I have seen it. I don’t know what you saw. Middle aged people find younger people desirable unless they’re emotionally dead. Maybe you didn’t see Romeo and Juliet, spoiler here, it’s a tragedy.
I’m not claiming that it’s not part of human nature. So is masturbation. That doesn’t make it an interesting central premise for a screenplay.
It certainly could. There’s a rather well known episode of Seinfeld entirely based on masturbation. The Seven Year Itch is an incredibly iconic movie that nobody remembers because of Tom Ewell. It’s a movie based in the olden days and kind of boring as a result but I can understand it being considered quite a romp in it’s time and could easily be updated, and has been in numerous movies. It’s the basis behind the whole genre of romcoms. You don’t have to like the movie, but I don’t see how you can miss that this is a popular theme.
Although The Seven Year Itch has the iconic “Marilyn Monroe-standing-on-the-subway-grating-blown-upskirt” image and lines like “I keep my underwear in the freezer”, I have to admit that the thing about the film that hits me the most is its reliance on the cultural phenomenon of The Summer Bachelor, something that Alistair Cooke wrote a memorable piece about. The Summer Bachelor has faded into oblivion, a casualty to widespread Air Conditioning.
By the way, I agree with TriPolar, although T7YI isn’t one of my favorite movies.
This isn’t the column by Cooke, but her references it:
It seems to me that anything can be the premise for an interesting screenplay. Some interesting films have involved unexpected settings.
I don’t think we’ll ever see another Fu Manchu movie.
Do you mean after the Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu in 1980?
The plot is “so similar” that Richard Prior got a screen writing credit on Paws of Fury because of his work on Blazing Saddles. Plus, you know, the main author, Mel Brooks, was promoting it as an updated cartoon version of Blazing Saddles. Mel re-wrote it to show the racism without using the ‘N’ word, and without using the phrase “Excuse me while I whip this out!”
Even at the time, it was riding that line between offensive vs. edgy and hilarious. If you didn’t get the satire (especially the satirical treatment of Hollywood), it probably would fall squarely on the offensive side.
I mean, the whole RDJ in blackface thing was both hysterical, and a pretty pointed satire of certain method actors and how far they’re willing to go/how far people are willing to let them. If you didn’t get that, it just seems offensive.
I feel like most people over about 40 would still appreciate a remake, but today’s youth and young adults seem to have NO sense of humor whatsoever when it comes to anything like this.
Not to sound old, but… I agree. I think it’s good that we don’t accept racism, sexism and other isms anymore, but it seems today we may err on the side of also not accepting commentary on those isms.
More’s the pity, because I know that satirical and parodic portrayals of attitudes and behaviors that I was previously ok with, were the first times I really thought about them and how maybe my thinking needed revision.
I used to love Animal House – and it still has some indelible comedy – but the scene where the boys go to the Black nightclub is just pathetically racist, and not in any kind of ironic way, either.
And it really pains me to say so, but the trans-mocking of Life of Brian wouldn’t fly today. I like to think the Python guys would agree.
They couldn’t base a movie on the “Amos & Andy” TV series.
I’m pretty sure that the theme song for Twinky wouldn’t be made today.
I don’t want to overstate my complaint, because we have things like Get Out and other sort of pointed critiques of race relations, done, for a change, by the people most affected by them. So I wouldn’t say as a blanket statement we don’t tolerate satire of race or other things. I mean, The Barbie Movie is arguably a satire of gender relations. So these things are happening, but it’s increasingly becoming easier to piss people off in the attempt to make a point.
Interesting, I was not aware of that cultural phenomenon. Wiki says this about it:
The operator of the Royal Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa, was arrested and fined $25 for showing Summer Bachelors after a citizen filed a complaint for showing an “improper motion picture.” A witness from the local woman’s club testified in support of the complaint that the film had objectionable scenes, the first where a woman went for a swim apparently without a bathing suit, and in a hay mowing scene where a young couple were caught in a rainstorm, sought shelter for the night, and went to sleep unchaperoned. In another scene noted in testimony, a married man with a young woman on a yacht forcibly kissed her. After filing an appeal and a $200 bond, the theater owner cut two scenes from the film.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find a clip of it on YouTube.
Wow! And Charles Bronson and Orson Bean, ha ha. The trailer is absolutely awful.
I’m pretty sure the major controversy with this movie today, as it was at the time, would be more about “Simple Jack” than the blackface. The blackface is less problematic because it’s the white guy that is the butt of the joke. Simple Jack OTOH, yes Ben Stiller is the primary butt of the joke, but they’re also still making fun of the mentally challenged.
I mean yeah, with a minute’s thought, they’re essentially the same joke, but… you just can’t do that.
Much of this is a passing phase as common attitudes change and the pendulum swings to far in correction. Then after some time when the issue is no longer ‘hot’ satire becomes better understood for what it is. At least I hope that’s the case.