Not for the Faint of Heart

If anyone here has studied sexuality in the Victorian era or criminality or youth, you might have heard of W.T. Stead. This man was devious and sick, in my opinion, but he also brought about a huge change in the criminality of rape and age of consent. He did this by going into the underbelly of Victorian London, the brothels and street walkers, but sought to procure a young virgin for an expose called "The Maiden Tribute to Modern Babylon." I just had to post this excerpt because it is possibly the most terrifying imagery I have ever read. The picture painted likens Victorian London to the opening to The Color Purple as an institution en mass. It is truly haunting.

Before beginning this inquiry I had a confidential interview with one of the most experienced officers who for many years was in a position to possess an intimate acquaintance with all phases of London crime. I asked him, "Is it or is it not a fact that, at this moment, if I were to go to the proper houses, well introduced, the keeper would, in return for money down, supply me in due time with a maid—a genuine article, I mean, not a mere prostitute tricked out as a virgin, but a girl who had never been seduced?" "Certainly," he replied without a moment's hesitation. "At what price?" I continued. "That is a difficult question," he said. "I remember one case which came under my official cognizance in Scotland-yard in which the price agreed upon was stated to be £20. Some parties in Lambeth undertook to deliver a maid for that sum ----to a house of ill fame, and I have no doubt it is frequently done all over London." "But, "I continued, "are these maids willing or unwilling parties to the transaction—that is, are they really maiden, not merely in being each a virgo intacta in the physical sense, but as being chaste girls who are not consenting parties to their seduction? " He looked surprised at my question, and then replied emphatically: "Of course they are rarely willing, and as a rule they do not know what they are coming for." "But," I said in amazement, "then do you mean to tell me that in very truth actual rapes, in the legal sense of the word, are constantly being perpetrated in London on unwilling virgins, purveyed and procured to rich men at so much a head by keepers of brothels?" "Certainly," said he, "there is not a doubt of it." "Why, "I exclaimed, "the very thought is enough to raise hell." "It is true," he said; "and although it ought to raise hell, it does not even raise the neighbours." "But do the girls cry out?" "Of course they do. But what avails screaming in a quiet bedroom? Remember, the utmost limit of howling or excessively violent screaming, such as a man or woman would make if actual murder was being attempted, is only two minutes, and the limit of screaming of any kind is only five. Suppose a girl is being outraged in a room next to your house. You hear her screaming, just as you are dozing to sleep. Do you get up, dress, rush downstairs, and insist on admittance? Hardly. But suppose the screams continue and you get uneasy, you begin to think whether you should not do something? Before you have made up your mind and got dressed the screams cease, and you think you were a fool for your pains." "But the policeman on the beat?" "He has no right to interfere, even if he heard anything. Suppose that a constable had a right to force his way into any house where a woman screamed fearfully, policemen would be almost as regular attendants at childbed as doctors. Once a girl gets into such a house she is almost helpless, and may be ravished with comparative safety." "But surely rape is a felony punishable with penal servitude. Can she not prosecute?" "Whom is she to prosecute? She does not know her assailant's name. She might not even be able to recognize him if she met him outside. Even if she did, who would believe her? A woman who has lost her chastity is always a discredited witness. The fact of her being in a house of ill fame would possibly be held to be evidence of her consent. The keeper of the house and all the servants would swear she was a consenting party; they would swear that she had never screamed, and the woman would be condemned as an adventuress who wished to levy black mail." "And this is going on to-day?" "Certainly it is, and it will go on, and you cannot help it, as long as men have money, procuresses are skilful, and women are weak and inexperienced."

The Sophia Coppola Challenge: A Plea

Having recently seen Sophia Coppola's newest directorial pursuit, Marie Antoinette, I must make a request of anyone willing to help, please tell me why she is a good director. After viewing the film, my flatmates and I walked out in a awkward silence, not sure of each others' opinions. Finally, I asked warily, "So...what did you think?" To which one hastily and forthrightly replied, "It was absolute rubbish!" Tension gone. The four of us spent the next hour and a half bashing Coppola, which may have transpired into discussing the general lunacy of her entire family. Towards the end of the night, though, we decided that there must be a reason why some audiences like her films, something that we just do not see or do not get. Whenever I spend a long time ranting about some artists inadequacies, I get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me to shut up because this shit always comes back to bite you in the ass. This is generally coupled with the fear that the artist is really a genius and I am just far to simple minded and stupid to comprehend their mastery. So, I started to breath a little and think more specifically about what I did and did not like.

Likes:

• Technically and aesthetically captivating cinematography
• General aesthetic appeal of the mise-en-scene
• Especially, use of innovative color schemes throughout the film reflected throughout the mise-en-scene (production design, costume, and makeup)
• Languid editing pace gave an appearance of an objective camera which allowed the viewers to engage in the entirety of the shot (characters and setting) with an open feeling

Dislikes:

• NOTHING HAPPENED!! The film did not leave me questioning anything but the point of making it in the film medium. I felt that it would have been so much better suited to an issue of Vogue.
  
• The characters were shallow and completely alienated from the audience.
• The "Likes" I had of the film had nothing to do with Sophia Coppola's directing or writing abilities, except that she has the privilege of working with some very talented production heads.
• The overtly American label on a foreign subject is incredibly overdone and pretty insulting to the integrity of the actual events/people involved.
• On that note, neither the characters nor the story at all engage any of the issues facing Marie Antoinette on a constructive humanist level. Instead, it fully accepts her dualistic attitudes of self-centered spoiled brat and emotional caretaker as simple facts without anything beyond a vapid outward expression of conflict.
• I felt that the film was more of an product of Coppola's own egotistical attempt to justify her own life of privilege, wealth and prosperity (not to mention the career handed to her on a silver platter) and portray her guilt for not helping the less fortunate as a burden of her status (her "cage"). Which is really just an exercise in how to evade that nagging feeling of inadequacy.
  

