David Porter » Articles at Suite 101
Old Film and Musical Ideas Never Die
Films and Musicals That Inspire More Films and Musicals
While the arts are the personification of freedom of expression and the joys of creativity, often they are also about self-promotion and are totally inward looking. But if works of art about works of art and artists succeed in show business, and clearly they do, why would their creators need to look anywhere else for ideas, inspiration and income?
Films about Films
Films from novels we’re used to; films of plays often work. Even films of cartoon/comic book characters also work: Superman (1978), Batman (1989), Spiderman (2002), Watchmen (2009).
From the beginning of the cinema industry, excited by the possibilities of the camera, filmmakers turned the lens inward. Early silent movies like The Cameraman (1928) and Man With a Movie Camera (1929) are films about films.
Woody Allen is a later exponent, but other directors are wise to it too. The Player (1992) is the story of a Hollywood executive who kills an aspiring screenwriter he thought was sending him death threats.
White Hunter Black Heart (1990) is a Clint Eastwood directed piece, a thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
Burden of Dreams (1982) is an extraordinary feature-length documentary shot during and about about the messianic German director Werner Herzog struggling against desperate odds in the Amazon basin to make his epic feature, Fitzcarraldo. A film within a film.
The Muppet Movie is About Fame
The Muppet Movie (1979) is the story of the already famous frog, bear and pig on the road to Hollywood, with cameo appearances from Orson Welles, among others. It is a film about actors, agents, directors and the whole Tinseltown dream.
So is Fame (1980, 2009), a chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts. This is one movie that began as a stage musical.
A film about musicals is The Producers (1968) in which a theatrical impressario plans to cheat investors by deliberately producing a Hollywood flop. Then there are films that inspired musicals, the opposite direction from the expected. Billy Elliot (2005) is based on the 2000 film, and Hairspray (2002) is based on the 1988 film.
Musicals and Films about Show Business
There’s No Business Like Show Business was originally a song by Irving Berlin for the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950 film version), and was then featured in the 1954 movie of the same name. It’s all about the joys of performing in the ‘biz’.
The sentiment of that song sums up the whole notion of the movie business feeding on itself for ideas and treatments. Gypsy (1959) is a musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a famous striptease artiste. I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road was an off-Broadway musical from 1978 in which a 39 year old woman attempts a comeback as a pop star.
The Full Monty was a musical made from the 1997 British film of the same title. The 2005 musical Jersey Boys is a documentary-musical based on the lives of 1960s rock ’n roll group, The Four Seasons. Cabaret (1966 stage musical, 1972 film), A Chorus Line (1976 stage musical, 1985 film) and Moulin Rouge (2001) about a poet and a courtesan are all musicals about showbusiness in some form or other.
In showbusiness, there truly is no business like it.
First published at Suite 101, 11 March 2010.
Photo: Superman Statue Celebrates Film Hits – Mark & Allegra
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Visual and Performing Arts Reuse the Old
Films, Plays and Songs That Inspire Films, Plays and Songs
That one art form can, and does, inspire many sons and daughters in other art forms may be clear from films about films, films about musicals, films of books you have seen, or songs from shows that go on to be used elsewhere.
Cabaret Illustrates the Phenomenon.
Liza Minelli’s film masterpiece of 1972 is often cited as a great work of that decade. Cabaret, the film, came out of the 1966 Broadway musical that derived from John van Druten’s 1951 play I Am A Camera, which in turn was inspired by Christopher Isherwood’s novel, Goodbye to Berlin.
The play Sleuth had a life on stage, and then become film (1972,2007). CS Lewis’ Surprised By Joy, a piece of literature and other linked pieces became a television play, Shadowlands, in 1985, a stage play in 1990 and a film in 1994. His Narnia books have become The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and others have become television films and movies and a stage play.
The Harry Potter novels which started in 1997 have become successful films and inspired untold merchandise to create a brand worth over £15 billion. JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, written between 1937 and 1949 has followed suit onto film. And so it goes on. One thing leads to another, and no good (commercial) idea is allowed to go to waste.
Plays into film and musicals
George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion became the film and musical, My Fair Lady, and as such is remembered more than the original genre. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew became the stage and film musicals, West Side Story and Kiss Me, Kate.
In a slightly different twist, his Hamlet gave two minor characters the leads in Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead, which has yet to become a movie, but perhaps it’s only a matter of time. Shakespeare’s stories about revenge, murder, betrayal, ambition, a sweeping sense of history are, of course, the very essence of good fiction and good movies.
We’ve also got films about journalists: All the President’s Men (1976), Scoop (1987, 2006) and Citizen Kane (1941) – though the central character is a newspaper owner. Most recently, State of Play (2009) is a thriller about investigative journalists.
We have films about radio people: Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Play Misty For Me (1971). There are films about screenwriters: My Favorite Year (1982), and about movie industry workers, The Holiday (2006). It is as if directors and screenwriters are immediately comfortable in a world they already inhabit professionally.
