Hi, this is a cheater post because I've been busy. (More about that later.) So instead I'm recommending something my friend and colleague Zach Dundas wrote. This is so pretty! Nice writing, Zach!
This is a nice piece. The best of the book was that the monsters were soooo BIG. (From the trailer I saw for the movie that seems to have been captured.)
To be honest, I always remember "Wild Things" as a fairly small story: Max gets grounded, imagines Wild Thing Island, plays with them until he gets bored, The End. Even as a kid, I felt the only "epic" thing about it was the size of the Wild Things themselves. And I liked the book well enough, sure, but it never ranked among my all-time favorites (like "The Caboose That Got Loose," "Nothing Ever Happens on My Block," or "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day" ... all of whose influences on my future self are as obvious as the titles themselves).
As for the "Wild Things" movie, I could care less. Spike Jonze is talented enough to make a unique film from the subject matter, and since I don't cherish the book it won't destroy my childhood to see its plot re-tinkered by Hollywood. No, the worst thing about the movie is the fact it exists at all -- as Dundas said, it's "a naked generational pander," and I find my generation's indie-hipster wistfulness just as annoying as the Boomers' endless Sixties nostalgia. If anything, we're worse than the Boomers because our generation hasn't achieved a goddamn thing politically. We're apparently all too busy being cutesy and twee. Why agitate for change when there are so many retro-pop-cult t-shirts just waiting to be silkscreened?
I agree, Becky! All the guy can come up with is "Breakfast at Tiffany's", when trying to think of things he has in common with her. That's crazy! How can he expect to have a decent relationship with this woman (he's clearly heartbroken) when the "cornerstone" of their relationship is an old George Peppard film?
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This is a nice piece. The best of the book was that the monsters were soooo BIG. (From the trailer I saw for the movie that seems to have been captured.)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I always remember "Wild Things" as a fairly small story: Max gets grounded, imagines Wild Thing Island, plays with them until he gets bored, The End. Even as a kid, I felt the only "epic" thing about it was the size of the Wild Things themselves. And I liked the book well enough, sure, but it never ranked among my all-time favorites (like "The Caboose That Got Loose," "Nothing Ever Happens on My Block," or "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day" ... all of whose influences on my future self are as obvious as the titles themselves).
ReplyDeleteAs for the "Wild Things" movie, I could care less. Spike Jonze is talented enough to make a unique film from the subject matter, and since I don't cherish the book it won't destroy my childhood to see its plot re-tinkered by Hollywood. No, the worst thing about the movie is the fact it exists at all -- as Dundas said, it's "a naked generational pander," and I find my generation's indie-hipster wistfulness just as annoying as the Boomers' endless Sixties nostalgia. If anything, we're worse than the Boomers because our generation hasn't achieved a goddamn thing politically. We're apparently all too busy being cutesy and twee. Why agitate for change when there are so many retro-pop-cult t-shirts just waiting to be silkscreened?
JG
I agree, Becky! All the guy can come up with is "Breakfast at Tiffany's", when trying to think of things he has in common with her. That's crazy! How can he expect to have a decent relationship with this woman (he's clearly heartbroken) when the "cornerstone" of their relationship is an old George Peppard film?
ReplyDelete