But, other than that, I harbor no hard feelings against her. She is just a shallow person and is trying to learn how to deal with it.

Uh-hem.

Well, I didn't mean to rant quite that much but I still do want to know if anyone wants to take up her defense. Please, if I am missing the big picture or something explain to me. I don't want to be an ignorant fool and would much rather feel stupid now than later. Enlighten me, if you will. I beg you.

The Man I Wish I Was

Anyone who knows me knows my passion for my darling Marty. What I wouldn't give to be able to tap into his genius, to know what makes him tick, to see how he sees. So, needless to say, I was frantic to see his newest project, The Departed. I literally counted down the days and practically skipped all the way to the theater last night. And let me just state, for the record, that the man can do no wrong. If I had the money, I would have turned around and marched straight back into the theater to see it all over again. But, I didn't, so I did the next best thing...I frolicked home (also if you know me, you know that is no joke), expounding and pontificating about his glorious ways, and then convinced my flatmates to watch Gangs of New York with me.

Now, on to the film itself. First off, I think however cut the trailer should be shot...or, at least, taken out back. In no way did the editing of those clips give justice to the actual story and characters. In that wonderfully Scorsese way, the film is as much about the characters as it is about the plot. Part of his greatness is in his skill with evoking Oscar worthy performances. He doesn't always pick the most respected or highly regarded actors, but he makes it work. In fact, I think he rather likes to play with expectation and public opinion. The Departed features: Leonardo DiCaprio (his new DeNiro), Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahberg, and Alec Baldwin. In this, you have Wahlberg as the baligerant, egotistical, stubborn a-hole co-leading the investigation of Jack Nicholson, the 70-something mobster who slowly goes insane, Leonardo DiCaprio as paranoid, hotheaded, the undercover detective entreanched in the mob.

-- It was at this point that I realized that my attempt at any sort of unbiased analytical review was going nowhere. A fool's errand. Instead, I bring you people much more capable of rationalizing and detaching themselves from his glory. I wonder if this is legal? --

The Departed Infiltrates US Box Office
Martin Scorsese wins the weekend
Source: Variety

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As the universe rights itself after two distinctly average Ashton Kutcher movies won the weekend last time out, this week belongs to Martin Scorsese. He might not have an Oscar in his pocket, but he’s now enjoying his most successful opening weekend for 15 years.

Yes, The Departed has blasted into American cinemas and audiences have been lapping up the gritty tale of duelling moles in the mob and the Massachusetts police. With Jack Nicholson eating up the screen, the movie made $27 million in its first three days.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=19680

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New York Times October 6, 2006

MOVIE REVIEW | 'THE DEPARTED'

Scorsese’s Hall of Mirrors, Littered With Bloody Deceit

By MANOHLA DARGIS

There are almost as many films fighting in “The Departed” as there are guys slugging it out. First among those films is Martin Scorsese’s cubistic entertainment about men divided by power, loyalty and their own selves. Hovering above that film like a shadow is “Infernal Affairs,” the equally sleek Hong Kong assemblage on which it is based and which serves as one of its myriad doubles. And then there is the film conjured up by Jack, as in Jack Nicholson, who when not serving Mr. Scorsese’s interests with a monstrous leer all but subverts those interests with a greedy, devouring hunger.

Each Scorsese film comes freighted with so many expectations, as well as the enormity of his own legend, that it’s a wonder the director can bear the weight. Compared with his last fictional outings, the period story “Gangs of New York” and the Howard Hughes portrait “The Aviator,” this new work feels as light as a feather, or as light as any divertissement from a major filmmaker who funnels his ambitions through genre. What helps make “The Departed” at once a success and a relief isn’t that the director of “Kundun,” Mr. Scorsese’s deeply felt film about the Dalai Lama, is back on the mean streets where he belongs; what’s at stake here is the film and the filmmaking, not the director’s epic importance.

In “The Departed” the camera work and cutting feel faster, lower to the ground, more urgent than they have in his recent films. (Michael Ballhaus shot it; Thelma Schoonmaker edited.) The speed and Mr. Scorsese’s sureness of touch, particularly when it comes to carving up space with the camera, keep the plot’s hall of mirrors from becoming a distraction.

FOR THE REST OF THE REVIEW GO TO: http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/movies/06depa.html

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Ain't It Cool News

Published on Friday, October 6, 2006 - 3:01am

Moriarty Welcomes THE DEPARTED’s Arrival!!

Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

D’ya ever notice how sometimes the critical community starts to sound like a broken record on certain films? Right now, you can read around 5,000 reviews online that all say, with varying thickets of verbiage, that is sure is nice to have Martin Scorsese back in the crime genre where he belongs. While I’m sure he appreciates the enthusiasm of the reviewers, it’s got to sting a little.

I haven’t been crazy about some of his recent films. GANGS OF NEW YORK in particular struck me as a movie that seemed to have too much on its mind, including awards. THE AVIATOR is a beautifully-crafted film, but it’s a biopic, and I always feel with biopics like there’s a cookie-cutter shape to even the best of them.

FOR THE REST OF THE REVIEW GO TO: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30312