Songs about Songs and Music
War of the Worlds (1978) is a concept music album and concert tour based on the HG Wells’ 1898 sci-fi story, and also films (in 1953 an adaptation of the story told on radio) and (2005, a Speilberg piece).
But it is in the world of song that we see this self-recycling focus at its best. American Pie is a 1971 music album by Don McLean, best known for its title track about The Day the Music Died (dedicated to Buddy Holly). The third track, Vincent, is a tribute to the famed painter Vincent Van Gogh.
Sweet Home Alabama was written as an answer to two songs, Southern Man and Alabama by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. Nightshift is a 1985 hit song by the Commodores and title track from the album of the same name. The song was a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, two famous R&B musicians who had died in 1984.
Bob Dylan’s song Sara has the memorable lines: ‘stayed up for days in the Chelsea Hotel writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for You’. This is a reference to an earlier classic from his own catalogue!
So, the arts themselves become the arts’ best inspirations. And in view of the often phenomenal artistic and commercial successes achieved, there is no reason to suppose this trend will not continue.
Photo: Shakespeare’s Stories Inspire Movies – Unknown
First published on Suite 101, 10 March 2010.
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Mind Your (Parliamentary) Language
Everyday Expressions in English that Originated in Parliament
Not many people know that some commonplace expressions we use frequently began in the House of Commons and their origins make fascinating pub-quiz answers material.
The United Kingdom’s Parliament is the oldest in the world, and over the years it has given the English language many expressions and phrases that often take on other meanings. The result of the forthcoming General Election will focus attention on the building, the traditions and customs. Here are some phrases that have become part of the fabric of the institution.
It’s in the Bag
Behind the Speaker’s Chair – and out of sight of the cameras – hangs a large bag, into which Members of Parliament place petitions from constituents that are required to be considered by the House of Commons, or the government of the day.
Nowadays there is a form of words and procedures for petitions to Parliament, and they are published in the official proceedings, but rarely acknowledged as of burning importance, much less debated in full in the great debating chamber of state.
However, centuries ago, a Member given a petition of local importance could say in all honesty to his constituents that, yes, he had drawn attention to the issue, it would all be sorted out – indeed, with a knowing nudge and a wink – it was in the bag!
Toe the Line
Another phrase is ‘toe the line’. We understand that in general language it means the listener must obey an order just like everybody else. The Party line, the institution line, wherever it is – toe the line means there is an invisible but understood line that nobody should cross.
In Parliament it is a literal line. The Commons Chamber is a long, rather narrow corridor – built on the model of St Stephen’s Chapel where the pews were arranged when Parliament first began by groups of like-minded men sitting together facing those not of like-mind.
After the Germans extensively damaged it by incendiary bombing in the last war, it was rebuilt between 1945 and 1950 on the orders of Prime Minister Churchill, exactly as it was before, so we have still a confrontational, adversarial rectangle. He felt our 2-party system had served us well and said, ‘we shape our buildings and afterwards they shape us’.
There are two parallel red lines woven into the carpet that run the length of the chamber, one each side. The distance between them is about two sword lengths plus six inches.
Members must speak from their side of the line and may not cross it. They must toe the line! Anyone standing from the front row who does allow a foot to stray across towards the opposite side, is frequently ordered back quite sharply. It is a good tactic to disconcert the Member who is speaking.
Swords in Parliament
It dates from days when Members carried swords into the Chamber as part of their daily dress, and were not afraid to use them against those opposite when passions were aroused. Nowadays of course, Members are not allowed to take swords (or any other weapon) into the chamber, but the lines persist.
As do little ribbon loops dangling from the hangers in the Members’ cloakroom by their private entrance, designed to hold their swords. The swords they are not allowed to take into the chamber!
The Whip
This term began in 18th century hunting culture and described a ‘whipper-in’, one who drove stray hounds back to the main pack using a whip.
In Parliament, both Commons and Lords, they are organisers of Party (government or opposition) business and tactics. They appoint Members to committees, sanction time off, authorise foreign and other trips and keep the secrets most Members hope never become public knowledge.
They are generally known as ‘the usual channels’. Enoch Powell once described them ‘as necessary to Parliament as are lavatories’.
To take the Whip means, to belong to and accept the rules of a particular party.
3-line Whip
This is a sign of required attendance and business notified each week by their party whips’ office to each MP on a slip of paper. One line underlining (Whip) means attendance and voting are entirely optional.
Two lines under the business indicates attendance is compulsory unless a Member can arrange a ‘pair’ with a Member in the party opposite.
Three lines is an absolute imperative to turn up and support the party. No excuses. Not even being on a trip overseas or sickness to the point of death. The fate of governments holding their majority in the Commons have hung on such matters.
