Funny but thought provoking analysis of Harold Ramis films

[greatlaurel]

This was a good read and very thought provoking.

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/02/baby_boomer_humors_big_lie_ghostbusters_and_caddyshack_really_liberated_reagan_and_wall_street/

This was enlightening:

" The kind of liberation the rude gesture brings has turned out to be not that liberating after all, but along the way it has crowded out previous ideas of what liberation meant—ideas that had to with equality, with work, with ownership. And still our love of simple, unadorned defiance expands. It is everywhere today. Everyone believes that they’re standing up against unjust authority of some imaginary kind or another—even those whose ultimate aim is obviously to establish an unjust authority of their own."

A great analysis of one of the the techniques used to derail the progressive movement in the 1980's. Toxic cynicism is far more effective in stopping progressive movements. Of course, Harold Ramis was not the culprit, he just made funny films. We progressives allowed ourselves to be co-opted by the cynicism promoted by the right wing to stop us in our tracks.

I hope we are starting to come out of the fever dream of ineffectual cynicism now.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Thanks for linking this

I've never been a fan of his - or his films.

Three days later (post Oscars) I remain disheartened that a true quiet little liberal's displays wealth on film - both internal and external - two films about how money corrupts - chasing the establishment corrupts - the deification of wealth has always corrupted . . . were ignored by the very people (his peers) that worship Ramis.

[greatlaurel]

2. Thanks! Glad you found it interesting, too.

Never a big fan either. Did not get the love of Animal House, at all. I liked Rodney Dangerfield a lot, but I never found Caddyshack to be particularly funny. The analysis of Caddyshack in the article was really spot on and can it gave me some new insight into how and why we went so far off track in the 1980's with the Reagan propaganda.

What films were you referring to in your post? I don't watch many new films until they are out on TV, so I am always months behind on new films. Never see the Oscar nominated films until long after they are out. From what little I read about Ramis , he seemed very well liked by the people with whom he worked. I was always dismayed by the sad sexism in his work, though.

I enjoy it when a writer gives me a new way to analyze a topic.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Watch

Wolf of Wall Street and Great Gatsby. Gastby is out on DVD - and Wolf Will be out at the end of the month. Reading the books you get one thing. Seeing Dicaprio do those two back to back in one year . . . In 20 years we will see the core significance - just as Wall Street is looked at as a time capsule today.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. Good read

Been years since I have seen any of these movies. I feel as though I was propagandized now. Oh wait, I was. I only hope that I see it now when it presents itself..

[deutsey]

5. Interesting

I was just watching a documentary on the making of Caddyshack the other day on Youtube in which the guy who plays Noonan's Nemesis said that the original script was essentially a drama about class tensions between the wealthy members of the country club and the working-class kids working as caddies.

He said once Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield joined the cast, the movie shifted into a comedy that focused more on their characters than on the caddies, whose story became a secondary plotline.

Tony Hendra, in his book on Boomer humor called Going Too Far, also gives a good analysis of what he sees as the politically subversive, anit-authoritarian core of Animal House.

PS: I was never a big fan of Ghostbusters. Parts are humorous, but I never understood the movie's huge popularity when it first came out.

[el_bryanto]

6. I don't know - still love Groundhog day - and Ghostbusters is funny

Mostly for Bill Murry though. Caddyshack I always thought had good parts, but as a whole the movie was less than the sum of its parts (feel the same way about the Blues Brothers).

Bryant