THE MT VOID
11/08/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 19, Whole Number 2353
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper,
mleeper@optonline.netCo-Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 6 (THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL
NEGROES, 42, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1983))
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE ACID HOUSE (letter of comment by Arthur Kaletsky)
Italian Architecture under Mussolini (letter of comment
by Paul Dormer)
Languages in STAR TREK (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
This Week's Reading (SNOW CRASH) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 6 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)
This is the sixth batch of mini-reviews:
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES (2024): Do not be misled
by the very low rating for THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES
in the IMDb--it is almost entirely due to an exorbitant number of
"1-star" votes, which in turn indicates a lot of people with an
agenda. (An exorbitant number of "10-star" votes in a small
number of total votes usually indicates the cast and crew are
boosting the score.)
That is not to say it's actually a great movie. It has its flaws.
It goes on a bit too long, and some of it seems a bit
heavy-handed at times, but I like the premise. "Magical Negro" is
a concept at least five hundred years old; the term was
popularized by Spike Lee in 2001. The Magical Negro is a Black
character who is there to help the white character(s (often using
magical powers) and has no purpose other than that. Spike Lee
cited THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE and THE GREEN MILE, by it goes
back much further, including THE DEFIANT ONES. (Other examples
are GHOST and DRIVING MISS DAISY. I might also claim that Big Sam
in GONE WITH THE WIND pre-dates all of these.)
The premise of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES is that
Magical Negroes are real, and that there is a secret organization
that trains and supervises them. Subtlety is not this movie's
strong point, though according to the commentary a reference to
Crispus Attucks apparently went over most audience members' heads.
(This made me wonder whether he was also the inspiration for the
"Black guy dies first" trope in horror films.)
And the end is not just tacked on--it's actually signaled several
times in the film, but so subtly (okay, there is more subtlety)
that you won't notice it until the second viewing.
I would definitely recommend this if you are interested in modern
racial (and gender) tropes in films. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 15 March 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30007864/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_american_society_of_magical_negroes>
42 (2013): I'm assuming it goes without saying that "42" is more
accurate than the older biopic (THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY), just
as "De-Lovely" is more accurate to Cole Porter's life than "Night
and Day" was. But I do wonder if the scene in Rickey's office
with PeeeWee Reese and the letters is accurate, or fictional?
SPOILER: Maybe it's because I just saw THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
MAGICAL NEGROES, but it does seem that Robinson is a bit of a
Magical Negro for Rickey's personal issues. Of course, the big
difference is that Robinson is a full character with his own
motivation and arc, as is Wendell Smith, rather than just there to
serve Rickey. END SPOILER
I will say that by the end of the film, seeing that Ben Chapman
never managed again somehow didn't seem punishment enough. (Not a
spoiler, anymore than saying Titanic sunk is a spoiler.)
Note 1: In SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, the "42" is a
reference to Jackie Robinson, not to THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE
UNIVERSE. (And though someone has even propounded the theory that
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE's "42" was inspired by
Jackie Robinson, Douglas Adams was British and it's pretty much
agreed that he had no interest in baseball.)
Note 2: In the movie SMOKE, reviewed in the 09/13/24 issue of the
MT VOID, the viewer needs to recognize that the baseball player
wearing the number "42" and seen only from behind is Jackie
Robinson.
I will probably read THE TEAM THAT FOREVER CHANGED BASEBALL AND
AMERICA: THE 1947 BROOKLYN DODGERS (a collection of articles
published by the University of Nebraska Press), especially since I
can apparently get it through interlibrary loan through my
library. However, given I have several thousand pages in the
books I just got at Second Time Books, I doubt it will happen
anytime soon. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 12 April 2013.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/42_2013>
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1983): This TV movie of THE HOUND
OF THE BASKERVILLES has a lot of differences rom earlier (and
indeed most later) versions.
[SPOILERS]
For starters, in earlier versions the girl Sir Hugo chases usually
dies of fright (if her death is mentioned at all), while in this
version it is explicit that Hugo catches and rapes her.
