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June 2001, Week 1

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Subject:
From:
Scott Andrew Hutchins <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 6 Jun 2001 00:35:39 -0500
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Some films are not intended to have historical value.  Consider Taymor's _Titus_, in which Titus rides a chariot but Caesar's sons
drive cars, jazz and industrial rock abound in a film that mixes ancient Rome with about the past fifteen decades at least.

Similarly, _A Knight's Tale_ is an updated adaptation of a Chaucer story, much like Baz Luhrmann's _Romeo and Juliet_. I think if
young people try to get history from contemporary art, they are looking in the wrong place and one should not blame the artist.
Similarly, it is also Luhrmann who made _Moulin Rouge_. Without updating, it would not seem in the artist's style.

I believe this will continue as long as audiences are able to accept such anachronisms. They could not in the 1970s, as _Jesus
Christ Superstar_ with its tanks and fighter jets failed to, but more sophisticated audiences seem to be going right along.


Scott Andrew Hutchins
http://members.home.net/scottandrewh

"It's a queer world, and the longer I live in it the queerer I find it. Once I thought it would be a good idea to regulate things
myself, and run the world as it ought to be run; but I gave it up long ago. The world's a stage, they say; but the show ain't
always amusing, by a long chalk, and sometimes I wish I didn't have a reserved seat."--John Merrick, _Aunt Jane's Nieces_, by L.
Frank Baum

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Rollins" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 10:09 AM
Subject: Music in Film: Press Query


PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS PRESS QUERY TO THE
       REPORTER AT HER PHONE OR INTERNET ADDRESS.
       NEEDS INFO SOOOOON.

--Peter Rollins
  [log in to unmask]
______________________________________________

Two recent films -- A Knight's Tale and Moulin Rouge -- feature modern music
used in a period setting. I'm searching for comments regarding this creative
license:

*Does using modern touches make the story more accessible/enjoyable to a
younger crowd? (for example, in A Knight's Tale, the jousting seems more like
a modern sporting event with the crowd singing "We Will Rock You" by Queen)
*However, does the entertainment value overshadow historical value in the
film? Are certain people, such as students, likely to believe the elements
which are put in purely for entertainment?
*Many classic tales have been updated with both setting and music -- such as
many Shakespeare works including Romeo & Juliet, etc. -- but mixing the
modern (music) with the old (setting, customs etc.) seems to be a new twist.
Is it?
*Is this a trend/will it continue?

Thanks for your help. Send responses to me via e-mail or you can reach me by
phone at (203) 574-3636 ext. 451.

Kellie Lambert McGuire
Waterbury (CT) Republican-American
[log in to unmask]



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