More Than A New Contest
This is about life!
It’s 1971 and the lovely Bree Daniels dreams of being a famous actress…
But it’s the era of Romantic Fatalism, so she’s subjected to humiliating cattle-call auditions, and she pays the rent by doing sex work. In the gritty Midnight Cowboy world of New York City, a girl takes her lumps for a chance at the big time.
The movie is…
In Romantic Fatalism nobody ever gets what they really want…
The Bad News Bears—lose! Rocky—loses! The Saturday Night Fever dance contest is rigged! Jon Voight ends up on a Greyhound bus with a dead Ratso Rizzo. As for Bree Daniels, despite all of her striving and practice, does she break into acting? Or even fashion modeling? No! After all those fifty-dollar “half-and-half” parties with visiting businessmen—wait for it—her happy ending is that she gets to marry Donald Sutherland and move to a small town in Pennsylvania. The ‘70s really was about lowering our expectations. NO BIG DREAMS ALLOWED.
In Romantic Fatalism you don’t get your dream. Instead you get Talia Shire. Rocky almost got Susan Sarandon, but she was too pretty.
Did I mention that this enterprise is called “Plot Spoiler”??
But baked into Klute is a decent thriller
And this week’s contest is going to be about this film. Friday will be a movie night at Chelsea Cain’s house, and we will watch my precious DVD. The film is also available on several streaming platforms. Next Saturday I will post a Big Question about the plotting and devices of the storytelling. If you have an “in” with Chelsea, join us. Otherwise, watch the film.1
For now, here’s the the Electronic Press Kit (EPK) used to promote the movie.
Again, the film is:
Baby, you know what I want…
Any of these might be the big question of the contest:
What are the thru-line objects?
What is the Big Voice device that allows the characters to externalize their feelings without speaking directly to the audience?
What scenes use gesture and action to negate what’s said in dialog?
What devices keep the past present in the story?
What actions make us like Bree?
What is the reoccurring chorus of the story?
What becomes of Bree’s cat?
Why does Jane Fonda have no butt crack on the poster?!
No answers will be considered until next week when I post the question(s), okay?
In the spirit of full disclosure
This week I’ve been proofreading the galleys of Not Forever, But For Now, so I’ve been distracted. This is my last chance to catch typos and to wedge more Brit slang into the book. That cack-handed Billy No-Mates couldn’t find the bell end of his own John Thomas. Tomorrow the proofing will be done, and I’ll be around with more Gloves Off.
As for Kangaroo onesies, I’ll likely order large and medium sizes.
Note, the opening scene of Klute is almost identical to that of Triangle of Sadness. One is played for pathos, the more recent is played for cringe. Tell me your thoughts on both.
I've often wondered whether Klute, and others like it, Taxi Driver, Dog Day Afternoon, Apocalypse Now, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Straw Dogs, etc. deserve their own genre. Something like humanity is darker than you imagined. Modern movies can be more violent but those reveal something about the human condition which is ugly - Heart of Darkness etc. which is probably why they resonate with me so much.
In regard to the Brit slang in your upcoming book, I’m going to be reading it with a “Cunt Counter” in mind and if you don’t meet a certain quota of cunts by the end, I’m going to be disappointed.