Paul Verhoeven is Robocool

Robocop is a B class action film that cannot be fully appreciated without the knowledge of the deeply imbedded satire which inhabits the film. I really think there should be an intro like in citizen cane telling about the real point of the film. If not it becomes misinterpreted by many as just a regular action flick. I really think there is a danger of the film not being noticed if there is not some kind of warning or alert.

The movie is a little awkward for me because it is a slow motion action film. I know that the trend now is very fast motion action but it seems lacking in the action area. It remains me of slow horror films, I’m the guy screaming "Run, Run, Why are you not running?". There was two or three times during the last part of the film I think they could have killed Robocop like six times.

With the knowledge of what the film is mocking it will bring endless laughs. I think the board game won me over. I think this film does a great job of showing how the free market is just as corrupt as the government. I believe that anytime you a small number of people in power over a great many and they have the free range to manipulate the system to their benefit they will end up being corrupt. This again is one of the hazards of an individual based society. I wonder what we are going to try next since we cant trust the g0verment, organized religions or corporations to rule. The movie highlights the problems that were arising in the late 80's. Good examples are the news, TV sitcoms and gentrification. I think that I can truly appreciate more of the films that the director does knowing that his work is satirical.

The movie showed potential in the area of cool, it is more a classical manor. The good cops are virtuously good and he bad are hell spawn bad. The characters themselves are not what is cool about the movie. The only really cool person is the director. That is because this movie has depth. It is a satirical work of art as is Starship Troopers. The director is bold to go against the cultural norm of the day. I applauds his works.

An Ending is just a Beginning

Saturday Night Fever is a very weird movie, for me at least. The movie was not plot heavy, it was as Donna says "slice of life." It was common for that time, but I have very rarely experienced this type of story. I think the ending played into what cool is. It poses questions like: Can cool be sustained? Does cool change with scenery? and Can someone be cool and un-cool all at the same time? These are all great questions, and I think the truth can be answered through different films, music and other vessels of pop culture.

One band that has always kind of kept up with what is cool is Aerosmith. The band began like many eighties bands, in women’s clothing. They were high pitched and constantly singing about all of their sex-capades-- most notably, "Love in an Elevator." However, they were a band that does not necessarily change their style but adapts its music to the changing times. One example is during the 80s or 90s they did a song with a rap group. The song did well but it was the first of its kind. They were trying to be ground breaking with their music. They have also put out hits during the 90s and 2000s. One of my favorites is "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing." They, I believe, answered the question on whether cool can be sustained. I think that it can, it just must adapt to the times and context of cool. So the next logical question is: Does cool change with the scenery?.

The answer can I think be captured best by a movie we watched in class, Easy Rider. The two main characters are thought of as cool every where they go. Some people don’t like them because they are the bearer of the changing times. This is best shown in the southern dinner scene. They are made to feel uncomfortable by everyone in the dinner except for the young girls. They are perceived as an unknown by both men and women, but women see that as cool while the men see it as threatening. So cool is subject to point of view more than scenery. So were the characters cool and un-cool at the same time?

That question I think is best answered by Saturday Night Fever. The answer is yes. A person can bee cool and un-cool at the same time. The main character was a looser when he went home but a star on the dance floor. He was both things at the same time. This leads me to the conclusion that cool is completely subjective. The level of cool depends on how many people agree you are cool. One of the best examples is Bob Dylan. Many, like me, would say he is cool. Others would protest and say he was a crappy singer that had a knack for song writing. Cool is very perplexing.

In defense of Female Teen Pop

Dyer’s article “In Defense of Disco” has some very good points. Generations can be a little heavy handed on different eras of music. I grew up thinking that almost all 80’s music sucked. But that was just because it was the consensus of my age group when I was young. Today some of the most listened to songs on my iPod are “Walk like an Egyptian,” “I run,” and “Sweet Child of Mine.” So times and opinions change, and people grow to appreciate things they once criticized.


So the music I am going to defend is the girl/teen pop movement that started around 1994 and lasted until at least 2003. Artist I am going to be talking about in particular are The Spice Girls and Brittney Spears. The fame may be short lived but it does not make their achievements any less important. I don’t see a valid argument for them not being cool either.

