Word: naif
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...Arab as Unruly Child. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) remains the best-known example of the Arab as a political naif in need of tutelage from a wiser Westerner, often adorned in Arab garb -- a better Arab than the Arabs themselves (see Indiana Jones I and III). Remove that "guidance," and get the chaos of Lawrence's end: Arab leaders at one another's throats in a scene reminiscent of the depiction of black politicians in the racist Birth of a Nation...
...what a naif! There ought to be speech code against such mundanities...
This choice is particularly odd since the film is about the kind of naif Capra adored and Sturges affectionately satirized. His name is Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) and he's plucked out of the mailroom and made president of Hudsucker Industries when its founder (Charles Durning) commits spectacular suicide. You can imagine either Jimmy Stewart or Eddie Bracken in the part, but Robbins has a tricky modernist charm all his own. And you can just as easily imagine Edward Arnold as the evil genius of the board of directors, Sidney J. Mussburger, although Paul Newman brings a sprightly spite...
...political instincts of a country parson. His involvement in several notable White House debacles, including the travel-office uproar, the extended search for an Attorney General and the choice of an easily targeted Lani Guinier for a top Justice Department post, earned him the reputation of a Beltway naif and worse. Until last week the most serious charges against him involved his actions after the apparent suicide last year of White House lawyer Vincent Foster, when Nussbaum interfered in investigators' attempts to examine Foster's office and removed some records, including files pertaining to Whitewater. It was an odd notion...
...remotely worthy of comparison with London's Royal National and Royal Shakespeare companies or Canada's Shaw and Stratford festivals. If Timon is a great leap forward, Randall's next vehicle, The Government Inspector, could be a big jump back. He plays the title role, a naif of 23 -- an age Randall reached half a century ago. The irrepressible farceur says with a mildly manic laugh, "I'd like to be acting every night of my life. That's why I formed this theater." His tone sobering, he adds, "In a noncommercial circumstance, age shouldn't matter...