No Surprises Nowadays
With the perceived decline in public respect for Members of both Commons and Lords, that they are happily involved with weekly whips raises few eyebrows and gives rise to endless jokes. In truth, however, it is all part of what is a rich cultural history and institution – one that has been an inspiration to democracies around the world.
First published on Suite 101, 5 March 2010.
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Good as New Covers of Hit Songs
Pop Music Industry Recycles Top Tunes from the Past
If a song has done well and sold a million a few years ago, most pop moguls think it will sell again. Or a movie might suddenly need that very song, and it’s rehashed, re-recorded and released to a wide-eyed generation of youngsters or nostalgic oldies.
Dolly Parton’s rendition of old-time rockers Led Zeppelin’s 1970s classic, Stairway to Heaven, is a far cry from the original. Sacrilege in the eyes of many diehard fans. Equally, Britney Spears’ recycling The Arrows old hit I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll is an interesting experiment in reinterpretation.
You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
When the Righteous Brothers issued the original of what became the most played song on US radio in the last century (over 8 million times) and Cilla Black issued her cover almost simultaneously, the two versions raced each other up the UK charts.
Unchained Melody
The Righteous Brothers did several covers themselves, including The White Cliffs of Dover (after Vera Lynn) and Unchained Melody. This one first appeared in the movie Unchained in 1955, with a variety of covers following, including Jimmy Young.
Originally the Righteous Brothers’ version was a B side to Hung On You, a Phil Spector piece. Radio DJs preferred it, and it became the hit, to Spector’s fury. From Tamlamotown The Supremes covered it their way on their album I Hear A Symphony.
It 1990 it was used in the movie Ghost and charted again. In 1995 Robson and Jerome released it, coupled with The White Cliffs of Dover – it made Number One and was the best selling single of that year.
Winners Take It All
The runner up in the first series of Pop Idol in 2002, was Gareth Gates. He chose Unchained Melody to perform in the final against Will Young. He didn’t win the show, but his version topped the charts and sold 1.3 million copies.
Pop Idol winner Will Young himself released Light My Fire, either blissfully unaware or not caring about the previous huge commercial success of the Jose Feliciano version, that was itself a realisation of The Doors creation from 1967, which spoke for an era and launched one of the great bands admired by musicians of the hippie era.
X Factor winner Alexander Burke cut a single that hit the coveted 2008 Christmas Number One spot – Hallelujah. Few appreciated it is a 1984 song from the prolific pen of Canadian singer-songwriter-poet, Leonard Cohen, frequently mocked for being the man behind music to which you could happily commit suicide. However, his extraordinary lyrics and haunting melodies over five decades have placed his songs in the unofficial league of Top Ten Most Influential Writers-Musicians of the Last Century.
Even Bob Dylan Songs Are Not Untouchable
Dylan himself has seen hundreds of his own songs covered by artists ranging from The Byrds (early devisers of folk rock) to Stevie Wonder from the Tamlamotown stable, via Joan Baez, the Beach Boys, Michael Bolton, Phil Collins, Marlene Dietrich, Sam Cooke, Green Day, Guns N Roses, Manfred Man, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and The White Stripes to name but a handful.
He has also seen his classic anthem Blowin’ in the Wind not only covered by numerous artists, but most recently used in a TV advert for the Co-Operative, claiming to be good with food. Not so much a cover, as the original Dylan version is used – but another illustration of the endlessly recycling instinct of the pop music industry.
What Goes Around Comes Around, Again
In 2001, Robbie Williams made mileage from his recording of Mac The Knife, following in the footsteps of Bobbie Darin, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong among dozens of others over the years.
When the song speaks of Sukey Tawdry, prostitutes, stabbings and old Mackie‘s back in town, how many fans know it’s an old song by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, the playwright and theatrical theoriser, written for their musical The Threepenny Opera, premiered in 1928?
Susan Boyle smashed into public consciousness in the television show Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 with the aptly titled I Dreamed a Dream lifted from the 1985 hit musical Les Miserables.
The point is that the beauty of poetry and music and any art form, is that it can be endlessly recycled, reinvented, replayed to speak afresh to a new age group, a new time and a new demand for entertainment.
First published at Suite 101, 4 March 2010.
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Articles at Suite 101
Ideas for articles all the time!
Sometimes in business, an article placed in a timely or well-thought out place is helpful in promotion or explaining issues and policies. Articles for in-house or customer publications are frequently needed.
Suite 101 is an international online magazine. I have published over 160 articles on things as diverse as British and international politics, the work of Parliament, the performing arts, film, theatre, pop music, psychology, sociology, current affairs, drama teaching, writing in/for theatre. I have been in the top 10% of most visited articles at Suite 101 for months. Three of my articles to date have won Editor’s Choice Awards for being quality examples of online writing.
I write online out of my many interests, but I have also previously written and edited school newspapers, client publications for a residential housing company, a customer newsletter for a carpet retail outlet. All experience is useful, and nothing is ever wasted in bringing things together to make something interesting and relevant for today.
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