The Spice Girls came across America like a mad rush and they were gone just about as fast. They were some of the first all-girl vocal groups to counter the main boy bands at the time like N’Sync and The Backstreet Boys. They hit a wide audience of girls because they were advertised as a very diverse group. Each of the members was clearly defined in personality, so almost every small girl could relate. There song “Wannabe” hit number one in 31 countries. They were the most successful band out of Brittan since the Beatles. The group broke up in 2000 but they had a comeback tour in 2007 which ended prematurely in 2008. Their movie Spice World was a big hit all over the world. This band may come under a lot of criticism but no one can say that they had no musical value.


Britney Spears has been criticized and been called talentless multiple times. Many people doubt her musical talents and that she ever was cool. I am here to tell you that she must have been cool to sell 32 million albums in the US alone and is estimated to have sold 82 million worldwide. Spears is ranked as the eighth best selling female recording artist in the United States. Her first big start was as the opening act for N’Sync and The Backstreet Boys. She topped the charts in 1998 with “Baby One More Time.” She is still very prevalent today with her new album Circus. Her songs are not as popular as they once were, but she is still a very popular figure in pop culture.


The girl/teen pop movement that happened around 2000 was as valid as Disco, Emo, or Punk. Each of them hold their own context and have an entire culture about them. I was not a fan of this movement, but I can appreciate all the things that came from their contributions to music. Brittney brought back Madonna and led the way for such artist as Lady Gaga and Pink. I have listened to Brittney’s new album and find it decent. I think that the girl/teen pop movement made great contributions to music.

Shaft breeds spoofs not followers

Shaft was the first of its kind, but the movement it started has spread into a multi-genre of film. And this genre is completely distinct from the mainstream of film. These films have developed away from normal films with all black casts and their own sort of film culture. Some of these films include Undercover Brother, Brown Sugar, and Baby Boy. The African American film genre is biased towards their own culture. From the hood to family trouble, the culture in the film is definite. It could be divided up in to movies about the inner city, family life and inter-racial strife. The inner city movies are those that try to capture the culture of what that life is like. Family life is more of a recent development, especially in comedy with actors such as Tyler Perry. Racial strife would be movies like Guess Who.

A film that reminded me of Shaft was Undercover Brother. It was a spoof of the Bond films, but the cool that he was trying to impersonate was defiantly that of Shaft. The "brother" as they would put it was a man that could woo any woman. Undercover Brother was a man that was ahead of all the rest. He was so smooth that criminals could not touch him. They exaggerate this also. Like I said, it was a play off of the Bond series, but it was still really funny. Hidden throughout the movie is African American cultural references: the “pick” of black power, the parachute pants, and the enormous gold chain.

Baby Boy is not a movie that reflects the cool of Shaft, but is one that reflects the iconic cool of the urban culture. The main character reflects a common contradiction to cool. He had two children, both were by different mothers, and he still lived with his mom. He could not be considered cool. When faced with the loss of his home and the little control he had over the women in his life, he found out that the power never really mattered. His personal journey leads him to what many would describe as him “becoming a man.” He had to kill a rival man that abused his kid and wife. He finally gets a home of his own and a job. Throughout the movie he is made out to seem cool but the movie is written to direct the attention to him taking responsibility for the people in his life.

In the African American film genre the definition of cool changes because of the difference in culture. What Shaft did was pave the way for black film to take on its own essence. If you look over the vast history of black film you can see it move more distant from the norms in predominantly white film.

Who is that sex machine? Shaft!

What is there to say about Shaft other than he is FREAKING AWSOME! His character is similar to the noir private eyes. His persona is one of two worlds. He is a part of the white and black cultures of New York. His identity is one that is full of the slang of the Harlem slums and the coined wit of the civil rights movements. He does not conform to the white society and suck up. No, He is his own man.

Shaft displays a multiple numbers of cool. He transcends race to interact all races. Shafts prize people are those that everyone interacts with everyday. His values seem to be those of any good man the only difference is in the means that he accomplishes them with. His methods are very noir; by this I mean that his means are a little more rough and dirty. The police cannot go and do the same things with such ease. He is not on the wrong side of the law but he is doing all the things the law can’t do such as move easily throughout Harlem.

Now his sex appeal with the ladies and even the men in one case is completely macho man. He asserts dominance over anyone one in his vicinity with such tools as wits, charm or physical violence. Shaft never has to try with the ladies; he can even catch criminals while seducing them. His competency is another factor that his presence gives off. The style of cloths he wears is 70’s fabulous. I only wish I could pull off the dark brown leather trench coat. That and a brown turtle neck with a leather gun holster.

Shaft is one of those films that I really will never forget. The entire movie was iconic. From the funky intro to the last phone call to the police the movie would be one referenced in film for the next 40 years. The language in it reminded me of a west side story. The language is not fluent but choppy and repetitive. But the roughness of the movie makes for a more memorable movie.

