(08-14-2011 10:20 AM)Mark Wrote:  I'll have to check out "Two Moon Junction." I'm thinking about also doing a post on the WORST examples of male behavior in Hollywood films.

Just about every Asian romantic comedy has the incredibly unrealistic formula of doormat nice-guy puts up with endless amounts of abuse and eventually is able to "convince" the girl that he's truly the right one for her, usually ending with some overly dramatic confession of his love. And people wonder why Asians (I include the former me and many of my friends in this) have fucked up game.

One stands out above the rest though - My Sassy Girl, apparently the highest grossing Korean romantic comedy of all time. That shit is awful.

Though as far as Hollywood goes - Twilight is pretty awful. The guy is essentially a stalker, and the movie is somehow okay with this. In The Graduate (while a great movie) it's hard to imagine Dustin Hoffman's extremely socially awkward character get with anybody let alone get a hot MILF and her daughter.

True that, Trickster. That is one of the main reasons, my "game" was fucked up. I took it to heart and believed in that BS. After all, it so romantic and out of the world to have such superhuman love that transcends everything. Unfortunately, it never works out in real life.

It's really interesting that you brought up "The Graduate." That movie is fucking brilliant, and I think it's aware of it's own idealism. Or at least it seemed to me that way. It wasn't until I watched it again at a much older age (ahem, 27), that I realized that it's satirizing the idealism of the 60's generation. The idea that they can tell their parents to fuck off, to run away together and be in love and everything's going to be perfect with no money or no job. The whole movie is actually really ridiculous when you watch it with an adult perspective.

Mrs. Robinson seducing Hoffman initially is believable. Cougars, especially super desperate cougars who want to feel needed, often cherish building up a young guy's confidence like that.

The bit with the daughter is where it gets interesting though. He totally blows it with her, and then becomes maniacally obsessed with her, stalking her, following her, begging her, fighting with her family over her, etc. The whole thing is very over-the-top and forced. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but it seemed to be aware of how ridiculous it was being -- like it was making fun of a lot of the romantic movies of the 50's and 60's and the idealism of kids in their late teens, early 20's. Because when everybody is 19 or 21 or whatever, everybody honestly believes that staying up an entire night standing in some girl's front yard is worth it.

Definitely a classic though. I love that movie.

Also, some trivia about that movie: apparently they original cast Robert Redford in the lead role. The director got frustrated with him because he couldn't act pathetic and needy enough. So finally during one of the early rehearsals the director told Redford, "You know how it feels when you ask a girl on a date and she says no? That's how your character is all the time."

Redford replied, "Sorry, but I don't know what that feels like."

So they fired him and went out and got Hoffman, a relative no name at the time.

I'm surprised no one has commented on Rudolph Valentino. Do silent movies count haha?

(08-15-2011 06:09 PM)Mark Wrote:  It's really interesting that you brought up "The Graduate." That movie is fucking brilliant, and I think it's aware of it's own idealism. Or at least it seemed to me that way. It wasn't until I watched it again at a much older age (ahem, 27), that I realized that it's satirizing the idealism of the 60's generation. The idea that they can tell their parents to fuck off, to run away together and be in love and everything's going to be perfect with no money or no job. The whole movie is actually really ridiculous when you watch it with an adult perspective.

Mrs. Robinson seducing Hoffman initially is believable. Cougars, especially super desperate cougars who want to feel needed, often cherish building up a young guy's confidence like that.

The bit with the daughter is where it gets interesting though. He totally blows it with her, and then becomes maniacally obsessed with her, stalking her, following her, begging her, fighting with her family over her, etc. The whole thing is very over-the-top and forced. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but it seemed to be aware of how ridiculous it was being -- like it was making fun of a lot of the romantic movies of the 50's and 60's and the idealism of kids in their late teens, early 20's. Because when everybody is 19 or 21 or whatever, everybody honestly believes that staying up an entire night standing in some girl's front yard is worth it.

Definitely a classic though. I love that movie.

Also, some trivia about that movie: apparently they original cast Robert Redford in the lead role. The director got frustrated with him because he couldn't act pathetic and needy enough. So finally during one of the early rehearsals the director told Redford, "You know how it feels when you ask a girl on a date and she says no? That's how your character is all the time."

Redford replied, "Sorry, but I don't know what that feels like."

So they fired him and went out and got Hoffman, a relative no name at the time.

Interestingly, as a side story, a number of years ago I had my own "Mrs. Robinson" experience with a former boss of mine who was 10 years older than me and unhappily married. This was before I ever knew about the community. Never did sleep with her, but did flirt with her hard and made out with her - eventually her husband caught us text flirting back and forth. I knew him too, and he treated me exactly the way Mrs. Robinson's husband treats Dustin Hoffman when he finds out about the affair - sorta a mixture of awkward coldness.

Starting at about 4:30, this shows a decent example of persistence.