Picnic

 I giggle to think that this film is an Academy Award winner, and Stephen has to watch it.

My review and opinions of this film are heavily influenced by the review at http://www.emanuellevy.com/review/picnic-1955-8/

The movie, from moment one, struck me mostly as something culturally authentic. I don't mean authentic like gritty, or documentary (of course, Hollywood his its own kind of realism), but in the styles and attitudes of the time. The hairstyles reminded me of my grandparents.

Like the fifties, this film watered down a stereotypical community into archetypes, and then filled them with all the anxieties of an age. That's A LOT of anxiety, and they all express quite well (well, quite a lot, anyway). But we can see the general concerns about education, an awareness of looksism just in its infancy, and every single female desperate for some kind of truce in the gender wars (which women lost badly in that decade).

I'm not sure if the ending was happy or sad, but it's definitely indicative of a forward motion. Madge sends the final moments spinning toward hope, rather than mal-forming her future to fit conventions of the past, or in reaction to her own mother's fear. I saw genuine positivity, rather than simply assuming good only if she married Hal, and resting on that uncertainty.

William Holden played a fascinating character here. Not his usual suave playboy, Hal boasts, jumps around, shows off, and generally doesn't act his age (I believe the actor was thirty-seven in this picture). I still admire the skill and energy he put into the role.