Cultural Comentary

Easy Rider was a movie that was made to capture a moment in time. The movie fully captivated all the aspects that were happening with America at the time. The late sixties had an amazing movement that started in the west and was sweeping across America. There are few films that that are capable of capturing what is happening in the world. A few movies that come to mind are Dazed and Confused, The Graduate, and The Dead Poet’s Society.

Dazed and Confused was a movie about high school in 1976. The movie was trying to capture the counterculture and the main culture and one youth’s decision about both. One of the side stories was about the youth’s immergence into the high school scene. One character in particular is representative of the drug counterculture. He like to smoke weed and rock out. He was one of the “cool” kids. This film did a good job of bringing up the issues such as hazing, drinking, and drug use. The movie demonstrated how peer pressure was the main drive in the drug and drinking culture of the day. The culture of the day for youth was rebellion cool, and this movie does a great job demonstrating it.

The Graduate is a movie that was made only a few months after Easy Rider and was released before it because of complication with the film making process. The movie showed another side of a problem of the culture that was happening in the U.S. around the late sixties. The Graduate was a tale of a man that had recently graduated from college and was unsure of which direction his life was going. His problems are further perplexed by the sexual tension that looms over his neighbor’s wife. He ends up sleeping with Mrs. Robinson and then falling in love with her daughter. So many of the college youth were lost; they went to college thinking it was the only logical step they had. “What was the next step?” The movie also demonstrates the sexual tension of the house wife during the late sixties. It is an indication of the watch parties that would be taking place in America.

The Dead Poets Society is a land mark film in my book because it brought into question whether schools should inspire boys to think on their own. In the most prestigious academic academies they believe that the process of education was not about teaching students to think on their own, but to believe what they tell them. The teacher played by Robin Williams sees this issue and tries to rebel against the culture of the education system and was looked at as a trouble starter. The rebellion that he starts in his students is one that demonstrates a type of cool talked about in Easy Rider.

Fight Freedom with Fear

Easy Rider is a movie that captured what was happening in America in the late sixties. "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times," Dickens would say. The youth of America were questioning the world they were coming into. Drugs in America were on the rise and it was allowing people to escape to an alternate reality. The youth wanted something more and sex, drugs and Rock and Roll was the answer. With such bands as Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead coming around youth wanted more from life and politics. People saw injustice and also a problem with traditional life. All of these ideas were culminating when Easy Rider came out. The movie was able to capture all that was occurring at the time and pack it into the movie.

At the beginning of the film the Wyatt and Billy are buying, transporting and selling cocaine. They are beating the capitalist society at its own game. To them it is just a means to an end, the quick way of making their dreams come true. The drug deals went well and they receive an enormous sum of cash and they are then free to go find America.The first place they come to is a small farm where a large mixed family was living off the land in a very traditional way. To them this is a sort of utopia. They are in a place of acceptance where some can live without having to rely on the main stream of society. They are in a sense what the commune wanted to be. The farm was a symbol of what some of the things they went looking for in America.

The next place they come to is commune. They are lead there by the hitch hiker they pick up on the road. He is quite the groovy individual. He is very smart and does not expect people to just do things for him. The commune is a place of acceptance and a collage of ideas. There are people reading Mao and another doing Ti Chi. The mime troop is suppose to be representative of the Diggers. They are the collage of what was coming out of San Francisco at this time.

After they leave the commune they come to a town were a parade is happening where they try to participate and get arrested. In the Jail they run into George. He is a Southern layer with a drinking problem. George decides to join up with them on their trip to New Orleans. He is my favorite character. George's view is the closest to the embodiment of what their trip was really about. They were the embodiment of freedom at this time. People were scared of what they represented. He warns them one night that if they are not careful that some one upon seeing this freedom may kill them because it causes people to question whether they are free. That same night George is killed by those very people.

After this point the movie starts to spiral down quickly. The peak of the movie I believe centered on George's speech. The everyday American Ideal at this time was that people were all free. People celebrated their freedom after the war. But when people that were the embodiment of change come threw it leads them to realize that they were only living a partial reality. It is no different today. If a person never escapes their own known reality by experiencing another culture or someone else’s form of reality they never really have a validation of their own reality. When people go through their entire life without having their way of life questioned as soon as it is they become frightened. They become cultural imperialist and xenophobes. This fear causes some atrocious things to happen. It lead to the end of the main characters and to their easy ridden.