Mel Gibson
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- -sputnik-0
this time i actually think "good for mel"
apocalypto is a work of fiction. maybe that lady should find a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word.
i mean come on...the way the persians were depicted in 300 were so far off, but we all get it's a MOVIE.
- k0na_an0k0
this time i actually think "good for mel"
apocalypto is a work of fiction. maybe that lady should find a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word.
i mean come on...the way the persians were depicted in 300 were so far off, but we all get it's a MOVIE.
-sputnik-
(Mar 23 07, 11:27)Exactly.
If I wanted to nit pick exact history I would go to a fuckin library... not a Hollywood action movie.
- tikal2k0
first britney and now mel loses it
haha
the san fernando valley is causing people to go fucking nuts
wait, wasnt martin lawrence walking around out there a couple years ago with a loaded pistol while screaming randomly at traffic?
- OSFA0
so you are sayin Achilles didn't look like Brad Pitt?
- k0na_an0k0
That and I'm pretty sure Conan the Barbarian was left handed, not right but ya know, I'm willing to look past that and enjoy the movie.
- OSFA0
WHAT? omg, is Rambo also fake???
- -sputnik-0
so you are sayin Achilles didn't look like Brad Pitt?
OSFA
(Mar 23 07, 11:46)course he did. i saw it in a movie so it's gotta be the troof
- TheBlueOne0
"Then members of the Mayan community protested on how they were portrayed in the film and as they escorted from the room by event organizers Mel screamed at them "Make your own movie!"
Awesome.
- bunnicula0
i go to this school and I am a film major....
that professor is retarded and screwed up the very future of film students having guests at our school.
- kelpie0
haven't seen Apocalypto yet, so can't comment directly, neither do I know much about the myan's in particular, though central american civilisation was pretty rife with blood sacrifice from what I do know.
I do know what Mel "did" to my own countries history though - hugely historically inaccurate, muddled timelines, complete lies for storylines, and the reduction of one of the truly great figures in British history (the Bruce) to a less than positive cardboard cut-out and virtual bit part player.
I couldn't give less of a tartan hat wearing shite to be honest, it was a fun film, with great fighting in it. woot.
I'm not stupid enough to get my history lessons from action movies and anyone who is is beyond help anyway.
The Passion was a 'bit' dodgy, fair enough, it was after all based on a middle ages play designed to provoke antisemitism. I enjoyed it for what it was though, and have no sympathy for any religious groups, and am well aware of the backstory, so again don't really care that much, sorry.
going to watch 300 tomorrow and will not be concerned with the Iranians views on the matter, just hopeful that the film manages to reflect well one of the greatest *legends* in history.
after all, 300 Spartans did NOT fight off 100'000 persians at thermopylae, but it made a great story - even herodotus didn't let the gospel truth get in the way of a good yarn...
rant over.
- letters20
I agree that films are films whose primary role is as a medium of enterntainment, and thus should not be held accountable for historical accuracy.
However, that being said, I think the lot of us here are more than familiar with the fact that the line between drama, docu-drama, and documentary is becoming increasingly blurry. And given that there is an enormous role being played by film as an ambassador of culture in this world of american globalization – this blurry line becomes even blurrier.
I don't have a solid opinion on this particular mel-induced incident, though I do try to keep in mind that my perspective of film is likely vastly different than much of the rest of the world – not better or worse, just different.
As for mel being pissed and cursing - well, its bad form indeed. but he has an opinion and a right to express it, as does a professor who wants to challenge his point of view.
I hope for bunnicula's sake, and the sake of other students there that they both continue to have gues lecturers as well as heated, controversial debate from faculty – sounds like exactly what a college experience should be.
- rafalski0
I feel her pain. I also was once deeply insulted by the movie which title I will not reveal, which tells a story of two LA dorks by ACCIDENTALLY Polish names Lebowski and Sobchak, the latter depicted in the movie as a "Polish Catholic" turned Jewish.
The same movie ridiculed people from my childhood neighbour Germany, using nihilist characters for that purpose. I find that disgraceful and unacceptable.
- Kuz0
that film apocolypto was so incredibly dumb and stupid.
The only thing good about it was, like the Passion, it had some really cool violence. In which case, i didn't mind it. I didn't mind the passion either.
My brother's really dumb, after watching the Passion he said: "fucking hell, i never knew that about the jews killing christ... they're really evil!!"
Here's the deal, there are alot of people who are as dumb as Kona out there. Cinema is our myth making machine, and ultimately it reflects and forms attitudes of many a dumb person, simliar to kona, on their beliefs and impressions on things like race, culture, attitudes towards historical/political perceptions (of course these generally have to be in line with the persons pre-existing prejudices to be inforced. i.e a person needs to already sorta be as dumb as kona to think the mayans were a fucked up pure blood thirsty empire for that message to be reinforced).
when we watch Cecil B DeMille's 1935 film The Crusades, and see a bunch of blacked up white men with pointy beards and turbans playig shifty eyed arabs who butcher innocent white european christian virgin women - we understand that somehow that is reflective of the society of the time. When we watch Ridley Scott's 2005 film, Kingdom of God, and see a more complex portrayal of Arabs, we understand that, though its still not historically accurate, it is still some form of allegory of the modern confrontation with the Middle East ala Western Imperialism.
I baulked at the early scene in Apocalyto in the jungle where all the men from the tribe were sat around a campfire listening to the old man imparting "wisdom". This contrived idyll was part and parcel of the gravitas that Mel tried to bring in his story on the decimation of Mayan culture. I found it patronising, cheesy, and completely unengaging.
Very often its really dumb people, like kona, who think the only message a film is sending is its action sequences. And can't really sense the grander reality the movie is attempting to suck them into. If you sell the reality, you win the audience.
I haven't seen 300, but a very nationalist Greek friend of mine found its portrayal of HIS people's myth shocking. As such he hated the film. I tried to explain that the film is a Myth of a Myth, a highly highly stylised interpretation of a graphic novel that took the myth of the spartan people as its insipration. That what we are actually watching is the thousands year old Spartan retelling of their own heroics, and so its perfectly possible to have a more detached interpretaion of it. But i dunno, i haven't seen 300 so maybe i'd too be annoyed by the narratives and meta-narratives to actually enjoy the film.
- Kuz0
haha, the big lebowski rafal??
its only a movie man! come on!! its JUST a movie, lighten the fuck up! I swear, kona's gonna throw eggs at you....
- kelpie0
lol rafalski, I hope you are joking, sounds like it...
- kelpie0
Kuz, this stuff used to piss me off too, but I simply don't care anymore - we are all going to be radiation fodder soon enough anyway, so I say stoke the fires and lets all go out with a bit of bloody violent clash-of-cultures style.
we don't need to join in, can we just sit up on a hill and watch our respective "cultures" kill each other while we drink cheap cider?
- Crouwel0
not cheap cider, for fucks sake!
stupid cheap scots damnit!
*plans attack
- Crouwel0
oh dear, mel is such a sore cunt.
- Kuz0
strongbow, pint.... :D
- rafalski0
we don't need to join in, can we just sit up on a hill and watch our respective "cultures" kill each other while we drink cheap cider?
kelpie
(Mar 28 07, 03:09)strongbow, pint.... :D
Kuz
(Mar 28 07, 03:22)D'ya have a good sarsaparilla?