Manchurian Candidate: Then and Now
I finally took in the theatrical movie "The Manchurian Candidate" last weekend, then watched a DVD of the original last night. They are both good movies, but the differences are revealing.
For one thing, the power-mad, villainous mother has gone from a manipulating political wife to a manipulative senator. Righties say Meryl Streep's character is obviously based on Hillary Clinton, and lefties assume that the inspiration for the character must be Barbara Bush. The actress admits to using many manipulative characters, mostly Maggie Thatcher (although I thought I saw some of Lady Macbeth in there).
But what really struck me is the replacement of The International Communist Conspiracy with two unrelated villains. First, there's the Terrorist Threat, which dominates all the political speeches and television reports in the new movie, and serves as the fear-generating device used by cynical politicos. Second, we have Manchurian Global, the Halliburton/Carlyle Group style multinational investment company that actually does the brainwashing to cement their place in U.S. government.
Both movies maintain a careful non-partisan stance. Lefties point out how the New York convention makes this clearly the GOP, while righties dwell on the striking resemblance of the candidates to Kerry and Edwards. I felt like the visual similarities to the Democrats let the filmmakers get away with what might come across as an anti-Bush polemic.
I also noted that the original leaves the Frank Sinatra/Major Marcos character in the Army as he goes on to Save the World. The Denzel Washington/Marcos character is discharged from the Army, and then Saves the World on his own, albeit with the help of the FBI.
But, as I said, the movies are both top-notch entertainment. Their differences tell me more about how the moviegoing audiences have changed, and who makes a plausible/acceptable villain or hero these days.
-Scott
[here's a link to the Metacritic page on the new movie]
Last year, Linda's birthday presents included a lawn goose. Every few months (or more often sometimes) we change her costume. Linda has made some, her sister Jeannette has given her some, and some we order from LawnGooseDesigns.com.
