This is going to amuse those of you who know me well, but I was thinking about something the other day regarding the Sex and the City Movie. It came as I was seeing yet another picture on the front page of the Chronicle about the FLDS children. I mean, I was looking at these women, and it's rather startling to think that we still have women who truly don't know what it is to be an empowered female in this country. I don't want to get into a gender discussion here, I was just thinking that there are women like this all over this country that didn't know what Sex and the City is. Despite its hundreds of channels, television can still have a very limited reach. But I started thinking about the movie was going to be available to women all over the country. It's a story I think no one is really talking about. Think about it, how many women do you think have snuck out to see SATC in a theater two towns over? How many women do you think have had their minds blown to the sheer possibilities it presents to their sheltered existences?
Yes, these are the kinds of things I think about from time to time. Anyway, I started thinking about the power of film to change the world. The power that doesn't exist in a television medium. Of course, TV has its own power to make change, but I don't think it can have as immediate an impact that movies have on us. There is something sacred about sitting in a theater, popcorn and/or candy in hand, and the anticipation when the lights dim. I am sure many of you can imagine times when the opening fanfare for 20th Century Fox has given you chills.
I remember when I saw Star Wars: Episode I, the entire theater erupted in applause and cheers when the Lucasfilm logo flashed across the screen. You may not know it, but you have multiple experiences where your life has changed after seeing a movie. See where I'm going?
Speaking back to SATC, and I remember hearing this back when before the series finale aired, the fifth character in the series/movie is New York City. Yes, the Big Apple. That mythical city that has been memorialized in more films that I can count. It joins the likes of California, LA and San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston on a short list of cities whose very fabric has been stitched with film. The Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge? Icons of romance and no small amount of magic.
Houston? Yeah, we have Terms of Endearment, Urban Cowboy and Reality Bites, but those ar three films over 25 years! Spiderman churned out three films in five years. Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks threw two romantic comedies together, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got mail, in NY in five year too!
Oh, and I should mention that the recent sightings of Sean Penn in Houston while he is shooting Terrence Malick's Tree of Life got me to thinking about the idea of movies in Houston. I have nothing more to report on that situation other than what I was able to read from Shelby Hodge and IMDB. Tree of Life does sound like a pretty interesting film.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that the so called superstar cities of the US have a mystique. Houston doesn't. That doesn't mean that our stories aren't less interesting than those of New York or San Francisco, it's just that no one is out there telling them. I don't if that anyone ever will, but I see no reason why they can't. That's one reason I didn't think that the idea of turning the Astrodome into a production studio was such a bad idea. While I have been in favor of some kind of entertainment super-complex to compliment Reliant Stadium, there are very real benefits to creating a large film production studio.
Hell, Universal needs some extra space these days, why not? Have a great week, enjoy all this HOT weather!
Yes, these are the kinds of things I think about from time to time. Anyway, I started thinking about the power of film to change the world. The power that doesn't exist in a television medium. Of course, TV has its own power to make change, but I don't think it can have as immediate an impact that movies have on us. There is something sacred about sitting in a theater, popcorn and/or candy in hand, and the anticipation when the lights dim. I am sure many of you can imagine times when the opening fanfare for 20th Century Fox has given you chills.
I remember when I saw Star Wars: Episode I, the entire theater erupted in applause and cheers when the Lucasfilm logo flashed across the screen. You may not know it, but you have multiple experiences where your life has changed after seeing a movie. See where I'm going?
Speaking back to SATC, and I remember hearing this back when before the series finale aired, the fifth character in the series/movie is New York City. Yes, the Big Apple. That mythical city that has been memorialized in more films that I can count. It joins the likes of California, LA and San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston on a short list of cities whose very fabric has been stitched with film. The Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge? Icons of romance and no small amount of magic.
Houston? Yeah, we have Terms of Endearment, Urban Cowboy and Reality Bites, but those ar three films over 25 years! Spiderman churned out three films in five years. Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks threw two romantic comedies together, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got mail, in NY in five year too!
Oh, and I should mention that the recent sightings of Sean Penn in Houston while he is shooting Terrence Malick's Tree of Life got me to thinking about the idea of movies in Houston. I have nothing more to report on that situation other than what I was able to read from Shelby Hodge and IMDB. Tree of Life does sound like a pretty interesting film.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that the so called superstar cities of the US have a mystique. Houston doesn't. That doesn't mean that our stories aren't less interesting than those of New York or San Francisco, it's just that no one is out there telling them. I don't if that anyone ever will, but I see no reason why they can't. That's one reason I didn't think that the idea of turning the Astrodome into a production studio was such a bad idea. While I have been in favor of some kind of entertainment super-complex to compliment Reliant Stadium, there are very real benefits to creating a large film production studio.
Hell, Universal needs some extra space these days, why not? Have a great week, enjoy all this HOT weather!
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