Author: Douglas McLennan

WHICH WAY TO THE CULTURE WAR?

Attacking culture is usually good for a few votes. But so far the candidates in this year’s US elections have been generally quiet. “Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s selection as Al Gore’s running mate prompted a flurry of Hollywood hand-wringing, but so far the vice presidential nominee has spent more time attacking George W. Bush’s tax-cut plan than the way women are tortured in ‘The Cell’.” – Los Angeles Times 08/28/00

THE SENATOR AND ART

US VP-candidate Joe Lieberman’s criticism of popular culture has free-speech advocates worried. But he’s also a supporter of government funding for the arts.  “To have strict restrictions, having the government being judge and jury of what’s acceptable art, (Lieberman) doesn’t believe that’s an appropriate role for government.” – Boston Herald 08/28/00

FILM DECAYED

“Those who object to the violent, sexist or otherwise ugly images in movies tend to seek censorship, either by the industry itself or by legislation. I agree that movies, music, television programs and all privately funded works of art must be protected against censorship without regard to their content. But I also agree with those who say that the content of a lot of current art, including popular film, feeds an ongoing moral decay in our culture.” – Los Angeles Times 08/28/00

THE POLITICS OF MONUMENTS

“For reasons no one has satisfactorily explained, a few well-placed, influential men – apparently chief among them J. Carter Brown, chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, and Bob Dole, former senator and Republican presidential nominee, now national campaign chairman of the World War II Memorial – are hellbent not merely on building a memorial but on building one of surpassing ugliness and placing it right in the heart of the National Mall.” – Washington Post 08/28/00

BBC AMERICA, —

  • — the BBC’s U.S. channel, was launched two years ago and is already so popular its audience base rivals the BBC proper. “Why is BBC America growing so fast? [BBC America’s president] and his programming staff get to pick the best of the BBC, programs that already are battle-tested, turned into hits and refined.” – Inside.com

THE GREED FOR SPEED

“New technology confronts all programme-makers with genetic modification in the name of economy and efficiency: as budgets and schedules shrink, we lose vital space for human factors – surprise, and the room to fail, to make mistakes, to rethink and work on them until we get them right. As demand mounts for instant strong results, ethical concerns are inevitably downgraded.” – New Statesman

A GAME OF RISK

BBC chief Greg Dyke proposed a “revolutionary transformation of the BBC channels” last week that includes more arts programming and educational content. “If he pulls it off, Dyke will earn himself the reputation of the man who saved the BBC from the ravages of the digital age, maintaining the corporation as a universal broadcaster at the centre of cultural life in Britain. The risks of the strategy cannot be underestimated: mess it up and the BBC will be left in ruins.” – The Guardian

CAN’T WE DO BETTER THAN THIS?

This has been one of the shabbiest movie summers in memory – a stretch as desolate as a beach closed by the Board of Health. Still, out of habit, people make the trek, and while remaining fully dressed poke at the debris that’s washed up. There’s always something to be admired in this old boot or that chunk of scrap metal, decomposing amid the syringes and jellyfish. – The Nation

NEW BLOOD ON BROADWAY

Broadway’s 2000-01 musical season showcases the work of a surprising number of young composers, including seven premieres of new work by songwriters in their forties or younger. “I think people are just wising up to the fact that they’re going to run out of revivals. Producers are finally realizing that musicals don’t just get born somewhere where you can go shop for them, and there is a groundswell of young people writing in a more pop vernacular.” – New York Times