Will Superbad be our generation's Citizen Kane?
Yesterday's: Every ounce of my being is telling me to say Greenday's "FOD" and declare myself the winner (if for no other reason than the line "I'm taking pride in telling you to fuck off and die" and that's definitely not the only reason). So that's what I'm going to do, but I'll give an honorable mention to O-Train.
O-Train:
Bob Dylan - "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
Dylan, ever the artful storyteller, sings a song in the first person about a man who is just plain fed up with his woman's bullshit. It was once described as, "the last word in a long, embittered argument, a paper-thin consolation sung with spite."
The song begins with him saying that he'll be gone by morning, and there's no use wondering why if she doesn't know by now because "it'll never do somehow."
He describes a miserable relationship in lines like:
"But I wish there was somethin' you would do or say,
To try and make me change my mind and stay,
We never did too much talkin' anyway,
But don't think twice, it's all right."
He also shows the woman is shown to be a bitch in lines like,
"I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin', walkin' down the road,
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told,
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul."
The song ends with some of the most perfect lyrics:
"So long, honey, babe,
Where I'm bound, I can't tell.
Goodbye's too good a word, babe,
So I'll just say fare thee well.
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind,
You coulda done better but I don't mind,
You just kinda wasted my precious time"
The man is reconciling the relationship that he deems a "waste of time" by picking up and leaving before morning. Troughout the fingerpicking, Dylan maintains the same volume and tone. What's perfect about this song is that he doesn't need to scream and yell about it as his words are genuine in describing his feelings in an almost chilling way.
This song has also been covered several times. My favorite is by Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness, whose gravelly voice seems to add a little more misery than Dylan.
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5 comments:
No, it'll be this generation's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a great movie with more realistic high school kids then ever seen previously before.
Superbad does American Pie better than American Pie does, with real teenager looking kids and realistic happenings.
Plus, the fucking one-liners, my god...the one liners.
'Your cock is so smooth'
'yours would be too, if you had one.'
'the funny thing about my back, is that it's located on my cock'
Brilliance
I don't think it can be comparable to "Citizen Kane," because it's not making a statement on the destructive nature of humanity and it doesn't have the thematic presence of "Citizen Kane." However, I do think it speaks to a generation the way a few great movies of our time have. Yes, "American Pie" was supposedly the movie of our generation. Until "Superbad." "American Pie" only went so far, and once it hit it's climax, it rolled over and fell asleep. Shame on them for making sequels, it cheapened it. I hope "Superbad" doesn't attempt a sequel, because I truly feel that this movie should stand on its own for the fabulous gem it is.
The reason Superbad will be able to sustain, like a "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," or a "Dazed and Confused," is because it has a soul. American Pie did not have a soul. Funny, yes. Soul? Not so much. Deep down, Evan and Seth are good guys, with good intentions. They're the teenage boys with the big hearts in us all. Our generation is also the generation that loves awkward - look at Napoleon Dynamite, look at the frequency with which we discuss the awkward-ness of situations. American Pie was just about sex. It's easy to get laid, it's harder to be loved. That's why this movie will last.
Side note: Do I think Judd Apatow is the Stanley Kubrick (not Orson Welles) of our generation? Yes.
Wait...Kubrick?! Kubrick is like the greatest hit or miss director ever. Hits were incredible (Dr. Strengelove, Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket amongst them), but the misses (Eyes Wide Shut, anyone?) were pretty damn ugly. And the fact is, Dr. Strangelove is pretty much the only comedy Kubrick made.
Add to the fact that Apatow's only work that can be categorized as somewhat serious is Freaks and Geeks (still the best depiction of high schoolers ever, even better than Superbad), and that's still a show that's funny as hell, but far from anyway similar to Kubrick.
Apatow is the Mel Brooks of this generation, not so much in the style of comedy, but in the consistency of the comedy. Mel's style was slapstick and parody and consistently funny and ingenious, Judd's style is dirty, yet full of heart. It's this style that provides the common thread between his various works (well...that and Rogen), and what makes him such an effective creator of comedy.
Plus, Brooks and Apatow work a lot with their guys (Wilder/Kahn, Rogen/Hill and others), which lends a familiarity to the funny, and that's nice.
I didn't mean Stanley Kubrick. I actually don't like many Kubrick films. I meant Frank Capra. So sorry! For some reason I always interchange those two names in my mind (I did it on the phone with you the other day Nick when you were watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.) Anyhow, let "Kubrick" be stricken, and in its place put "Frank Capra." Thanks, that is all, your favorite Mulligan, Nicole.
I can kinda see that. Feel good movies that are very funny (although I think the Capra humor was subtler and not as integral as the Apatow humor.) We discussed Capra's tendency to cast actors multiple times, so that fits.
It's better, but I still like the Brooks comparison better, if for no other reason than these are the guys who are behind the laughter.
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