Word: genericism
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...north, a political crisis in the capital, and rumors of war swirling all around, it's business as usual in Beirut's packed nightclubs. The good-looking people in this good-time town have long partied to a familiar soundtrack of popping champagne corks, clacking high heels and the generic beat of computer-generated dance music - whatever it takes to drown out the sound of Lebanon's continual crises. But for a relatively small number of Beirut hipsters, there's another soundtrack, evoking rather than denying the instability of their lives...
...been developing for decades?the creative death of playtime. "The most imaginative play takes place when children have gaps in information that need to be filled," says Susan Linn, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. A generic babydoll, for example, needs a child to give her a personality, a family, what a screenwriter would call a backstory. A teddy bear needs something to do, a plot. But, "when children see the film and then they have all the toys, there's less room to experiment or come...
...this point that Talk to Me embraces a dangerous paradox. By failing to fulfill our generic expectations, by letting its protagonist sink back into local hero status it cheats us of the good feelings we have come to expect from movies about show biz paragons. You leave the theater feeling disappointed by its failure to release the buoyant feelings that last-minute comebacks usually engender. Where's the hit movie, the Broadway triumph, the hysterically greeted concert tour that justifies all the hard times we have endured with our hero or heroine? It's only later, as you think...
...Carter was also the first politician not just to speak of a generic, "God Bless America" sort of civil religion but also to talk openly about his own faith. When he used the phrase "born again" to describe himself, Carter connected with millions of Evangelicals who had previously stayed away from politics. In the summer of 1976, an overzealous pastor introduced Carter to the Southern Baptist Convention as the only candidate in the race whose "initials are the same as our Lord's!" And he earned the endorsement of Pat Robertson. On Election Day, Carter took home more than half...
...more broad than the ads--there are several club-wielding jokes--and it leans heavily on one gag, the caveman as metaphor for real-life minorities. But it's a funny, hard-hitting gag. A news report about a robbery includes a police sketch of the suspect--a hairy, generic australopithecine; the three cavemen buddies argue the merits of using the slur "Cro-magger." ("It's O.K. when we say it.") The show has potential, but the characters actually seem flatter in the 30-min. pilot than in the 30-sec. spots...