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Show Did the 80s Give Us Anything Worthwhile? by Richard Santoro CPS writer Talking about this decade gives us a First, it isnt even over until And second, the past 10 1991. 1, January colorless greatest hits" been a have years headache. The 80s offered nothing but the past at higher prices affair with nothing original to offer. The only possibility is rap, which is, at best, a mixed blessing. The 80s have been a bastion ofno advance technology: updates of things which have been around a long time. Fax machines, for one, were available in the '70s. They didnt catch on until recently. Compact discs offer marginal to no improvement over conventional L.P.s at nearly twice price. Promises of cheaper C.D.s have proved unreliable at best. And what other miracles did we get in 10 years? The reinvented telephone, the 60s, psychedelia, folk music, disco, country and western and a hundred other familiar, tiresome retreads. The 80s offered nothing but the past at higher prices. Supposed trendsetters like Madonna, Michael Jackson and George Michael strike us as the equivalent to Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy and The Brady Bunch (themselves constantly on the reunion trail). When the latter were popular, their contributions were placed in proper perspective by truly talented acts that appealed to a more developed taste. The music today that has grit and commodity) is, in large part, responsible for the demise of the free market system in ability is almost exclusively relegated to a constantly shrinking independent label bias. That platform grows smaller because major labels band together in an effort to do away with the competition. Several years ago MTV announced it would no longer air music that the past 10 years has wrought. An d in the decade you can expect more talentless twits like Madonna passing for greatness because the artistic field of vision has become so narrow. Twenty years from now she will have become what Shelley Winters is today (Forum ed. staff note: Yeah, fat and whiny). Its why the 60s have turned into such for the younger generation. The wonder a old music, showing up at inflated compact prices, is like nothing you can get these days. Its another reason you are seeing the wandering resurgence of pseudo-hippie- s around. The kids graduating from high school in the 80s have had no original cultural base to call their own. videos by anyone that wasnt on a large corporate label like CBS or Warner Brothers. They starve small guys by making it impossible to do business within the system and then they buy out their best acts (which have been carefully hel ped along and brought to public recognition without any outside help) leaving the original producer to start over. In 1980, there were plenty of bright, intelligent artists on unheard of labels. In 1989 about 90 percent of those good, small labels have died. Compact discs (for years a closed and heavily promoted major label "Roger and Me, A Funny, Honest Documentary by Cara Cahoon Forum copy editor Would you believe a documentary film about Flint, Michigan could be an engaging, hilarious, revealing and controversial hit at the New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Telluride and Sundance United States Film Festivals? If you see Roger and Me" you will understand why a documentary about a seemingly uninteresting subject can be thoroughly entertaining. Roger and Me is directed, produced and written by Michael Moore, a former Flint resident who is also featured in the film. Moore gives an original account of whathappend in Flint when General Motors decided to close several plants and 35,000 of the 150,000 residents of Flint lost their jobs. The film also follows Moore on his three year effort to confront GM Chairman Roger Smith, the Roger in the films title. Moore simply wants to ask Roger to visit Flint so the chairman can see for himself what has happened to the city. Moore and his crew trace Roger to company headquarters in Detorit, to yacht clubs, fitness centers, meeting halls, New York City hotels and Christmas Parties only to be refused again and again a chance to on National Public Radios All Things Considered program. He has published articles in the Columbian . Journalism Review, Newsday, The Nation, In These Times, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the San Francisco Examiner and th e Detroit meet the infamous Roger responsible for closing plants in Flint only to relocate in Mexico where labor is cheap. The films director said he wanted to avoid the public televi son syndrome, with this documentary. I go to a lot of films, and I dont like sitting there in the dark getting bored, he said., The essence of Roger and Me is that its got to really cook, really Free Press. In 1986 Moore served as executive editor of Mother Jones magazine. He was dismissed when he refuesed to run an aricle attacking the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. At this point Moore decided to give up publishing for filmmaking. The idea for Roger and Me came to Moore when he, like his old neighbors in move. And move it does.. Moore combines vintage and contemporary film footage, popular music, interviews, and first-han- d commentary to create a humorous and thoughtful story. He speaks with a variety of Flint residents from a women whoraisesrabbits to sell them for their meat, to a police officer who is forced to evict Flint citizens from their homes because they cant pay their rent; from a woman who sells Am way products to supplement her husbands income, to the wealthier residents who seem to have no concern for the unemployed. Moore also interviews Pat Boone, Anita Bryant, Miss Michigan, Bob Eubanks, host of the Newlywed Game, and others who try to make us believe everything is just fine in the depressed town of Flint. Moore, like Bob Eubanks, was born and raised in Flint. His father, and most of his relatives, worked in the GM auto factories for most of their lives. At age 22 Moore founded and edited the Flint Voice, which later became the Michigan Voice. one of the countrys most respected Flint, found himself unemployed. -- alternative newspapers. In 1985 Moore became a commentator Returning to Flint, after the Mother Jones episode, Moore saw the disaster which was taking place and the scant attention it was reciving on a national level. Filming of Roger and Me began in 1987 and ended in 1989. Even when he was not in Flint, Moore subscribed to all the local papers, so he would be aware if something was happening that desrved to be filmed. Working as a news team, Moore and his crew were there when anything important took place that dealt with General Motors in Flint. They were also there if they received a relialbe report of a Roger Smith sighting. Unfortunately, when they finally did meet Roger they were unable to convince him to come to Flint. Roger and Me is not a boring documentary. It is funny, lively, and thought provoking; it likely will not be popular simply amongtheindependentfilm fans, but among a mass appeal audience. "Stanley & Iris Opens the Sundance Film Festival by Cara Cahoon Forum copy editor Director, Producer and Writer, Michael Moore with resi dents o f Flint Michigan stand during the filming of Roger & Me. Page 6 Forum The 1990 Sundance United States Film Festival opened with the world premiere of Stanley and Iris January 19 at the Capitol Theatre in the presence of the films director Martin Ritt; Jane Fonda was unable to attend the opening of the film in which she starred with Robert De Niro. In Stanley and Iris, Fonda plays a woman trying to support her teen-ag- e daughter and son after the recent death of her husband. Iris works on a bakery assembly line where she meets Stanley, played by De Niro, a quiet and kind man whom she discovers is illiterate. After some hesitation and several meetings between the two, Stanley asks Iris to teach him to read and write. The resulting friendship and eventual romance provides a pleasant film that, while slightly unbelievable at times, is worth seeing. The struggle Iris has with overcoming the loss of her husband is effectively The viewer is portrayed by Fonda. the to sympathetic hardships of a single woman who not only supports her family by working a blue collar job, but is striving to cope with the absence of the husband she deeply loves. When Stanley enters her life Iris diverts her attention by helping him become literate, yet she cannot stop clinging to the memory of her late husband. Stanley, in the meantime is struggling to overcome the death ofhis father while he tries to learn the basics of reading and writing. De Niro sheds light on the issue of illiteracy as the audience senses his frustration at getting lost in the smallest of towns because he cannot read the street signs. The combination of his pride and his desire to learn makes us able to appreciate what most of us take for granted. Stanley and Irisis the story two people who overcome their own weakne sses enough to help each other. January 30, 1990 Issue 14 |