Ed Johnson-Ott was the one I was referring to specifically--saying it was
why he didn't think it should win best picture.  I haven't read a great
deal of criticism toward _Elizabeth_, so I couldn't say how common it is.
I do know, however, that anytime something is stylized, it's described as
MTV, which really is menaingless in itself.  I don't think there are any
reviews of Luhrmann's R & J that didn't do this, and my film criticism
professor at the time commented on mine that that statement is really
rather meaningless.  The only exception I can think of is Phil Hardy, who
suggested it had more to do with HK action and gangster films than MTV,
despite the alternative rock soundtrack.  I must admit the fact that both
films had the same editor, Jill Billcok, is not surprising.

Scott

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Scott Andrew Hutchins
http://php.iupui.edu/~sahutchi
Oz, Monsters, Kamillions, and More!

"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."--Noam Chomsky



On Fri, 19 Mar 1999, Edward R. O'Neill wrote:

> Are the accusations against the current film
> _Elizabeth_--that the style derives from MTV--really
> common?  Can anyone refer me to an example in print?
>
> Isn't the more obvious comparison to _The Godfather_?  I.e.,
> family rivalries, chiaroscuro lighting, young scion of
> family assumes patriarchal responsibility at the cost of
> personal happiness, penultimate cross-cutting bloodbath,
> etc.  Isn't it all just lifted straight from _The
> Godfather_?
>
> Granted _The Godfather_ gets a lot of its thematic material
> from treating what had previously been gangster iconography
> as post-Elizabethan drama (specifically Webster)--as a UCLA
> Theater major, the director would hardly have been unaware
> of these references--and _Elizabeth_ just returns the favor
> by borrowing the visual and editing strategies back to the
> proper time period in order to "update" the visual style and
> to differentiate itself from the Masterpiece Theater
> tradition.
>
> Whence the excuse for comparing _Elizabeth_ to MTV?
>
> Sincerely,
> Edward R. O'Neill
> UCLA
> General Education Program
>
> [log in to unmask] wrote:
> >
> > Considering the accusations of _Elizabeth_ being MTV, I'm sure I'll get
> > attacked with that, and assumed because of my age to have been weaned on
> > MTV.  In truth, it was inspired primarily by 1920s avant-garde cinema,
> > plus Maya Deren and others, and around a particular theme.
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
>

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