning Tower in Pisa. Then we head out along the sea coast for the view and the rocky cliffs. At one stop Donahue explains why medieval churches have sculpture and paintings outside. In times when few could read, the Bible stories had to be shown in paintings.

They leave the tour to venture out alone by Vespa scooter. We see a lot of country road, tree lined of course, as they fall in love. We do see some sea coast and the rocky cliffs. .We find ourselves up North at Lago maggiore, near the Alps. Out in the lake are the famous castles. Do note the brightly colored giant umbrellas over tables by the water. So Italian

A side visit finds us scootering to Verona. With Pleshette in Juliet’s Balcony, Donahue delivers Shakespeare to the applause of the crowd. We do get to see a scattering of classic bridges, wine and cheese, and old streets made for pedestrians and an occasional horse

A picnic in the mountains shows us the rocky Apennines in fine color. They kiss to a spectacular view. At a village inn Donahue asks for a room with a view and the owner waves his hands in all directions over and over indicating every room has a view with them all around.

Well a nice tour, but actually slightly weak on the gusto of Italian life. You see Italian life, but most goes by without explanation.

The Agony and the Ecstasy [1963]

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy follows the life of Michelangelo in his painting of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Pope Julius II is set on upgrading the Vatican and while pursuing war, he creates and environment in which art flourishes. These excesses will lead to complaints about the nature of the Catholic Church out of which the Protestant reformation will arise. The film begins with a biography of Michelangelo and his work. The film is establishing the prominence of Italy in Renaissance art.

The geography is divided between the hills of Tuscany around Florence and the Vatican in Rome. We see the statues and buildings of Florence briefly, but the film spends far more time in the hills of the area. Quarrying marble for statues and buildings is the output of these hills. We get a chance to see the old methods by which the hill is carved apart and broken into rock chunks of useful size. The marble of Florence is world famous and the raw material of many major works of art.

The film uses the broad vistas of the hills to give Michelangelo his vision of the design for the Sistine Chapel of God creating Adam and humankind. The mountain top view is essential to the story and made graphically clear in the special effects.

While some outdoor scenes to spot the rest of the film, the bulk of the geography is indoors at the Vatican. Seen are the outdoor settings carefully reconstructed for street scenes. The interior is mostly one of scaffolding until the painting is unveiled in its wonder.

While the Geography is quite apparent to the viewer, the History is center stage. The papacy is not a solely religious body. The corruption, which again will lead to the Protestant reformation, is clear. The military nature of the papacy is a dominant theme. Julius II is picturd as a better military leader than Pope.

On a more personal level the film carries a message for postmodern times that great work is not done overnight. Julius II is constantly asking Michelangelo when it will be finished. Michelangelo has no real estimate given the never ending process which is creation. The need to fill one’s needs immediately in today’s world is in clear contrast with the painfully extended process of creating great works

The Last King of Scotland [2006]

 

The Last King of Scotland has a geographically misleading title in that it follows the life of a Scot in Uganda. Only the first minutes take place in Scotland. It follows a young Scot doctor, Nicholas Garrigan, as he moves to Uganda to work in a bush clinic. He quickly finds himself taken in by President Idi Amin as his personal doctor. After Amin is injured wrist is wrapped by the young Scot, the movie is underway.

Arriving in Uganda, the viewer sees the savanna environment, grassy with a dry, hot feel to it. The variety of animal life is present, but not a focus point. They drive along wide open grass plains on the normal African dirt roads. Arriving at the bush hospital, the informality of the bush city and surroundings strikes one. The clothes are natural of the bush and not the modern hospital. The massive demand for limited services is clear from just the crowding. Yet children smile and play in other scenes.

The traditional Land Rover of the British bush is used. Of course a rugged vehicle is required given the dirt roads. Otherwise hard on the body is soccer played in bare feet.

Some traditional elements of Africa appear in the high pitched chanting, particularly the female voices, and in the drone of the drums and wooden xylophone-like instrument. A different sense of tone and beat sets a sound for the environment.

Once the doctor is taken in by Amin, he is whisked away to the urban environment. Here the uninformed probably finds the greatest dissonance from the traditional stereotypes of Africa. The buildings are modern. There are stores and multi-story office buildings. They do have an empty look to them as hall ways are long and lack decoration.

