6 OPINION I, Page 4 Sun'day, December 7, 1980 The Michigan Daily How to make a moviegoer mis Big city chauvinists may say what they will about Ann Arbor's provinciality; on one count this city makes New York look like Podunk. I spent 15 years living in the Big Apple environs, one summer in Boston, another supposed cultural haven, and I maintain that Ann Ar- bor's movie scene far surpasses either. ff you want to see a new film in New York, you have a choice between ritzy theaters at $4.50-$6.00 a shot or sleazo houses in Times Obliquity By Joshua Peck along with the boring classics (Gone With The Wind). After paying three dollars each for the privilege of seeing West Side Story and Black Orpheus on 57th Street, the price hike for the campus movies this term didn't bother me a bit. Still, there are mundane aspects of the local film scene that keep it from quite qualifying as movie heaven. Heaven, after all, isn't the home of any devils; Lucifer has long since found ac- commodations elsewhere. Ann Arbor's demonic contingent must have stronger housing laws, for dozens of them haunt the campus theaters, intent. on destroying the pleasure of the experience for everyone else. It is for those evil souls that my wrath today-and, I hope, the hottest places in Hell-are reserved. THEY FALL INTO three categories, these devils, each worthy of successively hotter flames. The first are merely minor annoyan- ces. Parents of young children who imagine that their progeny are going to sit quietly for three hours of Ingmar Bergman (or even two hours of Steven Spielberg) are a tad idealistic for my tastes. The yoga practitioners who in- sist on doing their exercises right in their theater seats also strike me as inconsiderate louts. This is a particular problem in Lorch Hall, where-owing to the rows being closely packed together-a capable contortionist can get a good two feet of his leg thrust over the seat in front of him. Without fail, those legs are placed a whisper away, from a moviegoer who would much rather be watching Grant and Hepburn's breathless flirting than the insoles of a pair of Keds. Appalling as these infractions of decency are, they are at least not motivated by con- scious malice; they're the result of unthinking restlessness, or the inability to pay for a babysitter. Compulsive talkers, however, have no such excuse. The Peanuts cartoon wherein Lucy tells Linus the meaning of "Rosebud" as he sits down to watch Citizen Kane is not quite so hugmorous to someone who learned the truth about Darth Vader only a few minutes into The Empire Strikes Back, thanks to an overzealous Star Wars groupie in the next seat. Film criticism, thank you, belongs in the pages of a newspaper, not broadcast, through an auditorium full of moviegoers who would much rather formulate their own opinions. YET INVARIABLY, there are chatterers who insist on pontificating on every new development in theme,, character, or story. "Who's he?" an obnoxious loudmouth will bellow as a new character appears on the screen. (Perhaps he's screening the audience for clairvoyants.) "What a pair!" exclaims a newly adolescent youth upon Lana Turner's arrival in I Married a Witch. Couldn't he find some other way to affirm his libido? And then there is the old standby, "What'd she say?," which of course initiates an exchange that on- scures the next five or six lines of dialogue as well. As infuriating as the crimes against humanity I've enumerated are, they pale next to the major sin currently practiced by Ann Arbor filmgoers (I assume it happens in other "enlightened" towns as well, but I've never observed it elsewhere first-hand). On the surface, this sin is less annoying than that practiced by conversationalists or contor- tionists; it is the thinking behind it that suc- ceeds in making it so very perfidious. I refer to the practice of hissing upon the utterance of lines deemed sexist in old movies. THE SCENE IS typical: you've just finished a 20-page term paper for Political Science.., You're feeling relieved, though there still is that reading left to do for Urdu, the oral presen- tation for History of the American Washroom Attendant, and of course those extrapolations for, the Anthropomorphic Econometrics graphs. But you feel you've deserved a brief vacation, anyway, so you go out to take in a De Sica film, perhaps, or (my preferred alter- native) another showing of Casablanca. It's the perfect remedy. Just Rick, Elsa, Vic- tor, Sam, the French, the Germans, and you. None of the niggling concerns of the University rat race here; the conflicts are comparatively vast. The lovers of freedom versus embracers of the Third Reich;' the brave, teary-eyed woman who sings the Marseillaise against the brutish German slobs roaring out their beastly drinking song. And beneath