Culture Briefs

Future Sunsets

“It would be hypocritical, or at least inauthentically self-deprecating, for ’Sunset Boulevard’ to suggest that sound, and more specifically words, cheapened cinema. ’Sunset Boulevard’ is powered by words, in Joe’s omniscient screenwriter’s narration and even in the form of routine dialogue. …

“And so I wonder if over time the true meaning of Norma’s famous quote [’I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.’] has become somewhat lost. Perhaps now we instinctually interpret the phrase as representing ’Sunset Boulevard’ and movies of its era, rather than the silent movies Norma is actually attempting to defend.

“On that note, I have to admit that over the past two years, when I’ve come across critics blasting away at 3-D as if its (re)arrival is the death knell of cinema, I’m startled at how much their diatribes (which I largely identify with, by the way) can come off like Norma Desmond offering her own technology-inspired obituary for movies: ’They’re dead! They’re finished! There was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole wide world. But that wasn’t good enough for them. Oh, no. They had to have the ears of the world, too. Look at them in the front offices. The masterminds! They took the idols and smashed them.’ … Is it possible we could reach a point, perhaps only 15 years from now, where the anti-3-D crowd and/or the anti-Robert-Zemeckis-motion-capture crowd sounds this loony? I shudder at the thought. In fact, don’t answer that question.”

- Jason Bellamy, writing on “The Conversations: Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve” on June 16 at the Slant magazine blog The House Next Door

Catholic blues

“When Jake and Elwood Blues, the protagonists in John Landis’ cult classic ’The Blues Brothers,’ claimed they were on a mission from God, the Catholic Church apparently took them at their word. On the 30th anniversary of the film’s release, ’L’Osservatore Romano,’ the Vatican’s official newspaper, called the film a ’Catholic classic’ and said it should be recommended viewing for Catholics everywhere.

“The film is based on a skit from ’Saturday Night Live.’ In the story, Jake and Elwood - played by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, respectively - embark on an unlikely road trip featuring concerts, car chases, clashes with the police and neo-Nazi groups, and attempts at revenge from a spurned lover, all, ostensibly, to raise money for the church-run orphanage where they grew up.

“But aside from a brief appearance from Kathleen Freeman as a wrist-slapping nun referred to as ’The Penguin’ and the brothers’ periodic claim that they were on a mission from God, spirituality does not play a significant role in the film. …

- Eric J. Lyman, writing on “Vatican endorses ’The Blues Brothers,’ ” on June 16 at the Hollywood Reporter

U.S. blues

“As many commentators have observed, most of America’s top athletes don’t devote their energies to playing ’the world’s game.’ If even a small fraction of our best basketball players chose to focus on soccer instead of hoops, the U.S. national team could look much different. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons recently pointed to four NBA stars who, if they had channeled their prodigious athletic skills in an alternate direction, could potentially have electrified the soccer universe: Allen Iverson, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo, and, of course, LeBron James. Imagine six-foot-eight LeBron going up for headers in the box - who would be able to stop him? …

“Unfortunately for U.S. soccer officials, boosting African-American participation in the sport poses a steep challenge. In other countries, Franklin Foer notes in his enjoyable 2004 book, ’How Soccer Explains the World,’ the game is predominantly a passion of the working classes, whereas in the United States, outside of various immigrant populations, the players and fans are drawn disproportionately from the middle- and upper-income groups. Competing at the highest levels of U.S. youth soccer typically requires a significant financial investment. This has made soccer a difficult sell in poorer communities. Altering its economic and cultural dynamics could be the key to uncovering a bevy of new American talent.”

- Duncan Currie, writing on “Soccer and the Metric System” on June 17 at the National Review blog The Corner