contemporary movies where one member of a nuclear family dies/is dead

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why is so heartbreakingly pervasive right now, from signs to undertow and all stops in between?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link

is this some kind of displaced post-9/11 hooey?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link

Or is this a convention seen in almost every family movie (esp. the Diz cartoons)?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:26 (twenty years ago) link

See also: contemporary literature.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:27 (twenty years ago) link

Um, because it's a cheap and easy way to create narrative tension? (See, like, every movie made since 1985) (yes, hyperbole)

(xpost)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:27 (twenty years ago) link

i mean, yes, it's no novelty, but it's completely pervasive right now. nearly half the amerindie coming attractions have someone "coping with the loss of..." a family member.

nick otm

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:27 (twenty years ago) link

ihttp://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/142945.1020.A.jpg

― George Minafer, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago) link

since 1985

B.C.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago) link

It's a cheap and easy to way to 1. gather a variety of characters together in one place, 2. allow them to display an "impressive" range of emotion, and 3. cover a "serious" subject.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:34 (twenty years ago) link

La Stanza del Figlio. Heartrendingly personal family tragedy.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:34 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, all of the films Jesus made at NYU film school were about daddy abandonment issues; really dreary stuff (esp. the overblown symbolism; OKAY WE GET IT YOUR DAD IS LIKE AN ABSENT GOD, STOP SETTING THE SHRUBBERY ON FIRE).

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:35 (twenty years ago) link

Can we turn this thread into a 2000-post rant about how dumb it is that depressing "serious" films are still seen as more important than the best-made comedy?

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:37 (twenty years ago) link

No.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

(haha I kid)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

is ilx ready for that kind of thing n/a? i wouldn't have thought so.

― Dead Man, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, that's probably a bad idea.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:39 (twenty years ago) link

xpost

Some of Rodney Dangerfield’s one-liners, from his book It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me:
“When my parents got divorced, there was a custody fight over me. ... and no one showed up.”
“I never got girls when I was a kid. One girl told me, ‘Come on over, there’s nobody home.’ I went over. There was nobody home.”
“When I was three years old, my parents got a dog. I was jealous of the dog, so they got rid of me.”
“When we got married, the first thing my wife did was put everything under both names — hers and her mother’s.”
“With my wife, I don’t get no respect. The other night there was a knock on the front door. My wife told me to hide in the closet.”
“I loaned a guy $10,000 to get plastic surgery. Now I can’t find him. I don’t know what he looks like.”
“I told my landlord I want to live in a more expensive apartment. He raised my rent.”
“With my wife, I get no respect. I fell asleep with a cigarette in my hand. She lit it.”

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:39 (twenty years ago) link

Is Annie Hall (1977) still the last comedy to win Best Picture? (And of course there's enough serious/autobiographical material for it to be seen as not JUST a comedy.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:42 (twenty years ago) link

There's Shakespeare in Love (which beat out The Tom Hanks Goes to War Show)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:43 (twenty years ago) link

What about Chicago?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:44 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not sure Shakespeare deserved the grand prize, but I sure was happy to see Private Ryan go down.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:45 (twenty years ago) link

I am absolutely 100% positive that Shitspeare In Love didn't deserve to win; it should have been Elizabeth.

Fucking stupid boring-ass unfunny comedy.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:47 (twenty years ago) link

Not too serious Best Pictures since 1960
YR
TITLE
DIRECTOR

1960
The Apartment
Billy Wilder
1961
West Side Story
Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins

1964
My Fair Lady
George Cukor
1965
The Sound of Music
Robert Wise

1968
Oliver!
Carol Reed

1973
The Sting
George Roy Hill

1976
Rocky
John G. Avildsen
1977
Annie Hall
Woody Allen

1994
Forrest Gump
Robert Zemeckis

1997
Titanic
James Cameron
1998
Shakespeare in Love
John Madden

2000
Gladiator
Ridley Scott

2002
Chicago
Rob Marshall
2003
The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of the King
Peter Jackson

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:48 (twenty years ago) link

Okay, how are defining "serious"?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:49 (twenty years ago) link

"Titanic": a madcap tour-de-farce!

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:49 (twenty years ago) link

Only one of those is what I would consider a "comedy," (Annie Hall), and even that's pushing it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:50 (twenty years ago) link

The Sting is a comedy. And The Apartment!

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:51 (twenty years ago) link

'chicago' and 'gladiator' and 'forest gump' are comedies.