Also given the traditional setting of “Africa,” lavish dinner parties with men in suits and women in fine ball gowns will inform yet be strange. In addition fairly modern stores, appropriate to the 1970s though, will also seem out of character. Later Africans at a club drinking western cocktails and listening to a singer belting “Me and Bobby McGee” will contrast with traditional stereotypes’

From the historic perspective one is visiting Uganda as Dictator Idi Amin controls the country. The elevated level of violence, unfortunately not limited to Uganda during the time period of the film, is ugly. Amin’s mental instability is stark and the violence is near sickening.

The inter-tribal nature of Amin’s violence is noted but not really pushed to clarity. A person from a non-favored tribe met with death in many circumstances. It shakes our doctor early, but its true nature is not really pursued. It is just left a death, not a death from inter-tribal warfare. He is being outfitted for a suit when an attack takes place on the street. He is shook, but the viewer is little informed by the scene as to the tribal warfare witnessed.

In the end this is an ugly film. But, the time period was ugly. Africa is still bathed in this same ugliness and horror. Uganda is not the only case of genocide and terror. The colonial age did not fade away into a life of peace form many here. Societies disorganized by colonial damage have suffered by inter-tribal fighting and the breakdown of traditional authority and social systems by that colonialism. This film highlights and episode of that aspect of African life

MacDonald, Kevin. 2006. The Last King of Scotland. Film. Hollywood: Fox-Searchlight.

The Yellow Rolls-Royce [1964]

 

from IMCDB

The Yellow Rolls-Royce follows the peaks and valleys of its various owner’s romance lives over several decades beginning with its production in 1930. It is a classic looking Rolls with black top and a yellow body.

The first owners are English nobility, the car bought on a whim but returned quickly after illicit romance takes place in the back seat. One gets a short look at London, but the view is not very informative.

Some more miles get put on it and it arrives in Italy and goes to the hands of a mobster from Amwrica played by George C. Scott. Of course his moll, Shirley MacLaine, has a trsit with her illicit lover in the back seat and things end poorly. While in Italy one starts in Genoa, but moves on quickly. One sees some magnificent views of the country. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is paused at for a significant time. One sees the larger Basilica and the surrounding area. Heading south one notes the narrow hillside roads and a coast with shining water and magnificent cliffs. The buildings wear their age with romance. The weather is glorious.

The final section is in Triti then into the Dinaric Alps of the then Yugoslavia, but was shot in Austria(IMDb 1990). The political intrigue of the region is amply displayed. The mountains steal to screen with beautiful valleys and extensive woodlands. The narrow, curvy roads add to the danger of driving while bombing might take place. The rural villages are likely still in place and have that ancient charm. The down to earth attitudes of the villagers are clear and the devotion to life and family.

A good film with a typical Hollywood story and some pieces of Europe tossed in.

Inside Daisy Clover

An oldie but a goodie. Inside Daisy Clover is Hollywood in the 1930s.  Daisy (Natalie Wood) is discovered off her cheap beachfront lifestyle by her sending a record of her singing to Swan Studios.  Swan (Christopher Plummer) loves her and makes her a star.  The life overloads her and she collapses then escapes.

The geography is that of Malibu, Santa Monica Pier [Robby Cress 2011] and likely Beverly Hills/Hollywood.  The beach is open and uncluttered with housing like today, as might be seen in Two and a Half Men (CBS).  The peri has that cheap look of an old carnival.  Studios and mansions look like studios and mansions.  A cross section of the place is shown.

 

 

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother takes one deeply into New York City neighborhoods.  The constant is the bar and the apartment.  The crowded living spaces of NYC are a fixed feature of the show.  The viewer also is constantly in the bar scene and the variety of big city types found there.  Some work spaces for architects and others are also presented.

P.S. I Love You

Great film from 2007 starring Hilary Swank. The geographically intersting segments are in Ireland. Great shots of rural Irealnd near Wicklow National Park, located south of Dublin. The small roads are shown and the rustic life of the rural lands is woderfully displayed. Swnk's character loses her husband before his death he sets the sending of 10 letters to her to lead to recovery. Visiting Ireland with her friends is the result of one of these letters. During that visit the lonely expanse of the Irish countryside is a part of the haunting sensations the film develops. Set adrift on a lake fishing, the housing, the rocky surfaces, all make Ireland what it is to those who dream.