In this version, Laura Lyons's husband shows up, and apparently
loves her even though he abuses her. And then Laura Lyons is
killed.
Holmes disguises himself on the moor as a gypsy, and interacts
with various main characters in this disguise.
Stapleton tries to kill Sir Henry in London. Beryl is revealed as
the one who sent the warning letter to Sir Henry.
Holmes follows Stapleton into the mire and tries to save him.
This is as opposed to the versions in which our heroes hear
Stapleton apparently fall into the Mire and drown, or one in which
Beryl has purposely moved the flags Stapleton used to mark the
path so that he would fall into the Mire and drown. [-ecl]
Released on television 03 November 1983.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/reference>
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE ACID HOUSE (letter of comment by Arthur Kaletsky)
In response to Evelyn's comments on THE ACID HOUSE in the 11/01/24
issue of the MT VOID, Arthur Kaletsky writes:
Pedant-in-Chief respectfully begs to differ about the ACID HOUSE
film. Welsh's demonstration that he can do a conventional
literary short story as well as, say, Alice Munro or Raymond
Carver is not in the film AFAIK. The story is "The Last Resort On
The Adriatic", strongly recommended. [-ak]
Evelyn responds:
I'm not sure what you're differing on, since I merely said, "THE
ACID HOUSE was made into a film incorporating all four stories in
[the book THE ACID HOUSE]. It is available on Tubi." I didn't
comment on the style or quality of any of the book, the story, or
the film. I did make a mistake, however, in that the book THE
ACID HOUSE (at least my edition) has twenty-two stories in it, not
four as some reviewer of the film claimed (or implied). [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Italian Architecture under Mussolini (letter of comment by
Paul Dormer)
In response to Evelyn's comments on Italian architecture under
Mussolini in the 11/01/24 issue of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
I spent a couple of weeks about ten years ago doing train travel
around Italy. The main railway station in Milan dates from the
Thirties and looks exactly like what you'd expect an ancient Roman
railway station to look like. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Languages in STAR TREK (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
In response to Evelyn's comments on the confusion of "sun" and
"son" in the episode "Bread and Circuses" in the 11/01/24 issue of
the MT VOID, Gary McGath writes:
I figured the natives of the planet spoke Latin or a Latin-derived
language (it makes as much sense as any of the other Roman
analogues), and the universal translator rendered the words for
"sun" and "son" as homophones, creating an ambiguity which the
locals weren't aware of. [-gmg]
Evelyn responds:
There was never any suggestion that the inhabitants were descended
from people from Earth. I suppose it's possible, but you would
think that Kirk or Spock would have mentioned this. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Okay, this is another one of those articles of picky comments on a
book, or in this case just Chapter 1, of SNOW CRASH by Neal
Stephenson (Del Rey, ISBN 978-0-553-38095-8).
"snow n... 2.a. Anything resembling snow. b. The white
specks on a television screen resulting from weak reception."
This reminds me of the first line of William Gibson's NEUROMANCER
("The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a
dead channel.") In both cases, the concept is meaningless to the
current generation (or in Gibson's case, they think the sky was a
bright blue!).
"[W]hen you get done using it, you have to plug it into the
cigarette lighter, because it runs on electricity."
And while there is still a power outlet that is structured to take
the cigarette lighter that cars used to have, cars no longer come
with cigarette lighters, and they call it a power outlet now.
"Your car's tires have tiny contact patches, talk to the asphalt
in four places the size of your tongue. The Deliverator's car has
big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's
thighs."
My tires have more contact with the asphalt that Stephenson seems
to assume.
"Tadzhikistan"
Now (and probably even then) spelled "Tajikistan".
"high-speed pizza delivery"
Again, this used to be a thing with Domino's Pizza (from 1979 to
1989): "Your pizza in 30 minutes or less." This ended after a $78
million verdict against Domino's in a lawsuit claiming dozens of
accidents and over 20 fatalities were caused by Domino's drivers
trying to meet this goal. Will younger readers understand this?
"The Deliverator stands tall, your pie in thirty minutes or you
can have it free, shoot the driver, take his car, file a
class-action suit."