it all, the politics give way to the most affecting array of per- sonal relationships ever crowded into a single film. Why, then, must some smug feminist do her best to ruin it all? erable BOGEY DARES to make a slightly con- descending comment to his lover of years past,E and he is rewarded with that serpentine sound. The hiss wends its way through the auditorium. Whatever can the point be? In the presence of art of every stripe far greater than anything theirAiny little minds could hope to create, the hissers think it their obligation to publicize the, one area in which they have outdone the film, namely their sexual, consciences. Casablanca's outstanding script, acting, direction, design,' cinematography, and music, we are to under- stand, are all undone by its sexism. Crap. Frankly, I find it a little frightening. The suggestion that all art pre-Betty Friedan is somehow flawed or unworthy is disgusting. in' not at all comfortable with the idea that we ought to throw out twenty centuries of human culture because it doesn't meet with ideological standards spawned a few decades ago. Yeti that's the idea behind the untoward hissing. If anything, old movies are a help to feminists now. They have a lot to say about how current sexual politics grew and just what the expectations were of men and women decades back. But no, Frieda Feminist will have her disap- proval heard, like it or not. Hiss out that fascist, sexist dialogue. Teach the pigs a lesson! Kind of makes you wish Dante's visions were right after all. Joshua Peck is the co-editor of the Daily's Opinion page. His column appears every Sunday. Square where emphysematous curmudgeons, will breath on your neck. If you're in the mood for an old Bogey or Hepburn movie, the possibilities are a little brighter-there's the Bleeker Street downtown, the Carnegie Hall cinemas midtown, and the Thalia on the Upper, West Side. For three bucks a throw, you get a chance to see some of the most popular films of bygone eras-but very few of the less well- known , arty ones. ANN ARBOR, comparatively speaking, is paradise. The student film co-ops show the weird old mysteries (Jamaica Inn) and ex- pressionist masterpieces (Dr. Caligari} right _____ T_ .. Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan 420 Maynard'St. Vol. XCI, No. 78 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Restraining U.S. response Feiffer PJ ICs D W SA-rH C -IZ, ScS 6 ATHRAT) "IOIMCICI R)-L ITW e? 9 :R4V5R6 P ;OJlNAfloJ ,i1 3 : 6 tVAL. OPfo'C)RWJ I 64 y°V A" S 1 AMRtATT A} i E POLISH people "can firmly count on the fraternal solidarity and! support of the Warsaw Treaty countries," according to a declaration issued by the Soviet press agency on Friday during a surprise meeting of Communist bloc nations . Will that "fraternal solidarity and support" translate into patience and understanding while the Polish Gover- nment tries to gain control over the in- dependent trade unions? Will it be something more tangible, such as food and fuel to help Poland through an- ticipated shortages this winter? Or will the solidarity anid support come in the form of a Warsaw Pact in- vasion of Poland?A Only the Communist leaders might have the answer-and even they haven't decided yet. Are there new Soviet troops deployed along the Polish border, preparing for a major maneuver? Or are the usual troops stationed there merely in a state of alert? Again, the answer is not clear-both Western and Soviet sour- ces give conflicting reports. Finally, was the emergency Com- munist summit a chance for the Polish leaders to state their case and convin- ce the other bloc nations that invasion would only lead to catastrophe? Or was the meeting used 'to establish certain ultimatums and time limits by which the Polish Government must regain control of its country or face invasion? Western analysts are split on the an- swers to these questions as well. About all we can do right now is wait and see. Events appear to be progressing toward a non-military resolution of the Polish problems-Solidarity, the largest in- dependent trade union in Poland, is worried enough about the possibility of a Soviet invasion that it has condem- ned "irresponsible strikes" and in- dicated that no further labor actions are planned. What the U.S. leaders-and leaders- to-be-must not do is aggravate the situation with careless threats. To in- tone ominously in regard to possible U.S. responses that "the imagination is the limit"-as Ronald Reagan's key foreign policy adviser, Richard Allen, did recently-is inexcusable. "4: V©rPA$ f I. i CIE 6RATI OJ ,) ,Q .l 1 1 1 i o il 1 I -J,. 