"From Anna Karenina to Fatal Attraction: Ashley Madison’s new twist on a very old tale"

"The data breach at the Ashley Madison website for people pursuing extramarital affairs is just a new twist on a very old tale. Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary and Lady Chatterley’s Lover may be among the most famous modern works which turn on a character’s adultery but the conflict between individual desire and social responsibility, sexual urges and emotional loyalty, is age-old, a recurring subject in both the Bible and the Classics..."

Adultery has been a fact of life and a recurring theme since Clytemnestra made hay with Aegisthus, while her husband Agamemnon was doing Trojan work elsewhere. What do you mean, you haven’t read Aeschylus’s Oresteia?

Even the Bible is not immune, starting with Abraham himself. Drop the Good Book and as like as not, it will fall open at such juicy passages as David and Bathsheba, or Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, who, failing to to seduce him, falsely accuses him of attempted rape. Another case prompted Jesus to utter the famous judgment: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

Adultery has also been part of cinema’s stock in trade from its early days. The IMDB database lists 270 French titles alone (who'd have thought it?) with it as a theme, from And God Created Woman (1956) through The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) to Romance (1999).

Here then is a potted history of adultery on screen and page. (Click here for the list)

"What if we limited the number of white men in film and TV?"

"Creatively, a bad idea—but so is peppering diversity onto default casts."

I should note my 31% cap would in no way limit the number of awesome projects in development; it would just change the breakdown of their casts. After all, as a woman who wants to have any kind of cultural literacy, I’m expected to engage with white-male-centric stories all the time. And even though they're low on ladies, I love Saving Private Ryan, Lord Of The Flies, True Detective, Toy Story, The History Boys, The Godfather and The West Wing. So why shouldn’t white men get equal enjoyment out of watching stories in which they aren’t represented?

Fantastic TV shows like Orange Is The New Black, Empire, Call The Midwife, Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat, The Bletchley Circle, and Orphan Black prove that increased diversity can open up new storytelling avenues for everyone to enjoy.

Another example: While I feel fairly confident in saying the white male perspective on World War II has been thoroughly covered over the last 75 years of filmmaking, there are fewer films that explore women on the home front, all-black platoons, or Japanese-American internment camps. If we insist on revisiting that time period over and over again, why not do so from a fresh angle?

Sure it’s true that part of the demand for better representation is about social justice: We as a society have determined that equality makes the world a better place.

But demands for increased representation are also demands for new stories. In fact, we already ask for diversity from Hollywood all the time when it comes to genres, styles, tones, and characters (from comedies to dramas, blockbusters to arthouse films, heroes to antiheroes).

Adding more racial and gender diversity is just one more way to foster fresh storytelling. And that’s inarguably a good thing.

Larry Correia lays some smack-down on NPR

I do so appreciate some Larry Correia snark.  I don't think he could fail to be entertaining if he tried.  However, his smack down of NPR "looking to manufacture some outrage" over the under-representation of Hispanics in film is not precisely *funny* which makes me think that Correia just might be slightly, actually...  annoyed.

 "When NPR says that some of the Latin actors aren’t “easily recognizable” that means that they aren’t conforming to accepted liberal suburban Ivy League stereotypes. NPR wants Latinos to play beaners in sombreros, hotel maids, or gang bangers… "

When NPR bases their argument on the fact that Jennifer Lopez is not easily recognizable as Hispanic in a movie, you know they've thoroughly jumped the shark.   OTOH, you probably already knew that, seeing as we're talking about NPR here.

Larry Correia fisks NPR.

Especially mindboggling... the part where NPR complains that Zoe Saldana played the part of a black person in Star Trek.

More Larry... as I said, he's a compulsively funny guy, but I think he's just a wee bit P.O.'d too.

"Yes, Latinos, NPR just called you stupid. How DARE you enjoy movies and be entertained? You should totally boycott them to salve some white suburban liberal’s white guilt!

Annoying twits put their perpetual outrage ahead of their enjoyment. Everything has to be filtered through their obnoxious white guilt. Meanwhile the rest of planet Earth is throwing piles of money at a movie with a sentient tree and a talking raccoon."

#visitors

Visitors - Official Trailer (2013)

 

Staring at You, Staring at Me