Sunday, February 27, 2005

further evidence of how i am becoming increasingly alienated and cranky as i get older

Yesterday in the mall, I was passing by one store and saw that it had two different endcaps devoted to the sale of merchandise associated with the film Napoleon Dynamite. It also seems to be a favorite film of some of the undergraduates who work across the hall from me. So, wanting to keep abreast of cultural trends among Kids These Days, I checked out the movie after the Sociology Gala last night. It's 94 minutes long. I was amused for maybe 10, off and on, like the scene where Napoleon gets hit in the face with some meat while he's riding a bike. As far as I can tell, most of the film taps into the same humor vein as what would find hilarity in circus sideshows, dwarf-tossing, or killing a person's cat and feeding it to them, only in ND the humor is specifically tailored to appeal to the BlueStateYouth set. It's interesting how a film can be unrelentlingly culturally elitist and meanspirited until the last few minutes, but then happy everything up with a series of swift and improbable plot developments--involving, first, the electoral affections of Napoleon's suspiciously large rural school, and, second, involving three different female character's completely inexplicable romantic choices--so that it comes across like it was really a good-natured and sweet movie after all.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It could also indicate that the undergraduates who work in the office across the hall from you have abysmal taste.

Anonymous said...

Come'th a partial revelation on 2/28
t'will be posted early, maybe late
some knowledge of me thou do'st rate
verily I must face my jury duty fate
-shuffling into court with my slovenly gait
the harsh demands of Justice to abait
if only past the Ides it could but wait
-LDM

Anonymous said...

Come'th a partial revelation on 2/28
t'will be posted early, maybe late
some knowledge of me thou do'st rate
verily I must face my jury duty fate
-shuffling into court with my slovenly gait
the harsh demands of Justice to abait
if only past the Ides it could but wait
-LDM

Anonymous said...

Come'th a partial revelation on 2/28
t'will be posted early, maybe late
some knowledge of me thou do'st rate
verily I must face my jury duty fate
-shuffling into court with my slovenly gait
the harsh demands of Justice to abait
if only past the Ides it could but wait
-LDM

Anonymous said...

We hate LDM!

We hate LDM!

We hate LDM!

jeremy said...

In the world of Lonely Donut Man, if you can't say something thrice, you shouldn't say it at all. Incidentally, LDM apparently has a blog of her/his/it/their own over on Xanga, although she/he/it/they has/have yet to post anything.

Anonymous said...

T'was a glitch nothing more
that posted verse one less than four
there be'th no Blog of donut lore
for e'r ladies show'th me the door
I drift'th alone far from Love's shore
and have'th no Blog account, Im way too poor
-LDM

Anonymous said...

Lo! in the morn' shalt thou read
- though not of every deed-
doubt ha'th grown from a seed....??
be it Jeremy that ha'th taken the lead
and create'th this verse with such speed??
0! how the Muse with donuts he do'th feed
and lead'th his readers astray indeed!
lovely verse to gobble like donuts with such greed
intoxicating like amber honey mead
be'th he but a rogue, a literary weed?
a name must thee know, but how great is thy need?
-LDM

Anonymous said...

plagarism do'th rear its ugly head
t'is someone else instead
a lie thou has't been fed
should'st my name be signed in blood so red?
then wish'th me verily dead
if some other place I'm truly read
-LDM

Anonymous said...

I liked Napoleon Dynamite, though it wasn't the best thing I've ever seen. I saw it around the same time I saw Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and I have to say I liked ND better. ND has been described as a Mormon answer to Wes Anderson. There's no profanity or nudity in ND, and there are many serveral subtle Mormon references. The filmmakers are Mormons from that part of the country. My 16 year-old brother loves this film. I tend to think it's one of those cult films that attracts a loyal following not because of an amazing script or acting, but because of a certain special something, a character or attitude or perhaps a Benjaminian "aura," which draws people to it. Or maybe people like it because it becomes "cool" to like it, after a critical mass of hipsters are taken in.