This is a lot like the 60's were. The strange mix of hedonism & high ideals really is what the 60's were all about. Many of us weren't quite that wild but a surprising percentage were (minus the murders of course). Most recovered but some are still living under a bridge near you. The streets are far more cynical & deadly now. I imagine the younger readers understand this all too well. If you don't, not to worry you soon will. This film would have been made just after the Tate-LaBianca murders & I see the beginning-end framing scene as a ripoff & an acknowledgment of this; the true end point of the peace love thing. Since this movie is perhaps the ideal statement,epitaph & testament to those long gone times you will indulge me a few observations. First, we had good reasons. The Cold War was at it's peak; nobody knew if the world had a future. Thus there was a kind of party frenzy that accompanies many wars. The WW-II crowd will know all about this; eat, drink & be merry for tomorrow you die. Second, there were just so MANY of us. They don't call us the Baby Boomers for nothing. There was no place for us. Our parents (the WW-IIers) were living in happily ever after land (like the movies from their times said to). After all they had paid their dues in the War & the Depression. They were getting older & had no stomach for another fight to protect their nearly grown kids. We were on our own. Third, we were so media soaked (as all of us are now & ever increasingly) that we felt an enormous need to live a real (not vicarious or virtual) life. The Beats had pointed this out to us & Warhol was frantically trying to warn society of it's dangers. It is a lesson that needs to be taken to heart. This stealing away of the individual's life is one of Islam's main beefs with our Megamedia culture. Look at the Iraqis in the news. You see a more genuine face; not partly copied from some movie or TV show. More real. Their speech is not spiced with advertising slogans or catch phrases from some sitcom. Is our way really that much better?
The end narration with it's moral comments on the work itself goes way beyond what the soaps would try to get away with. In a way it talks down to the audience. The sad fact is at that time we probably needed it all spelled out for us like that. Some kinds of wisdom only come with age. The message seems to be leave the media dictated life truly behind; move 'Beyond The Valley of The Dolls'. Our favorite game was "Cooler Than Thou" but the Beat idea of cool went completely over our posing & posturing heads. This movie probably did too.
I think that soon with all the cameras & U-Tube etc the Megamedia Culture will die out or at least change into something more evolved. I hope that something is more real rather than more conceited. (Sad to say now several years later the reality shows have fully arrived & they are more conceited. The horrible mutant offspring of Warhol's experiments like 'Chelsea Girls' escaped from the lab.)
One last observation. A strange case of life following art unfolded with the Phil Spector trial. The character of 'Z-Man' is supposed to be based on him.
The end narration with it's moral comments on the work itself goes way beyond what the soaps would try to get away with. In a way it talks down to the audience. The sad fact is at that time we probably needed it all spelled out for us like that. Some kinds of wisdom only come with age. The message seems to be leave the media dictated life truly behind; move 'Beyond The Valley of The Dolls'. Our favorite game was "Cooler Than Thou" but the Beat idea of cool went completely over our posing & posturing heads. This movie probably did too.
I think that soon with all the cameras & U-Tube etc the Megamedia Culture will die out or at least change into something more evolved. I hope that something is more real rather than more conceited. (Sad to say now several years later the reality shows have fully arrived & they are more conceited. The horrible mutant offspring of Warhol's experiments like 'Chelsea Girls' escaped from the lab.)
One last observation. A strange case of life following art unfolded with the Phil Spector trial. The character of 'Z-Man' is supposed to be based on him.