00 ' / Oc 14 Not many people in Ann Arbor have ever heard of the Dreisameck, nor will many ever know the meaning of this odd- sounding name. But to a number of students in the southern Ger- man town of Freiburg, the name Dreisameck has a lot of meaning-a meaning which we, here in Ann Arbor, may come to appreciate in the future. To these students in Freiburg, the Dreisameck meant the brutal removal of 400 peaceful demon- strators from a sit-in by 1,200 riot police and a special commando team. It meant five days of oc- cupation of the city by an enor- mous police force while working crews razed some low-income homes for students being plowed under for profit. To these studen- ts, Dreisameck was something worth fighting for. IF THE HOUSING situation in Ann Arbor is tight, in Freiburg it is impossible. Hundreds of students end up living each semester, at least temporarily, in garages and basements. In Freiburg it's not just a matter of expense, it's a matter of space. So when the city permitted the razing of some housing near the university-four large inner-city houses in an area known as Dreisarpeck-people were un- derstandably upset. The story sounds all too familiar. A large developer bought the property, and then planned to raze the buildings to make room for a planned high- rise complex of shops, offices, and an underground parking lot. A good venture for business; a bad venture of the students of Freiburg. Once the developer had received permission from the city to go ahead with his plans, A student protest in Freiburg hc, meaning he4B 'ar ~n By Mark Ryan f 6 AORK PLACEc- cm)wE c 15 A"< AWO 1cx14Aik) L.AtJ6OA F'AltTRY IT or0 1 C) CUAS= and witnessed the demon- strations from beginning to end. Another University of Michigan: student, Kim Hill, was at the sit- in when the police attacked on Sunday morning. I photographed the demonstrations intently and at one point had my film destroyed by three policemen armed with machine guns. Such a show of revolt~ by 'students or use of force by the state has not been seen in the United States since the early '70s. In the four years I have been on the Ann Arbor campus, I have not once witnessed such a display of unity for a common cause-out- side of the Ohio State game. DREISAMECK was an event that was very important to a4 great number of conscientious German students, but mearns the police nothing to most of us. This is, city block however, something about which h NATO we should care. The American ire andwith student body now stands under s simply in- the dark shadow of apathy. We e. Further should take note. occurred In a town like Ann Arbor, ve days. where the rent skyrockets every, year, students should look to our i the entire peers in Freiburg. We should at the han- realize there are some things ck occupan- worth fighting for other than A's ets in large in organic chemistry. It goes far st. On the beyond fair housing practices. i police ac- There lies a great potential in ontaneously student activism. This was protest. The proven on this very campus in the organized various movements of the late 0,000 (more '60s and early '70s. ent body of As responsible citizens, it is not the streets just our privilege, but our duty to he incident, protest what we feel is wrong. A weg von state is not a democracy if the lands off people do not participate. _ f t XI 1 - _. ,. :, -'-- i \ r _ r . -.. ' 4^. 1 . l t - \ , i - iq ok -, the 60 residents of the four buildings, mostly students, were told to vacate. The residents, not ready to stand idly by and watch their homes destroyed, refused to leave and were soon joined by another 300 sympathizers. THE CITY WAS ordered to get the students out. This was done in the typical German fashion of great efficiency. Twelve hundred riot police and a special com- mando team moved in on the students at 4:30 a.m. on the mor- ning of June 8, 1980. It was a Sun- day morning, and many students had gone home for the weekend. Driving through the barricaded doors of the houses and sweeping from the roofs by ropes, the police quickly swept the students out into the streets, where all fur- ther attempts to re-enter the houses were repulsed by high- powered water cannons mounted on armored cars. Three students required hospitalization. Although the students offered no violent resistance soon had the entire barricaded with regulation barbed w a 24-hour guard. This voked more troubl demonstrations throughout the next fi STUDENTS FROM university, outraged. dling of the Dreisame ts, took to the stre numbers to protes evening of the initia tion, 6,000 students sp gathered to march inf next day, at an rally, more than 10 than half of the stud the university) filled in condemnation of t Shouts of "Haende Dreisameck" ("H Dreisameck") coul throughout the city. I was in Freiburg at a Junior Year Abro r \. d be heard t the time as oad student Mark Ryan is a senior in the School of Natural Resources. LETTERS TO THE DAILY: C w d'~~~~~~W ___. . .. _- 4 JEFF-- I w