Two media events this weekend
Two media events this weekend
It was a holiday weekend, for sure, but this thing called “the media” still managed to grab me a couple of times. First was Ed Bradley’s interview with Michael Jackson (transcript) on CBS’s 60 Minutes. First of all, I thought the interview itself was very well done. Ed Bradley handled Jackson better than anybody I’ve seen. No easy assignment. I loved the NATSOUND of Jackson whining occasionally, but mostly I enjoyed the opportunity to get inside his head just a bit. He came off as sincere to me, and that was something I didn’t expect. I mean, the guy looks like Edward Scissorhands without the scissorhands and then there’s all that weirdness with the young boys! His mental state notwithstanding, I saw a gentle, spiritual guy (Most people think the Bible says that money is the root of all evil. The correct quote is “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Jackson got that right. Another surprise.) who’s had the crap beat out of him. I have my opinion, but the court will decide his guilt or innocence in the legal matters. Jackson, however, did himself a favor by agreeing to this interview.
The second media event is a little more complicated to explain. Alicia and I went to see Cold Mountain at the Opry Mills Theater. The film will likely sweep the Academy Awards and justifiably so. It is a haunting tale of life in the south during the Civil War, and the movie touched me deeply. Being the information junkie that I am, I spent an hour online reading various reviews. I guess I was trying to get in touch with what I was feeling, but what I found really (I mean really) pissed me off. There was the usual disagreement amongst the critics about the film, and I had to occasionally wonder if they actually saw the same movie I did. But one review got my goat, because it so beautifully illustrates the American atrocity of political correctness. Stephanie Zacharek writes for Salon that the movie:
…is ruthless and realistic in its portrayal of the hardships faced by Southerners during the war between the states. The white ones, that is: There are about 12 African-Americans in “Cold Mountain,” and if you don’t blink you might catch them as they scoot by discreetly in a few select scenes, blending into the background in a “Don’t mind me!” blur.
…if nothing else, “Cold Mountain” reminds us of one resounding truth: In their fight for states’ rights, the white folks sure had it hard.
But why am I ranting? Perhaps it’s because I live in the south as a transplanted Yankee. I don’t know. This writer is certainly entitled to her opinion. That’s why God made critics. I just find the automatic descent into political correctness to be intellectual blindness, and it infuriates me that a writer would use the opportunity of an excellent film to relentlessly vomit such stuff. There. I’m done.
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December 29th, 2003 at 1:08 pm
Jackson getting the Biblical quote right doesn’t surprise me a bit. Anyone who’s been filthy rich as long as he probably knows that one by heart.
BTW, he grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness and is rumored to be joining the Nation of Islam. One wonders if Minister Farrakhan and/or a representative will appear in court to defend the practice of 45-year-old men sharing their beds with prepubescent children. (Only in America, eh?) On the Salon review, no shock there. Political Correctness represents the death of independent thought in America.