Snow Day

It's like ice planet Hoth outside today. If one were around, I'd slice open a tauntaun with my lightsaber and stuff my entire family inside to keep them warm.

Anyway, the weather has prevented us from attending church. The Bishop texted this morning and said most members from outlying areas (Tonica being the most outlying there is) weren't coming in and that they would only be holding Sacrament Meeting. So we're here, hunkered down, weathering the storm.

I got a note from my Dissertation Committee advisor this morning. She's going on sabbatical next semester and so she was giving me her end-of-semester suggestions to prep. She was as encouraging and positive as she gets - she wrote "Can't wait to read it when you write it" at the end of the message. That was nice but the message itself was a long, single-spaced list of all the things I need to read, think about, address, question, compare, etc. It's a big list. A big ol' list. At the end, she stressed that I need to establish why Mormon cinema matters and why Richard Dutcher's films matter in the larger scheme of academic study. I realize this is an important point - it's something I emphasize with my own students with whatever they're writing about - there must be a connection to the larger world, it can't just be a few pages about something that happened to you. There has to be some kind of significance that goes beyond your own personal reaction to something.

It's important and I get that but, at the same time, her suggestions that there doesn't appear to be anything "edgy" about Dutcher's films, that they just seem like what one would expect from an institutional film by the Church itself, make me feel like she views me (or like I am) just a naive, uninformed dilettante. Now, obviously, she doesn't know anything about institutional LDS film because if she did, she'd realize the ways in which Dutcher's films depart from that standard. But still. Clearly, it takes very little to make me feel really overwhelmed with this whole thing. I'm hoping to spend Christmas break reading and writing and to get a jump start on my prospectus. I just need to get something on paper and get it rolling. Something is better than nothing.

On another note, we've watched a few movies over the last couple of days and, naturally, I have things to say:



Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
It's unlike any other movie you've seen. It borrows from video games, anime, sitcoms, music videos, etc. to make something unique. Its hipster, rat-ta-tat-tat dialogue and editing are not to everyone's taste but in terms of its aesthetic, ambition, and creativity, it's head and shoulders above any garbagy romcom or action flick you'll see this year.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1
Holy crap. I haven't endured two and a half hours of anxiety-inducing tension like this in I don't know how long. When you compare it to the lighthearted fun of the first couple of films in the series, you'd never imagine they were related. It's dark, violent, not afraid of killing off beloved characters, and highly engaging. Suzy and I left the theater glad we saw it but not sure if we "enjoyed" it exactly. It was really good but wasn't pleasurable necessarily.



Twilight: New Moon
We rented it last night because we knew a snowstorm was coming and we knew we wanted a variety of things to watch in case we ended up being trapped. This is my first honest-to-goodness encounter with the Twilight business. Everything I knew up to this point was based on hearsay and second-hand info. I heard the writing of the books was bad. I've seen the specials on Oprah or whatever about Twi-hards and Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, etc. But now I've actually seen one of the movies and I guess all I can really speak to is that one film.

It's lame. I wanted to reach through the screen, grab Kristen Stewart by the hair, give her a good shake, and say, "Knock it off. I don't know what's worse - this selfish, needy, pathetic character or your breathy, stuttery, sullen version of her." Seriously, is there anything redeeming about Bella Swan at all? I'm all for an everyman (everywoman) character as a protagonist. Perfect heroes or heroines are uninteresting and common people as main characters are great. But does she have to be so utterly without value on her own? What does she do other than mope, sigh, and beg to be turned into a vampire so she and Edward can get it on? Lame.

The other thing that struck me is how the whole thing is just teenage wish fulfillment. The whole world revolves around her despite her selfishness. Hot, supernatural men love her. Other girls are jealous of her. She gets to spend all her time pouting and being desired. Her dad is attentive, loving, and ineffectual. Her mom isn't around to say, "Snap the hell out it, girly!"

I hope Bella Swan isn't thought to be any kind of hero or role model for young girls. If so, what does that say about the kind of young women we want our daughters to be?

Also, Taylor Lautner can't act. His pectoral muscles emote more effectively than his face does.

So there you have it. We also rented the Robert Zemeckis version of A Christmas Carol and Iron Man 2. I didn't pay attention to A Christmas Carol close enough to say anything about it but Maryn and Avery seemed to enjoy it a lot. Iron Man 2 is, you know, a guy in a robot suit beating up other guys in robot suits - so, you know, far from what we'd call "art" but still smart, funny, and enjoyable to watch.