Hairspray

Hairspray is a musical movie based up a 1988 movie by John Waters. The movie is driven by Water’s love of his hometown Baltimore. The show begins with a fantastic song--“Good Morning Baltimore”--as Tracy Turnblat makes her way from her row house to school. In just this opening, we get a glimpse into the urban history of the city. For students used to wide open house lots and fields, the tightness of houses in row house settings will be shocking. The houses are, of course, tight to each other with no front yard. Back yards are also small. The point being that cities were built around keeping people as tight together to minimize the transport cost to work.

The postmodern city is based on spreading out based upon the bus and automobile allowing travel to further spots at a time and financial cost that is still minimal versus incomes. The space of the suburb is allowed by the fact that one can still drive to work in an acceptable time and cost; and have a big lot and space between houses.

Row houses come from the time when walking was the transport form, then the horse cart, and streetcar. Incomes were lower and the time factor meant that one stuck homes as close together as possible to the city center, or later to the bus stops.

While small and tight now, they functioned perfectly in the early 1900s and prior. The house also is small inside and has two or more stories. This maximizes land use.

Many cities have row houses as they reflect a time point in the development of cities and transportation. While Baltimore celebrates its row houses, other cities have very few. In Minneapolis there is one small area in the Cedars-Riverside neighborhood that has some left. Minneapolis would have developed at a different time and redevelopment has tended to eliminate this housing type.

And this is just with the opening scene! The film goes on. The racial divides of the 1950s and 1960s are clear. African-Americans and Whites have “their” parts of town, and do not mix. Even integrated dancing on the TV show [a local version of American Bandstand] is shocking and banned. The kids, of course, prevail and the barriers are broken down through the film. The racism, no doubt, seems extreme and even silly to postmodern children used to an integrated world; but the movie is an accurate reflection of its times. Even having African-Americans and Whites on the same TV show was forbidden ground. What would the audience think and what would the sponsors do? That the detention room in a high school was nearly African only amplifies the message.

But Tracy breaks the barriers and the barriers crash though the film. The film becomes a historic record of the 1960s challenge to the racism of the past. A demonstration is met by a police barricade. Even the suggestion of integration forces parents into extreme actions that now seem ridiculous. But they existed and the film brings this out.

The film also establishes the divisive nature of housing discrimination. There are distinct parts of town where those of each race felt real fear over being in the “wrong” place. It works both ways. Unfortunately an issue that does remain in American society.

Hairspray is a movie that combines some great 50s sounds with history and geography lessons; and it is an entertainment gold mine to boot.

Rent

“I’m a New Yorker. Fear is my life.” These words from an AIDS patient in Rent tell you alone that musical is taking you deep into the depths of New York City life. With all its bright lights and charisma, New York City has an underbelly of degradation, loathing, sorrow, and sin. And, Rent tries to show it all.

Rent is La Boheme with Mimi as a pole dancing, stripper. Rudolpho becomes Roger, a down and out musician with AIDS. The setting is not the classy poverty of Paris, but the streets of New York City’s broken society. Urban New York City is unclean and dirty. It is in such disrepair it clouds the vision and dreams of those who see it. It is a place of row house tenants who ride the infamous subways.

Even songs like “Tango Maureen” bring the frustrations together. The tango is a moody dance of dark tones; sultry, but dominated by remoteness and grey. It is not a dance done with a smile, but rather a hard face stiffened by life and cultural decline

Rent is filled with sex, drugs, bondage, lesbianism, transexualism, AIDS, heroin use, and massive multiculturalism. It is filled with a sense of alienation actually common in Broadway’s biggest hits; from “Old Man River” in Showboat, to “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” in South Pacific, to “America” in West Side Story. If you can’t see the isolation and cold in Le Miserables, you are not watching and listening very well. Broadway’s hits often play to the sense of alienation in American society.

Of course, like the dancing hoods in West Side Story, it does take work to accept drug addicts and outcasts singing and dancing; but like West Side Story, it is worth it. And you get to see the underbelly of the glitter that is New York City.

Men in Trees

Men in Trees does not seem like a show that will last, but while on, it has some wonderful views of Alaska. Some mountains, some streams, some tight indoors. Sort of a Northern Exposure on hormones, it is quirky, but entertaining.