October 16, 2005
Movie Meme : The Crying and Laughing Edition
by Liza Sabater
There's a meme going around and I caught it.
I have been known to sob like a baby at musicals and the movies. I also have been told I have one of the most ridiculously infectuous laughs around. Shakes asked "What movie scenes always make you cry?" and Amanda upped her one with "what makes you laugh every time you see it, no matter how many times you see a movie?"
I need a diversion so that I can write about the heavy stuff, so here they are: Movie moments that make me laugh and cry.
I, cry baby
In Gladiator
In The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
Who can leave with a dry eye after he Sense and Sensibility
Then there is Hero
I loooooooove tales of knights and warrior-queens. Hero is an incredibly complex movie that explores a very relevant question to our current political climate : what is the difference between a hero and a murderer, a patriot and a terrorist? In this movie, Falling Snow and Broken Arrow are enemies turned lovers in their pursuit to destroy the future emperor of China. The scene that makes me wail involved their death --an amazing Asian Romeo & Juliet moment. For one, Broken Arrow (just like Boromir in Lord of the Rings, by the way), dies in what we call in yoga "the hero pose". Just seeing Broken Arrow fall to the ground like that made me wail because the pose is so symbolic. But it's Falling Snow's choice of death; how she kills herself that ... oh dear. The death tableau of these two lovers is an homage to the illuminated manuscript art tradition that developed in China, Japan, India and all acros the Islamic Empire. It's just a beautiful yet incredibly sad moment and, geez, it make me cry me all the time.
Which takes me to the ultimate love scene. Or should I say loving scene. I have published about it here, the Four Weddings and a Funeral
He was my North, my South, my East, my West. My working week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song, I thought love would last forever: I was wrong.
SNIF!
SOB!
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I, Laughing Clow
I have two admissions to make : One of my dreams is to tackle stand-up comedy someday before I die because I am so scared shitless of it. I just love the form, love the energy and the story telling but the thought of doing it leaves me cold. So I know, someday, I am going to have to do it.
My second admission is that I miss acting terribly but what I miss the most if doing voice-overs. I looooove doing voice over work. My dream is to become a Pixar character. I don't care which one, as long as it is a funny one, like Edna Mode :)
Which leads me to another admission : I dislike most comedies. There has been an incredible dearth of good comedies. Which is fine because I'll always have animation and stand-up comedy.
From the Pixar pantheon, every single movie makes me laugh. I am serious. There is not one un-funny Pixar movie in my book. Not one. From the Lamp story and Tin Toy to The Incredibles
By now you must know that, since I am nerd and somewhat of a dork, I am a big Monty Python fan. Believe it or not, Michael Palin's "It's guy" makes me laugh all the time. So does the philosopher's soccer match. OMFG! It's just hysterical.
From the movies? My favorite moment is the "I'm being repressed" monologue in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My kids are in the middle of a The Lord Of The Rings
Anything involving Chris Rock and George Carlin will get me into hysterics. I particularly love Chris' racist Uncle joke because it reminds me so much of my dad.
And then, there is Absolutely Fabulous
And that, my friends, is comedy worth of a good laugh.
Check it out!
Shakespeare's Sister
Bitch Ph.D. | Crying at the movies
Pandagon: Discussion topic for the brain-fried
Lawyers, Guns and Money: That'll do, Pig.
Posted by Liza Sabater in Comedy, Drama, Humor, Lord of the Rings, Memes, Movies, Pop Culture
Permalink |
Comments (3)
| TrackBack (0) | Technorati Cosmos
Trackbacks
Trackback for this post:http://www.culturekitchen.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/3367
The following blogs make reference to this post :
Say it loud, say it proud!
Crying?
OK, there's the graveyard scene in Steel Magnolias when Sally Field goes off. I know, sappy as hell. Get's me every time, though.
The romantic in me always loses it in Amelie/ The scene where she's making bread and the (very, very cute) boy she's been after shows up at her door. I may be cynical as hell when it comes to love, but I'm also a hopeless romantic.
On the non-movie front, La Boheme gets me. When they're all in Mim's bed in the opera's finale, waiting for her to die, there's this deep bass (or cello) line right as she dies--I lose it every time...
Laughter:
Waiting for Guffman, when Corky blurts out, "You're bastard people, that's what you are. You're just bastard people."
John Waters' A Dirty Shame. The whole movie. How can you not laugh at a movie with lines like, "What's good about a morning with dildoes in it?", "I'm not a prude; I'm married to an Italian"," I ran out of the house clapping loudly and yelling, 'No blowjobs!'", and "there's pubic hair in the air!"?
Margaret Cho's bit "If straight men could menstruate" in Notorious C.H.O..
And, more recently, Sarah Silverman's bit in The Aristocrats.
2
Comment by: Jeff at October 17, 2005 11:32 AM
Shit, I didn't see the AbFab stuff--Patsy is my role model! My favorite line, though, has to be from the same episode, when Eddie is shopping for art: "You can drop the attitude. You only work in a shop, you know." I feel that way every time I go to Banana Republic.
3
Comment by: Blake at October 17, 2005 08:54 PM
Actually, Hero is a piece of propaganda funded by the Chinese government. It is an attempt to revise the image of Emperor Qinshihuang, who the government had previously refered to as China's Hitler.
They use Qinshihuang as a metaphor for the modern day government. And the film is explicitly didactic in informing viewers that its moral is that death and murder are justified for the sake of national unity. Its specific aims are against China's minority powers (Tibetans, Uighurs, etc.) and Taiwan.
The film is a justification of military use against these people.
It's interesting that the film makes you cry, but you should be aware of its purpose.
1
Comment by: Jeff at October 17, 2005 11:30 AM