I saw MEET JOHN DOUGH again and it's a masterpiece.
snake that swallowed your gold ring
its ending a bit too happy and optimistic. would have been better if
doughboy died.
but otherwise, a truly astute and insightful movie about the populist
psychology of politics(or the political psychology of populism or the
political populism of psychology), and how it can fill us with hope
and meaning, how it can bring us together, how it can be used against
the powers-that-be, how it can make us naive and blind, how it can be
appropriated and manipulated by the powers-that-be, and etc.
I like how cooper gradually goes from a lanky american guy who just
wants a meal to an idealist who comes to believe in his own myth and
then finally to a bitter man willing to sacrifice his life for
humanity. a lot of great visual stuff as capra was a master.
it seems to me that 'capraesque' has become a dirty word among some
folks who think they are so cool, cynical, hip, and badass. they think
they are wiser or know more than us cuz they read hunter thompson and
think 'california splat' is the best mooie ever done be made.
also, movies like FORREST GUMP and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION are supposed
to 'capraesque', and so the word has come to mean sweet, too-good-to-
be-true, fairytale-ish, and such, but this was not true of capra's
great films. There is some fairytale and overly optimistic stuff to
be sure--especially near the end--, but it is earned through much pain
and vigorous searching for meaning and truth. notice that an angel is
ALWAYS looking out for forrest gump and he never gets hurt. notice
that SHAWSHANK says if you befriend an old negro and earn the ire of a
bible thumper, fate will smile on you and give you all the goodies you
want. but, there is no such guarantee in capra mooies. fate is harsh
on john dough and george bailey. they are really dragged through the
mud and come to a point where they really wanna give it all up. and
even if things turn out better in the end, it's not like they are a
million bucks.
since capra worked in hollywood, he had to fill his films with some
gummy dummy stuff like some funnyassed character actors in Meet John
Doe who are a bit cartoonish. but, he came up with some fine character
actor roles too, especially the 'colonel' who calls everyone a helot.
There is no bigger helot than a cynical dufus who call Capra a
douchebag. What really kills me is that such people, even as they
denounce capra as a shitter who peddled fairytale BS, drank the kool
aid when it came to JigrObama the magic negro who's supposed to save
all of humanity. (Nobel prize indeed!, fucking nigger who got where he
did thanks to Jewish money/media and faggotized white boys whose main
purpose in life is to worship Jack Johnson and suck jigger dick and
jungle-feverized white girls who think 'if you go black, there's no
going back'). Hehe, guess who funded the magic negro's campaign. Is
he really a man of the people or a hustler in the pockets of the
superrich Jews? Meet John Doebama, haha.
Cynics are really the biggest suckers.
The reason why Capra's films have value is they are kinda auto-
subversive or questioning. Just when "Meet John Doe" seems to be
peddling a feel-good brotherhood-of-man populism, it warns us of how
it can sucker us and how such things can be manipulated. As such, the
movie is a statement not only on politics but on Hollywood itself.
dipsy
So what you're saying in summary is that Obama isn't running the show,
the show is running Obama?
Reminds me of Rush Limbaugh renegotiating his contract with Clear
Channel last year and extending it until 2016 for 400 million (yes
thats right) dollars. Isn't that like Rush isn't running the show, the
show is running him at the mouth? Very Capraesque, n'est pas?
william
re...@live.com> wrote:
> It's got some goobers stuff too cute for modern cool guys like us, and
> its ending a bit too happy and optimistic. would have been better if
> doughboy died.
>
If you liked Meet John Dough, you should really see Yeast Of Eden.
William
www.williamahearn.com
tomcervo
He got the dvd's mixed up again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Dough
TBerk
This smells like gaza...