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Film families find a place in our media driven hearts
tcWeekend, Etc. Column
,w
By Matthew Barrett and
Christopher Cousino
Daily Arts Writers
A man that doesn ' send time wit/
his familV can never he a real man.
This pearl of fami ly wisdom
comes courtesy of Vito Corleone in
lrancis Ford Coppola's The
Godfather, a film that takes a hard
look at the importance of family and
respecting that blood bond above all.
Let's be honest, we all wished we
had Santino as a brother looking for
us on the school playground. But,
sadly, Santino caught his comeup-
pance on the causeway. And so
instead of wallowing in Carlo's one
big hit against the Corleones, we'll
take a look at some of our other fam-
ily favorites from the world of cine-
ma.
Every family needs a mother, the
sweet angel matriarch of the house
and no one can hold a candle to Mrs.
Bates when it comes to this category.
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)
told the tale of what can go wrong
when mothers meddle and let their
sons catch them in the act with
someone other than Dad. Showers
have never been the same. And don't
mind mother. "She's as harmless as
one of those stuffed birds."
On the opposite end of the spec-
trum, we find Mrs. Robinson, the
sultry, sexy mother in Mike Nichol's
The Graduate (1967).-
We never find out her
first name, but we do
know she might very
well be the most
renowned MILF in
the history of cinema.
Here's to you, Mrs. *wo
Robinson.
Like the
Robinsons,
a 1 I
American
nuclear
fa m i lies
have your
See FILM FAMILIES, Page 58
Boys
IN NEED OF ATTENTION
Philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers has come out
with a controversial new book, "The War Against Boys:
How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men."
She claims that feminism has resulted in the dismissal of
boys and masculinity. She uses the
example that for girls the tri-
umphant win of the U.S. women's
soccer team was the symbolic event
of the 20th Century while the defin-
ing moment for boys was the
Columbine killings.
This is where the controversy
comes in. Sommers claims that the
many studies showing that girls are
being "shortchanged" in the class-
room are false. She explains that
girls are actually ahead of boys in
grades and extracurricular activities
such as student government.
Moreover, Sommers states, men are
three times more likely to be in spe-
cial education programs and four
times more likely to be diagnosed
etc. From the Vault
Music outlasts band's
struggle for success
KilL
Gina
Hamadey
Caught
Provokin
university
,2
{A
nD
$10 Rush Tickets Tickets on s
Friday before a weekend event
Center, 121 Fletcher Street.
50% Rush Tickets Tickets on
the event at the Performance H
764.2538
A valid student ID is required
event. Rush Tickets are not o
eating is subject to availabili
ale 10 am - 6 pm the day of the perf
formance or the
at the UMS Box Office located in the Power
sale beginning 90 minutes before
call Box Office.
4isA\ctj vto D1wbass-bato
d hMet.delssohKTeatre
saturd October 21 2 pm .
~svdA Ocatobei~22 pvv- 6W. pnt
Power Ce ter
'r e r~-feL rbarto e
i. Limit two tickets per student, per u., g
ffered if an event is sold out and "We v'esdlOctober 25p
ty and box office discretion. Hif. Audtori-tv.
If they'd ever sold any records. Big
Star would surelv be in line for an
episode of "Behind the Music," that
slightly theatrical (though admittedly
irresistible)
rockumentary
Edseries on VH-
Third/Sister 1. Granted, the
Lovers requisite tail-
spin into dark-
Star ness and
RMO 1978 d e p r e s s i o n
o gne had less to do
U ma r with drugs and
cliche rock
excess than with record label wran-
gling and private disaffection. But, by
1974, after releasing two albums
worth of superb (and almost totally
ignored) powxcr-pop, Big Star were
nonetheless a band coming apart at the
seams: Co-founder Chris Bell had
split, the 1roup couldn't t!et their
records distributed and sonlxwriter and
band leadcr Alex Chilton. upset with
record label execs and anarv at the
world. had taken to deliberately sabo-
taging any tracks that sounded like
they had hit potential.
nfortunatel, Big Star never saw
the light at the end of the tunnel that
an «ood "BT M'' also requires. The
2roup disbanded be fore thilngs really
g0t any better. Bell died in a car acci-
dent four years later and Chilton went
on to a lackluster solo career.
It's surprising, then, that Third
(a.k a. Sister Lo. ers) the album
recorded amidst all the turmoil, has
turned out to be one of the great hid-
den gems of the 1970s. The turmoil,
in fact, seems largely (and paradoxi-
cally) responsible for the record, as
Chilton, like Brian Wilson a decade
earlier, turned his despair into some
utterly stirring sensitive-guy rock.
Third sounds like it was made by a
man finally free of illusion - and a
little worse off for the experience. It's
no coincidence that second-person ref-
erences abound, both in song titles
("Thank You Friends," "For You,"
"You Can't Have Me") and Chilton's
lyrics: Chilton is clearly pissed off at
those who've let him down, be they
friends, lovers or record execs, and if
he hasn't quite reached the breaking
point, it's certainly within sight.
But the real allure of Third isn't that
we get to hear Chilton air his griev-
ances - his lyrics are, in fact, rather
nonspecific - so mulch as how disap-
pointment and despondency are used
loosely for mood, tone, color and as
beautiful and often poignant sound-
scapes. On "Kangaroo," feedback
envelops a gorgeous, drowsy melody
like an awful memory. On the Who-
like "You Can't Have Me," Chilton's
shouts the song's tag-line in a way
that's both ultra-rockin' and sadly cho-
leric. On "Big Black Car," the music is
like a sedative that numbs the singer
(and the listener as well) into serenity.
The lyrics are uniformly about
strong feeling and the music follows
suit, buoyed by the sort of rich expres-
siveness that makes for unforgettable
songs and albums that sound timeless
(that Third was recorded dLuring1 classic
rock's Ileyday really isn't all that appar-
cnt from the sound of the album).
Amid all of the critical yammering
about the expressive melancholia of
Third, it should also be remembered
that Chilton was one of the most gift-
ed tunesmiths of the early seventies,
and this album is nearly as full of
infectious melodies (just check out the
surprisingly poppy "Jesus Christ") as
were #1 Record and Radio City, Big
Star's first two records. Though "Take
Care," might mean a bit more to some-
one who has had to bid farewell to a
loved one, the disc also makes for a
remarkably good listen (or several
hundred listens), even for those lucky
bastards who're never prone to misery.
with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. So boys, she
says, need a boost of self-confidence more than girls.
While it may be true that young girls perform better
than boys (and this has been the case for quite some
time), I am not too concerned. Girls mature faster, but
boys do better on their SATs and still grow up to advance
further in the working world.
Nonetheless, Sommers claims, "American boys, whose
very masculinity turns out to be politically incorrect,
badly need our support." Sommers is saving that boys
feel continually attacked for who they are and that there
has been a revolution of thinking in school: Masculinity
is a bad thing.
Now, manliness and testosterone are wonderful when
exhibited in certain ways: Men predictably choosing the
Sports question in Trivial Pursuit or favoring a stop at
Home Depot over Banana Republic. But facts cannot be
ignored: Masculinity also entails bullying and objec-
tivism of women. This can lead to rape and date rape.
While schools and society clearly cannot dismiss boys
as troublemakers and killers if they get into some harm-
less mischief, it remains true that all too often young girls
have issues like depression and anorexia that just are not
as common with boys. Significantly more young girls
attempt suicide each year than boys. And eating disorders
unfortunately strike a familiar chord with almost every
girl that
young gir
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