― Dead Man, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:51 (twenty years ago) link

I defined Serious as dull.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:52 (twenty years ago) link

American Beauty won Best Picture in 1999, the year that Election came out. I consider Election to be a vastly more cutting satire of American suburbia, but it wasn't even nominated. I'm not sure if it's because it was more "comedic" or just because it was actually more mean-spirited or because of the political overtones or what.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:54 (twenty years ago) link

By "dull" I mean "using Gravitas as Main Ingredient"

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:55 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not sure what the point of my last post was.

LOTR had about 600 tons of gravitas.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:56 (twenty years ago) link

But it also had Orcs.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:57 (twenty years ago) link

the inner workings of the oscars are inscrutable, and there's bound to be a hell of a lot of *industry* politics involved. so 'election' was produced by mtv, and 'american beauty' by dreamworks. you don't need to work for variety to figure who has the advantage there. political content is rare in *all* US film-making, the oscars don't particularly suppress it.

― Dead Man, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 14:58 (twenty years ago) link

I will accept The Sting, The Apartment, and Annie Hall as comedies.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:00 (twenty years ago) link

I couldn't even finish The Sting.

God, I hate movies.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago) link

When was the last time an out-and-out comedy was even nominated? Closest lately would be whichever Pixar movies?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:04 (twenty years ago) link

It's frigging 9/11 isn't it? AGAIN!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:05 (twenty years ago) link

To return to the original thread topic: see also every episode of Six Feet Under.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:13 (twenty years ago) link

When was the last time an out-and-out comedy was even nominated?

What counts as an out-and-out comedy? Does The Full Monty count?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:15 (twenty years ago) link

Or Tootsie?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:19 (twenty years ago) link

Neither of them count.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:20 (twenty years ago) link

Both of them count.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:23 (twenty years ago) link

I think this is the end of our friendship, N/a.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

This is silly. We're avoiding the larger topic and quibbling over the nitty-gritty.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

But isn't that illustrative of something? I mean, I think in the long-run, comedies win. Dr. Strangelove will outlive Platoon, despite not winning a Best Picture Oscar®.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

Well, it's true that using the Oscars as a measurement of which movies are important in the history of film is dumb. But they do show which movies are considered important by mainstream American culture at that time in history. And you can't just look at the winners, you have to look at what percentage of nominees are comedies. And you have to look at people like Bill Murray, who has been doing excellent comedic acting for decades but doesn't get a nomination until he does a serious part (Lost in Translation). And so on.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

I think I agree with you, but further believe that it's really only in the short term that comedy gets short shrift. I mean, who watches Chariots of Fire in 2004? But how many people have seen Stripes in the last four months?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:36 (twenty years ago) link

Most jokes, and hence most comedies, reflect some kind of truth, but I feel like they are taken as less important because they obscure this truth in humor instead of making it obvious. Most people in real life deal with tragedy and sadness by joking about it. Jokes are complex. But in art, a joke is seen as something simple, something to be embarassed about. Comedies are dumb entertainment, something you go to see to relax your mind and escape. It's the same with music, musicians who use humor are seldom seen as artists.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago) link

In a way, though, that's the beauty of it. It affects you without AFFECTING YOU. It serves a very important purpose, but doesn't demand the pomp and circumstance of heavy drama.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 15:49 (twenty years ago) link

Alternate answer to original thread question: because people die, and it effects their families.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:14 (twenty years ago) link

This thread is cozy, just me and my thoughts.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:18 (twenty years ago) link

This thread is my blog.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago) link

This is why I don't answer threads seriously any more.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:19 (twenty years ago) link

This is why threads don't answer you seriously anymore.

― contemporary movies where one member of a nuclear family dies/is dead, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:20 (twenty years ago) link

for what it's worth, i think your comments on comedy are really right-on, nick.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:36 (twenty years ago) link

Hey, thanks.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:03 (twenty years ago) link

(spoiler) the Ice Storm does this most effectively, by having it be the final event in the film.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:11 (twenty years ago) link

The Virgin Suicides owns this thread, or at least would have been if the thread had been about what it was supposed to be.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:16 (twenty years ago) link

"one member"

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:18 (twenty years ago) link

Oh you.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:19 (twenty years ago) link

What about that Widow For A Year film, Cellar Door, I think?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (twenty years ago) link

TERMS OF ENDEARMENT YO

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:21 (twenty years ago) link

Rosemary's Baby!

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:22 (twenty years ago) link

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