- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
This is a modernism magazine-consciousness parable inspired by the media-values parody film America's Sweethearts.
Since it's political in tone/theme, I didn't feel altogether comfortable posting it in the Writing section, but I hope you like it (and welcome any kind of comments!).
Cheers (signing off),
====
Ajay Satan was a radical Internet-blogger and self-proclaimed 'democracy-vigilante' who dressed up in weird costumes and posted about pornography/censorship controversies in the modern age of media. Ajay called himself 'Dr. Doom' and wanted to explore how the depiction of Hollywood damsels and celebrated Hollywood couples such as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman reinforced in everyone's minds the notion that magazine-consciousness fueled lifestyle daydreams. Was this the age of Facebook and dollmakers?
Of course, People Magazine revealed to Americans our modern-day fascination with fun and glittering or even racy stories about luminous celebrities trolling around the world and creating various kinds of journalistic intrigue. We lived in a world where postcards and Little Orphan Annie encouraged the masses to participate in mainstream culture through toys and avatars. Now, celebrities were diplomats of this magazine matrix, and Ajay (Dr. Doom) wanted to see if Hollywood romances inspired real-world social imagination (about life and guidance).
Everyone loves consumerism and modern traffic, more or less. We love paintings of vintage soda-bottles in America or depictions of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Hurley as 'angels of the bazaar.' Iconic Hollywood couples that inspired in audiences daydreams about fairy-tale romance included Tracy-Hepburn, Bogart-Bacall, Cruise-Kidman, Russell-Hawn, and Depp-Ryder. However, what was lacking was a clear way to engineer these 'on-screen enchantments' into profitable real-world traffic signposts (e.g., Love Connection).
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn were respected for maintaining a very long and fruitful married life and had a celebrity-daughter in Kate Hudson who did lauded acting-work in the film Almost Famous before starting her own fitness-gear company Fabletics. Hudson's Fabletics reminded consumers of why celebrities might dabble into the world of real-life goods markets (e.g., Newman's Own pasta-sauces and salad-dressing) and encourage fans to think about the media matrix in terms of democratic chatter (e.g., Vanity Fair). Could consumerism/media create real-life values optimism?
Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder were the 'it-couple' from the earlier decades, before Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were making splashes with their Kubrick exposition Eyes Wide Shut. Depp and Ryder ended up separating, but many of their fans still consider them the most fairy-tale like Hollywood romance, having made Edward Scissorhands (a tale of unrequited daydreams) together. Depp-Ryder was the new-gen Bogart-Bacall. Maybe all Hollywood needed was the right new kind of social commentary and political cartoons, which is where Ajay (Dr. Doom) stepped in, writing blogs about Depp-Ryder as comic book 'superheroes' for a media age bereft of many forms of ethics-guidance!
DR. DOOM: "It seems that if Depp and Ryder made a film about Captain America (Marvel Comics), featuring Scarlet Witch (Marvel Comics) as a love-interest, then fans would appreciate why an on-screen pairing/depiction of Depp-Ryder as comics-characters would appeal to audiences' sensibilities about modern social fantasies. After all, shouldn't media, movies, and mythologies inspire in us some kind of fairy-tale folklore? We want to think of Bogart-Bacall or Depp-Ryder as Captain America and Scarlet Witch, and no anti-democratic terrorist group (e.g., ISIS, Cobra) will convince us that American media can't be child-like(!)."
Many celebrities started reading Dr. Doom's posts/blogs on the Internet, and Cher called him the 'online Max Headroom.' According to Doom, various celebrities should start proactively thinking of forming public-spotlight pairings/couplings (e.g., George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Connelly and Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Fiona Apple, etc.) to declare 'divorce/separation insurance proposals' as representative of modern media 'security-nets.' Was Doom (Ajay) right? Was American media conducive to separation-anxiety chatter (i.e., celebrity couplings for post-divorce/separation options)? Would celebrities want to tell the press things like, "Well, if Goldie and I divorce, I have a standing offer from Elizabeth Hurley to consider a more stable romance!"
DR. DOOM: "What Hollywood/media needs is good postcards or even novelty-items/toys like Garbage Pail Kids cards to remind them of the lighthearted silliness of pedestrian political-cartoons, SNL celebrity-humor, and People Magazine gossip. We want to hear things like 'Tom Cruise tried to run away from Nicole Kidman when he discovered she was a Luciferian instead of a Scientologist!' However, we need to be sure that people/Americans actually equate pop-cartoons and cinema-comics with social values."
Of course, the first/original 'celebrity couple' was Jesus and Magdalene, and their possible 'romance' was explored by many religious scholars and revisionist historians who considered the likelihood that Christ's loneliness led him into the arms of Magdalene. This early pairing of 'social icons' (Jesus-Magdalene) continues to remind us why social consciousness is somehow 'linked' to the deification of rumors and the harmless nature of yellow-journalism. Until we come to more developed conclusions, let's enjoy Bogart-Bacall films on AMC!
