VL--IV. Movies as a betrayal

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Think of the year 2001.  From 1969 on, it evoked the Space Odyssey.  That changed on 9-11.  On the whole, I think political/historical events mark years and decades more than pop culture.  It's complicated, because news is so often turned into cheesy entertainment fluff.  But the next few years are definitely going to be the Obama years, not the Saw 15 or Brangelina years.

The wat TRP adds the year in parentheses after the movies comes across as a spoof of film crit (as opposed to lit crit)  adding an air of history or erudition to something that, in most cases, clearly doesn't deserve to be treated as a historical milestone.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Jan 11, 2009 7:32 AM
>To: Guy Ian Scott Pursey <g.i.s.pursey at reading.ac.uk>
>Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: VL--IV. Movies as a betrayal
>
>Guy asks: 
>Anyway, a small point and probably worthless but: is this why the dates are featured in brackets after the film titles? Furthermore, are they yet another suggestion that this is how most of us measure history now - not by political events but what film came out and when? 
>
>As someone was once quoted in the media in the 80s (or 90s). "Entertainment news IS the news now."
>
>And, it is maybe worth some small reflecting to ask why all movies are not so indicated in Vineland?
>
>
>