Word: kitsched
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...this era of outrageous, genrebending, over-the-top films, it seems imposible that a mere "musical" first released in 1964 could shock our desensitized ninties selves. But the newly re-released "Umbrellas of Cherbourg," a sung-through, "faux technicolor" kitsch-binge, is downright obscene in its shameless, ecstatic campiness...
...called Free Willy, and you dozed in your seat as your child sat rapt in communion with a lonely lad and his pet whale. Now it's Flipper, a remake of the 1963 film that spawned two sequels and a TV series. But it's still the same primal kitsch: boy finds dolphin, boy loves dolphin, adults wonder what's the big deal with the boy and his dolphin. Jeez! Adults don't understand anything...
...then last week came Sotheby's yard sale of Jacqueline Kennedy's bric-a-brac. Jackie belonged to the founding myth of the '60s. Now the saint's relics of Camelot have turned to kitsch. The gavel-banging crassness of the sell-off may help bring Americans to that objectivity and even disillusionment necessary for what grief specialists refer to as "closure...
Regarding the Holyoke Arcade and the Shops by Harvard, remember, we're only getting rid of all that "pricey kitsch" in those shops that weren't making any money and replacing them with aesthetically pleasing and profitable businesses like the Coop. This will also enable Harvard to continue remodelling and moving things around. (Have you ever seen the Coop or Holyoke Center NOT remodelling?) Shades of the U.S. military arms industry. --Kathleen Chaudhry
When the Shops by Harvard Yard opened two years ago, we thought they were filled with services and goods largely irrelevant to students. We still think so. A $50 handblown vase or a silk tie may be a nice investment, but we don't need pricey kitsch outside our front door...