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On The Apple--Intro
posted Thursday, 16 March 2006
Note: Since it seems like I have a lot to say on this subject, I've decided--for the sake of my real job--to post what is turning out to be an actual essay on The Apple in sections, rather than spend a lot of time doing it at once. Here today is the introduction, where the title of the film being discussed isn't even mentioned.
Getting to the Core of The Apple
Introduction
Out of all the different kinds of movies that are an important part of the WWTTM canon, I think my favourite may be a series of musicals produced in the late 70s and early 80s. Though none of them are specifically related to one another, they all seem to share a similar kind of insanity—as each attempted to resuscitate what was then a dying genre by invigorating it with the spirit and the style of the period. The problem with this approach was that this era is not one that was known for its good taste or artistic restraint. Looking beyond the Broadway reinterpretations of old these “new musicals” grabbed everything they could from the world of popular music, which at that time was at a low pre-punk/new wave ebb, with Disco and MOR rock being the dominant sounds. The result of this was such WWTTM classics as Xanadu, Can’t Stop the Music, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Shock Treatment (a film that faded so quickly from the public consciousness many people are surprised to discover that it’s a sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show).
Though some of the WWTTM musical disasters of that period were throwbacks to the genre’s glory days—most notably Peter Bogdonavich’s At Long Last Love, as well as Mame and Sextette, two filmic tributes to the delusional over-inflated egos of their leading ladies, Lucille Ball and Mae West—most were either directly inspired by the pop-art lunacy of Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who’s “rock opera” Tommy or attempted to re-infuse the genre’s creakiest conventions with the popular music of the day. Unfortunately the people who made these films failed to recognize that the reason Tommy worked was because it had a genuine demented genius at its helm and that using a new style of peanut butter simply isn’t enough to disguise the fact that the bread has gone stale.
That said, these films all possess an undeniable spirit that I find comforting and even inspirational. Like the special needs kids I referred to in my first post, they may not be very good at what they are doing, but they do it with such enthusiasm and go-for-broke showmanship that their flaws inspire affection and endearment from those who understand that it is ridiculous to hold a doomed endeavor up to a standard it never had a chance of meeting. I do admit however that it takes a certain unorthodox point of view to appreciate these films—one that is certainly discouraged by the mainstream, where the idea of admiring a project for its failures, not despite them, is a bit too counter-intuitive for the average person to accept. To many people—including most professional film critics, who despite often embracing unconventional films tend to be very conventional thinkers—these films are just bad and that is that, no amount of debate will ever convince them otherwise. I do not claim any kind of superiority over these people (although I may imply it from time to time), but I do admit to feeling a bit sorry for them, because they are missing out on an awful lot of fun.
To be continued....
Commentary From the Masses