Matthew Richmond 8/7/23 Matthew Richmond 8/7/23

Ep 6 - Question Everything

I Know nothing compares 2 U, but what am I?

I know nothing compares 2 U, but what am I?

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TANGENTS

I reeeaaallly wanted to talk about Barbenheimer in this episode, since we’ve just had this gigantic pop culture moment that’s all about juxtaposing the very serious and the very silly. The thing that struck me the most about the two movies was that, in my somewhat humble opinion, Barbie is by far the greater achievement. They’re both extremely well made, of course, and absolutely top-tier in their genres. Except…while Oppenheimer is one of the best biopics you’ll ever see, Barbie is really a genre unto itself. There’s never been a movie like it. And while Oppenheimer, for me at least, didn’t really give me any new thoughts or feelings, Barbie was full of constant surprises and had a lot to say. I think people who dismiss it as “just” comedy, or as essentially a toy commercial, are only seeing the surface and really missing out on a much deeper experience, It’s in your face and brazen, yes - but it’s also extremely clever and full of subtle touches.

To be fair, I was probably somewhat more familiar with the story of the Manhattan Project than the average person, and had explored the philosophical and moral issues around it quite a bit. So I’m sure Oppenheimer is a much more powerful movie for people who are newer to the ideas being presented. But my main point is that, no matter how good Barbie is, it is inevitably seen by almost everyone as the less meaningful of the too just because it’s a fantasy comedy about dolls. This bias against the light-hearted and fun side of art is something I think we’d all do well to shed.

Of course Pee-Wee Herman wasn’t the first, or the most influential, gender-bending character in the spotlight. But the ones who got the most attention tended to be pop musicians, not children’s TV hosts. I was a mostly cis male who still didn’t fit the gender expectations of my community, and I got a decent amount of grief for it, so Pee-Wee was really meaningful to me as an example of being male in a quirky, non-traditional way. But other people who were farther from the typical gender stereotypes (and maybe less into goofy comedy) identified more with people like David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and especially Boy George.

It can’t be overstated what a big deal Boy George was in the 80s, and how upset some people were about his clothes and makeup. But for the most part he was accepted, and even celebrated, and it seems to me that he broke a lot of social barriers for people who followed him.

Check out this comedy song by a couple of country bros in 1984. By today’s standards this might be offensive, but the intention was more to make fun of themselves and country stereotypes than to make fun of Boy George. I’ve read that Boy George actually liked the song, but I can’t find a reliable source one way or the other.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was Tim Burton’s first movie as director. Paul Reubens chose him after seeing the original short version of Frankenweenie and loving the style. I also think he was perfect for the movie, because he expertly captured the weird duality of Pee-Wee’s world being both real and a fantasy at the same time. The problem for me, though, is that Tim Burton has never gotten away from that veneer of artificiality on everything he makes. It works for some of his movies, not so well for others, but it’s become so recognizable as to be a cliché. It’s like he wants to constantly remind us (especially by the visual style) that what we’re watching isn’t real, and for me it stops me from getting absorbed in the movie. (I was excited to see the Wednesday series when it came out, but didn’t know it was his work. Immediately when it started I thought “oh no - this feels really Tim Burton-ish” and then I saw his name in the credits. I still enjoyed the series but it would have been great for it to feel less…purposely fake.)