See above.
"brandishing their Seikos"
These days, Seiko watches (or any watches) are much less common.
"Abkhazia, Rwanda, Guanajuato, South Jersey"
Snarky on Stephenson's part.
"The pizza box is a plastic carapace now, corrugated for
stiffness, a little LED readout glowing on the side, telling the
Deliverator how many trade imbalance-producing minutes have ticked
away since the fateful phone call. There are chips and stuff in
there."
These days, using that much disposable plastics and electronics
would be very bad, public relations-wise, and possibly against
some states' laws..
"The address of the caller has already been inferred from his
phone number..."
Again, this is meaningless now, with phone number portability, and
with cell phones which could be anywhere (you could be ordering
from a friend's house). Yes, some phones have GPS, but not all,
and I believe it can be turned off.
"You don't work harder because you're competing against some
identical operation down the street. You work harder because
everything is on the line. Your name, your honor, your family,
your life. Those burger flippers might have a better life
expectancy--but what kind of life is it anyway, you have to ask
yourself."
These days, of course, jobs require less commitment, because
people change jobs far more often. The notion of lifetime
employment has pretty much gone out the window.
"those seventies and eighties developments exist to be bulldozed,
right? No sidewalks, no schools, no nothing. Don't have their own
police force--no immigration control--undesirables can walk right
in without being frisked or even harassed."
Now, of course, we have more and more gated communities, so this
is becoming perhaps mopre accurate.
The Deliverator was a corporal in the Farms of Men Merryvale State
Security Force for a while once. Got himself fired for pulling a
sword on an acknowledged perp. Slid it right through the fabric of
the perp's shirt, gliding the flat of the blade along the base of
his neck, and pinned him to a warped and bubbled expanse of vinyl
siding on the wall of the house that the perp was trying to break
into. Thought it was a pretty righteous bust. But they fired him
anyway because the perp turned out to be the son of the
vice-chancellor of the Farms of Merryvale. Oh, the weasels had an
excuse: said that a thirty-six-inch samurai sword was not on their
Weapons Protocol. Said that he had violated the SPAC, the
Suspected Perpetrator Apprehension Code. Said that the perp had
suffered psychological trauma. He was afraid of butter knives now;
he had to spread his jelly with the back of a teaspoon. They said
that he had exposed them to liability."
Well, this sounds like a terribly familiar outcome for the rich
(and white) perp.
"Fairlanes roads emphasize getting you there, for Type A drivers,
and Cruiseways emphasize the enjoyment of the ride, for Type B
drivers."
This made me think of I-95 versus the Merritt Parkway for
traveling through Connecticut.
"cranking up the left lane of CSV-5 at a hundred and twenty
kilometers"
"especially at a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour"
Okay, we've gone metric. But going 120 kilometers per hour is
about 75 miles per hour, not unknown in the left lanes of freeways
these days.
"'New employee - put his dinner in the microwave--had foil in
it--boom!' the manager says. Abkhazia had been part of the Soviet
f***ing Union. A new immigrant from Abkhazia trying to operate a
microwave was like a deep-sea tube worm doing brain surgery. Where
did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could
bake a f***ing pizza?"
Well, first of all, I suspect a new immigrant from Abkhazia would
know how to use a microwave, but more to the point, this shows
that this whole anti-immigrant, why-are-they-taking-our-jobs thing
is not new.
"The LED readout on his windshield, which echoes the one on the
pizza box, flashes up: 20:00. They have just given the Deliverator
a twenty-minute-old pizza."
"He checks the address; it is twelve miles away."
What happened to metric? In any case, the twelve miles is by
standard roads, and the reason the Deliverator thinks he can do it
is that while is would require *averaging* 72 miles an hour on
roads, he has a short cut in mind.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net As democracy is perfected, the [presidency] represents,
more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.
We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and
glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach
their heart's desire at last, and the White House will
be adorned by a downright moron.
--H.L. Mencken [1920]
MT VOID, 11/08/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 19, Whole Number 2353
Re: MT VOID, 11/08/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 19, Whole Number 2353