Where dos Ed Johnson-Ott publish?  Perhaps I'm seriously out
of the loop, but I've never heard of him.

I agree that "MTV style" is very vague.  Todd Haynes went on
record complaining about uses of the term by conventional
critics to bash anything with avant garde leanings.

If it's a synonym for "rapid edits," then it's terribly
misapplied to _Elizabeth_.

Sincerely,
Edward R. O'Neill
UCLA

[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> 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
>
> ================================================================================
> 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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