do bears bear? do bees be?
Apr. 25th, 2003 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fearlesstempI have suddenly become obsessed with Moonlighting, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. I really feel that this show NEEDS to come out on DVD, like, rightnow. I just looked on Amazon.com and it looks like you can buy the pilot episode on DVD (with commentary by Bruce Willis! And his screen test! OMG how cool is that?!), and I'm probably going to buy it, but I want MORE.
Because seriously, how great was that show? I remember when I was eleven or so, it was in syndication on Lifetime or something, and I would watch it every afternoon after school. That and Remington Steele, and while Remington Steele was fabulous (Pierce Brosnan, hello!), Moonlighting will always own my heart because of how totally out there the show was, breaking the fourth wall with abandon and just generally being ridiculous and fun and brilliant.
I watched Bringing Up Baby last night, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I think Moonlighting is the closest thing in recent memory (that I know of) that's touched the wild, carefree zaniness that was present in so many of those great screwball comedies of the 1930s. Like, for example, dialog -- a lot of movies and TV shows from the past ten years have remarkably fast-paced and smart dialog (I'm thinking Sorkin shows, Buffy, even Dawson's Creek if you're talking an overabundance of SAT words), but none of them really carries that high-spirited, off-the-wall and ridiculous (but still brilliant) spirit that was so present in movies like Bringing Up Baby, or His Girl Friday, and others.
I mean, come on! Who doesn't love this stuff?
David. You lied to me.
Susan: No...
David: Telling me a ridiculous story about a leopard.
Susan: No, it wasn't a ridiculous story. I have a leopard.
David: Well where is the leopard?
Susan: Right in there (gesturing toward the bathroom).
David: I don't believe you, Susan.
Susan: But you have to believe me. It's the absolute truth.
David: I've been a victim of your unbridled imagination once more. (He opens the bathroom door, and finds Baby snarling at him. He quickly slams the door and looks alarmed.)
Susan: That'll teach ya to go around saying things about people.
David: Susan, you've got to get out of this apartment!
Susan: But David, I can't. I have a lease.
~
Susan: Oh David, your sock's on fire.
David: Oh, that's all right, I don't care anymore.
Susan: Well - (She throws the other sock into the bonfire.)
David: Ha-ha, that's fine. Throw the other one in.
Susan: Oh that's true, you could have...Oh, well, don't be upset, David.
David: Oh well, who wouldn't be? My goodness, Susan, here I am trying to help you find a leopard so that your Aunt Elizabeth won't be angry at you. And then she'll probably give you the million dollars that I need for my museum. Well, if you'd planned it, you couldn't have ruined my chances more completely. You told your Aunt I was crazy, didn't you?...You told her my name was Bone and you didn't tell me. You told her I was a big-game hunter and you didn't tell me. You tell anybody anything that comes into your head and you don't tell me...
~~
It's just fabulous stuff. And Kate Hepburn and Cary Grant are just perfection. And Moonlighting! Who can challenge the greatness of stuff like this:
David: I remember when they told Sylvia Plath, "Hey, Syl, cheer up!" I remember when they told e. e. cummings, "e, baby; use caps!" But did ol' e listen? No. Little n. Little o.
~
Maddie: David, may I please have some ANSWERS?!
David: Delaware, all of the above, 90 degrees.
~
Man: You can't just burst in here like that.
David Addison: Oh yeah? Tell that to the writers.
~
Security Officer: I'm sorry, but you're not on the guest list.
David Addison: That's because we're not guests. We're looking for a man with a mole on his nose.
Security Officer: A mole on his nose?
Maddie Hayes: A mole on his nose.
Security Officer: [to Maddie] What kind of clothes?
Maddie Hayes: [to David] What kind of clothes?
David Addison: What kind of clothes do you suppose?
Security Officer: What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows?
David Addison: Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking with the mole on his nose? I'm not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he's Chinese, a big clue by itself.
Maddie Hayes: How do you do that?
David Addison: Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss.
Security Officer: I'm sorry to say, I'm sad to report, I haven't seen anyone at all of that sort. Not a man who's Chinese with a mole on his nose with some kind of clothes that you can't suppose. So get away from this door and get out of this place, or I'll have to hurt you -- put my foot in your face.
~~
It makes me wonder if both male characters are named David by accident, even if Moonlighting is really a gender switch from Bringing Up Baby, with the male character as the crazy, free spirit and the female character as the more reserved one.
And I know Moonlighting did kind of fall apart when Maddie and David got together, and I suppose that was a mistake, but I don't know what else they could have done. The energy the show chose to emulate (that of the screwball comedy) is one that can't effectively be maintained for too long, and I think they should be commended for doing as well as they did for so long. The whole point of the screwball comedy is that it rejects traditional concepts of marriage and family and finds joy in the haphazard craziness of the clashing of conflicting worldviews. I mean, even though His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby both end with a they-get-together happily ever after, the films imply that the give-and-take that preceded the union is going to continue -- Hildy's taking back the husband she dumped and there's no promise that the same problems she faced before aren't going to crop up again, and David seems alternately happy and resigned to his union with Susan (well, I guess he's allowed, since she did just about destroy his life's work). The point is that they choose these lives over the more safe, secure, and tame lives their more "normal" partners offered earlier, and it's clear there are going to be problems, and maybe it won't even work out, but the thing is that the movie ends there. Moonlighting put the happy ending in the middle and then had to deal with the question of what happens next, and it makes sense that it wasn't as fun. I mean, come on! They killed Maddie's kid! And, okay, that does really happen. It's part of life, but it's not part of a screwball comedy, and that's where the problem is. I'm always torn between giving them credit for going there and wishing they'd never tried.
