Hindsight

Hindsight:  Film in the public domain-let's talk
Today  "Twelve 0'Clock High" (1949) Dir. Henry King

Could it be that my daughters are so cool because they know who the Marx brothers are?

My answer-YES.  Both of my daughters were forced to become filmies like me, and they are now better off for it.  Sort of like the parents that teach their children another language, well my kids are critical consumers of media, well beyond that of their friends and I see dividends all the time.  Perhaps we should teach classic American cinema in grade school!  Because, Joelle and Jacqueline grew up with Groucho, Judy and Hitchcock,  I know they are both able to make so many links musically, comedically, and dramatically to things that are going on today.  They both have come away with a real sense of history, and a richer understanding of how Hollywood is a commercial entity, focused on stories that need to bring in an audience.  For example,   Joelle and I watched "Twelve O'Clock High"(1949) this afternoon. 

 A flawed film maybe, but full of beautiful acting by Gregory Peck, and a story about wartime battle fatigue, now called PTS.  that unfortunately is still contemporary.  Joelle and I talked about when the film was made, the early 1950s and she concluded that the "film had to be made then, because during the war folks would not have been able to handle it, plus it would have been seen as anti-patriotic."  Wow!  That just blew me away.  She gets it...that film is a social historical cultural mediated text.  We can learn so much from watching older films together, particularly when we take the time to talk about the films.  How the images, motifs and plot lines told revel representations of things the often revel the dialectic of the time.  Joelle and I then got into a marvelous chat about the 'greatest generation' and a bunch of stuff, all because we watched this sensitive film together.    

A footnote:  I met Gregory Peck around 15 years ago when he came to Wisconsin for a lecture.  He was lovely.  I mentioned how (can't believe I said this but) "Hot he was in that bomber Jacket. in Twelve O'clock High."  He smiled and told me that they were not even sure that film would get released, because studio executives thought it too bold a subject matter so close to the wars end.