City Lights

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

2 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

I'm hoping she goes cynical about Snow White tomorrow

Too easy.

[WatchOutForSnakes 807]

5 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

I'm hoping she goes cynical about Snow White tomorrow

 

3 hours ago, taylorannephoto said:

If she doesn't then I'll be right here on the boards to do it for her lol. I have some thoughts.

I haven't seen this since I was a girl. I'm pretty sure there was a screening of it near me when I was a little girl, and this is the first movie I remember seeing in the theater, and I remember having a Snow White phase. I'm curious what both Amy and Paul have to say about what parts of the film, if any, hold up, and what, if anything, fresh can be said about it as seen through a modern lens.

Is it worth re-watching? 

[Cameron H. 23786]

2 minutes ago, WatchOutForSnakes said:

Is it worth re-watching? 

Personally, I found it pretty delightful and holds up remarkably well - especially when compared to some of Disney’s other early work. 

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I guess we'll get into it tomorrow but I halfway agree with Cameron. It is delightful, but I think other early Disney movies are much better.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I mean, it's a Disney movie from the 30s. I'd cut it some slack on how woke it is.

[kikimio 2]

While there is no Simpsons reference to City Lights, there is a full episode of Futurama (both created by Matt Groening, of course) which is based off of City Lights called "Stench and Stenchibility." 

 

Dr. Zoidberg (a character that is often the butt of jokes and shown as smelly, undignified, and living in a dumpster) stops a mugging from taking place when the robber is scared off by Zoidberg's stench. The woman he helps save is a florist who has no sense of smell. Since the florist can't smell, she is not repulsed by his stench, and she is able to get to know him and see his inner beauty -- something that no one has ever been able to do previously. He falls for her hard! After dating a while, she tells him she wants to be able to smell flowers, so he decides to perform a nose transplant on her that will give her a sense of smell -- knowing that he may lose her once she is able to catch a whiff of him. Once she gains her sense of smell, she realizes she hates the smell of flowers, but likes the way Dr. Zoidberg smells because "she likes him." She ends up changing careers---from florist to garbage lady---and the two continue to date.

 

It's a sweet episode and nice to see Zoidberg receive a happy ending for once! 

(I apologize if this has been addressed already -- I skimmed the thread and didn't notice!)

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

12 minutes ago, sycasey 2.0 said:

I mean, it's a Disney movie from the 30s. I'd cut it some slack on how woke it is.

Oh that isn't what I see as the film's flaws; I was mostly being sarcastic about Amy and Snow White up there, tbh.

Though I do think that's part of what we're doing here with this podcast, isn't it?  We're not assuming anything is great. Or that looking at things in a modern lens will get the same result. I know the initial conceit was to watch great movies. But it's also to think, is this still?  Why should we cut anything any slack?  That's been the most interesting thing for me to think about, and to hear Paul & Amy discuss (and us here).

At first I was very similar to Paul here -- I've seen maybe 40 of the list, but it's been at least 20 years for most of those. And I'm not clueless, I know what most of these films are about or like even I haven't sat through them before. I wanted to learn about the language of great movies; that's why I started this podcast. 

But that's less my focus now, I think, and I find myself wondering, do these hold up to more current and my own sensibilities?

Not everything has to be woke, I don't think I'm demanding that, but I dunno, I think someone should hold some of these films to the fire a bit.