Word: grit
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...down at the Manila airport in 1983. Marcos is said to look upon Aquino as an insolent upstart who stole Malacanang Palace from her and the late Ferdinand. "Although they are poles apart when it comes to morality," observes Benigno, "Cory and Imelda are twins when it comes to grit, determination and obstinacy...
...symbol of genius. We've all grown up with the vision of the humble patent examiner who overturned physics, with his corona of white hair and the sad deep eyes that have seen further than you can look. In our minds he floats like a sockless tumbleweed above the grit of mundane life. Behind the face we all recognize is a man we do not know...
...Whiffles -- an Ur-nerd quartet in plaid cummerbunds and smug smiles -- launch into a rendition of Sh-Boom at the charm-school talent show, and Cry-Baby takes off to parody paradise. It becomes a real musical (new songs, production numbers) and a careering melodrama: Grease with grit. Cliches collide, and so do jalopies; lightning strikes; the jailhouse rocks. Lovers lose themselves in a French-kissing dance that would have been banned on Bandstand...
...America tuning in? One reason may be the refreshing dose of real- world grit these shows provide. "With Ozzie and Harriet, everyone felt guilty," says Barbara Cadow, a psychologist at U.S.C. School of Medicine. "With these new programs, we see that we're doing all right by comparison." Alvin Poussaint, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an adviser to The Cosby Show, suggests that these shows, with their exaggerated nastiness, are an "outlet for people who feel, yeah, they really would like to knock the kid in the head, but they know it's wrong...
...clearest instances of this newfound grit are the two most famous speeches. When Lois Smith, giving the finest performance of a great stage career, says as Ma Joad that she knows "the people" will endure, she offers none of the reassuring faith of Jane Darwell in the film. Her words are instead the hollow attempt of a frightened peasant to calm herself and to reassure a son she expects never to see again. When Gary Sinise as Tom Joad tells her that wherever people are organizing for freedom and a better day, he will be there, he does not ooze...