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January 1999, Week 4

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Subject:
From:
John Dougill <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 16:38:58 +0900
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Many thanks to Lang Thompson for her trouble in responding.  I'd like to
come back to the list with a couple of points....
>The Truman Show has widely been interpreted as how things are *now*, though
>I didn't see how it engages with any kind of reality, cultural or political.
>
Isn't the setting of The Truman Show very much a caricature of the 1950s?
And isn:t his escape in a sense an escape from the conformity-straitjacket
of the times? That:'s the way I saw it, though of course there were all
sorts of religious allegories and present-day deconstructions and media
references thrown in......

> Perhaps, a Charles Burnett film like
>"To Sleep With Anger" or something like "Soul Food" might provide a better
>view.

Unfortunately I'm unfamiliar with these and I'm not sure they made it to
Japan. I take the point about not all blacks having been through
oppression or being rioters, but how does one show the point of
multiculturalism through an ordinary story of ordinary folk. I'm going to
take another look at 'Waiting to Exhale' but if anyone has any other
suggestions, I'd be grateful. And also for any films that cast a light on
present-day multiculturalism in action in some way, or on the issues at
stake in affirmative action...

Thanks a lot for the response so far
John Dougill
Japan

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