====
Since it's political in tone/theme, I didn't feel altogether comfortable posting it in the Writing section, but I hope you like it (and welcome any kind of comments!).
Cheers (signing off),
====
Ajay Satan was a radical Internet-blogger and self-proclaimed 'democracy-vigilante' who dressed up in weird costumes and posted about pornography/censorship controversies in the modern age of media. Ajay called himself 'Dr. Doom' and wanted to explore how the depiction of Hollywood damsels and celebrated Hollywood couples such as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman reinforced in everyone's minds the notion that magazine-consciousness fueled lifestyle daydreams. Was this the age of Facebook and dollmakers?
Of course, People Magazine revealed to Americans our modern-day fascination with fun and glittering or even racy stories about luminous celebrities trolling around the world and creating various kinds of journalistic intrigue. We lived in a world where postcards and Little Orphan Annie encouraged the masses to participate in mainstream culture through toys and avatars. Now, celebrities were diplomats of this magazine matrix, and Ajay (Dr. Doom) wanted to see if Hollywood romances inspired real-world social imagination (about life and guidance).
Everyone loves consumerism and modern traffic, more or less. We love paintings of vintage soda-bottles in America or depictions of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Hurley as 'angels of the bazaar.' Iconic Hollywood couples that inspired in audiences daydreams about fairy-tale romance included Tracy-Hepburn, Bogart-Bacall, Cruise-Kidman, Russell-Hawn, and Depp-Ryder. However, what was lacking was a clear way to engineer these 'on-screen enchantments' into profitable real-world traffic signposts (e.g., Love Connection).
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn were respected for maintaining a very long and fruitful married life and had a celebrity-daughter in Kate Hudson who did lauded acting-work in the film Almost Famous before starting her own fitness-gear company Fabletics. Hudson's Fabletics reminded consumers of why celebrities might dabble into the world of real-life goods markets (e.g., Newman's Own pasta-sauces and salad-dressing) and encourage fans to think about the media matrix in terms of democratic chatter (e.g., Vanity Fair). Could consumerism/media create real-life values optimism?
Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder were the 'it-couple' from the earlier decades, before Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were making splashes with their Kubrick exposition Eyes Wide Shut. Depp and Ryder ended up separating, but many of their fans still consider them the most fairy-tale like Hollywood romance, having made Edward Scissorhands (a tale of unrequited daydreams) together. Depp-Ryder was the new-gen Bogart-Bacall. Maybe all Hollywood needed was the right new kind of social commentary and political cartoons, which is where Ajay (Dr. Doom) stepped in, writing blogs about Depp-Ryder as comic book 'superheroes' for a media age bereft of many forms of ethics-guidance!
DR. DOOM: "It seems that if Depp and Ryder made a film about Captain America (Marvel Comics), featuring Scarlet Witch (Marvel Comics) as a love-interest, then fans would appreciate why an on-screen pairing/depiction of Depp-Ryder as comics-characters would appeal to audiences' sensibilities about modern social fantasies. After all, shouldn't media, movies, and mythologies inspire in us some kind of fairy-tale folklore? We want to think of Bogart-Bacall or Depp-Ryder as Captain America and Scarlet Witch, and no anti-democratic terrorist group (e.g., ISIS, Cobra) will convince us that American media can't be child-like(!)."
Many celebrities started reading Dr. Doom's posts/blogs on the Internet, and Cher called him the 'online Max Headroom.' According to Doom, various celebrities should start proactively thinking of forming public-spotlight pairings/couplings (e.g., George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Connelly and Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Fiona Apple, etc.) to declare 'divorce/separation insurance proposals' as representative of modern media 'security-nets.' Was Doom (Ajay) right? Was American media conducive to separation-anxiety chatter (i.e., celebrity couplings for post-divorce/separation options)? Would celebrities want to tell the press things like, "Well, if Goldie and I divorce, I have a standing offer from Elizabeth Hurley to consider a more stable romance!"
DR. DOOM: "What Hollywood/media needs is good postcards or even novelty-items/toys like Garbage Pail Kids cards to remind them of the lighthearted silliness of pedestrian political-cartoons, SNL celebrity-humor, and People Magazine gossip. We want to hear things like 'Tom Cruise tried to run away from Nicole Kidman when he discovered she was a Luciferian instead of a Scientologist!' However, we need to be sure that people/Americans actually equate pop-cartoons and cinema-comics with social values."
Of course, the first/original 'celebrity couple' was Jesus and Magdalene, and their possible 'romance' was explored by many religious scholars and revisionist historians who considered the likelihood that Christ's loneliness led him into the arms of Magdalene. This early pairing of 'social icons' (Jesus-Magdalene) continues to remind us why social consciousness is somehow 'linked' to the deification of rumors and the harmless nature of yellow-journalism. Until we come to more developed conclusions, let's enjoy Bogart-Bacall films on AMC!
====