I don't know. I haven't seen the show in forever! I don't even really know what I'm talking about! You know what would help? Having the show on DVD! This Must Happen.
And now back to work.
Because seriously, how great was that show? I remember when I was eleven or so, it was in syndication on Lifetime or something, and I would watch it every afternoon after school. That and Remington Steele, and while Remington Steele was fabulous (Pierce Brosnan, hello!), Moonlighting will always own my heart because of how totally out there the show was, breaking the fourth wall with abandon and just generally being ridiculous and fun and brilliant.
I watched Bringing Up Baby last night, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I think Moonlighting is the closest thing in recent memory (that I know of) that's touched the wild, carefree zaniness that was present in so many of those great screwball comedies of the 1930s. Like, for example, dialog -- a lot of movies and TV shows from the past ten years have remarkably fast-paced and smart dialog (I'm thinking Sorkin shows, Buffy, even Dawson's Creek if you're talking an overabundance of SAT words), but none of them really carries that high-spirited, off-the-wall and ridiculous (but still brilliant) spirit that was so present in movies like Bringing Up Baby, or His Girl Friday, and others.
I mean, come on! Who doesn't love this stuff?
David. You lied to me.
Susan: No...
David: Telling me a ridiculous story about a leopard.
Susan: No, it wasn't a ridiculous story. I have a leopard.
David: Well where is the leopard?
Susan: Right in there (gesturing toward the bathroom).
David: I don't believe you, Susan.
Susan: But you have to believe me. It's the absolute truth.
David: I've been a victim of your unbridled imagination once more. (He opens the bathroom door, and finds Baby snarling at him. He quickly slams the door and looks alarmed.)
Susan: That'll teach ya to go around saying things about people.
David: Susan, you've got to get out of this apartment!
Susan: But David, I can't. I have a lease.
~
Susan: Oh David, your sock's on fire.
David: Oh, that's all right, I don't care anymore.
Susan: Well - (She throws the other sock into the bonfire.)
David: Ha-ha, that's fine. Throw the other one in.
Susan: Oh that's true, you could have...Oh, well, don't be upset, David.
David: Oh well, who wouldn't be? My goodness, Susan, here I am trying to help you find a leopard so that your Aunt Elizabeth won't be angry at you. And then she'll probably give you the million dollars that I need for my museum. Well, if you'd planned it, you couldn't have ruined my chances more completely. You told your Aunt I was crazy, didn't you?...You told her my name was Bone and you didn't tell me. You told her I was a big-game hunter and you didn't tell me. You tell anybody anything that comes into your head and you don't tell me...
~~
It's just fabulous stuff. And Kate Hepburn and Cary Grant are just perfection. And Moonlighting! Who can challenge the greatness of stuff like this:
David: I remember when they told Sylvia Plath, "Hey, Syl, cheer up!" I remember when they told e. e. cummings, "e, baby; use caps!" But did ol' e listen? No. Little n. Little o.
~
Maddie: David, may I please have some ANSWERS?!
David: Delaware, all of the above, 90 degrees.
~
Man: You can't just burst in here like that.
David Addison: Oh yeah? Tell that to the writers.
~
Security Officer: I'm sorry, but you're not on the guest list.
David Addison: That's because we're not guests. We're looking for a man with a mole on his nose.
Security Officer: A mole on his nose?
Maddie Hayes: A mole on his nose.
Security Officer: [to Maddie] What kind of clothes?
Maddie Hayes: [to David] What kind of clothes?
David Addison: What kind of clothes do you suppose?
Security Officer: What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows?
David Addison: Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking with the mole on his nose? I'm not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he's Chinese, a big clue by itself.
Maddie Hayes: How do you do that?
David Addison: Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss.
Security Officer: I'm sorry to say, I'm sad to report, I haven't seen anyone at all of that sort. Not a man who's Chinese with a mole on his nose with some kind of clothes that you can't suppose. So get away from this door and get out of this place, or I'll have to hurt you -- put my foot in your face.
~~
It makes me wonder if both male characters are named David by accident, even if Moonlighting is really a gender switch from Bringing Up Baby, with the male character as the crazy, free spirit and the female character as the more reserved one.
And I know Moonlighting did kind of fall apart when Maddie and David got together, and I suppose that was a mistake, but I don't know what else they could have done. The energy the show chose to emulate (that of the screwball comedy) is one that can't effectively be maintained for too long, and I think they should be commended for doing as well as they did for so long. The whole point of the screwball comedy is that it rejects traditional concepts of marriage and family and finds joy in the haphazard craziness of the clashing of conflicting worldviews. I mean, even though His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby both end with a they-get-together happily ever after, the films imply that the give-and-take that preceded the union is going to continue -- Hildy's taking back the husband she dumped and there's no promise that the same problems she faced before aren't going to crop up again, and David seems alternately happy and resigned to his union with Susan (well, I guess he's allowed, since she did just about destroy his life's work). The point is that they choose these lives over the more safe, secure, and tame lives their more "normal" partners offered earlier, and it's clear there are going to be problems, and maybe it won't even work out, but the thing is that the movie ends there. Moonlighting put the happy ending in the middle and then had to deal with the question of what happens next, and it makes sense that it wasn't as fun. I mean, come on! They killed Maddie's kid! And, okay, that does really happen. It's part of life, but it's not part of a screwball comedy, and that's where the problem is. I'm always torn between giving them credit for going there and wishing they'd never tried.
I don't know. I haven't seen the show in forever! I don't even really know what I'm talking about! You know what would help? Having the show on DVD! This Must Happen.
And now back to work.
