Word: diem
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...book and appreciate all he still has). But for the unironic masses who've kept this memento Morrie a best seller for more than 100 weeks, ABC has needlepointed an Oprah Winfrey Presents telepic that's as earnest as life is short. However worthy the book, its carpe diem aphorisms don't translate well to a film that deploys every tear-jerking stratagem short of a poke...
...plot seems simple: a wannabe starlet from Small Town, USA poisons her abusive husband, decapitates him, pops his head into a stay-fresh tupperware container, ditches her seven kids and takes off to Hollywood to become a TV star. It's a typical theme for a movie: carpe diem, no matter who you kill or how many lives you ruin. But set the plot during the turbulent time period of the '60s Civil Rights Movement, and the scope of the film becomes much wider and far more serious than its trailer suggests...
...story unfolds, the initial carpe diem attitude of the movie begins to disintegrate as the question of whether Lucille even accomplishes stardom becomes inconsequential. Rather, her selfish and fantasy-like dreams are used to provide a stark contrast to the very real issues of hypocrisy, corruption and racism of the Deep South. What masquerades as the main plot is therefore secondary to the historical drama that is actually the crux of this film. While the plot isn't exactly complex, the dual storyline results in a movie that is, at times, as confused and discombobulated as its airheaded main character...
...generation (how many of you watched that NBC special a few months ago?) Granted, the message of the film is universal enough to transcend the limitations of time. Pearl and her family could have lived at any other time in history, and the lessons of self-discovery and carpe diem would have been just as relevant. But would it have been as powerful? Probably not. The '60s are a perfect match for the themes of instability and loss of innocence, and its role as the setting of Pearl's story makes the film infinitely more effective...
...Tony-award-winning musicals go, Ragtime is about as innovative as Broadway can get. Paul Simon's The Capeman was eclectic, but failed miserably in ticket sales. Rent, on the other hand, is praised for being original, but still flaunts enough crowd-pleasing values (love despite adversity, carpe diem) to insure huge financial success. To succeed on the Great White Way, a show does not always have to sacrifice controversy, but it usually does have to put it in a prettily-packaged manner that will draw enough theatergoers to pay the bills--and make a gargantuan profit besides...