The Enigma of a Movie PosterWritten by Mark McCallister
Have you ever noticed how movie posters make heads turn, especially when they are not displayed at a movie theater? Do you feel that movie posters somehow connect you to a certain period of your life when that movie was shown in theaters?Movie posters have always had a certain magnetism around them that sparks off memories of movie it portrays and symbolism of movie itself. For example, classical movie poster of Gone with Wind resembles romance and tragedy of its time. Many folks who watched this movie for first time during 60s now are reminded of their youth whenever they catch a glimpse of this poster. They reflect on naivety of that time and how they had imagined themselves as Rhett Butler or Scarlett O’Hara. Perhaps they had watched this movie with their sweethearts and are reminded of good times they had then. If you observe each movie poster with care, you will also notice that they have all been carefully designed and put together with great creativity. Of course, before launch of a movie these posters need to look interesting, attractive or mysterious in order to qualify as publicity material. However, in order to be all that, theme of a design needs to reflect elements of movie, as well as to be authentic and original. Most importantly, it must appeal to mass audience. People should want to say to themselves, “I wonder what this movie is going to be about” when they see a movie poster. If this reaction is successfully created, then movie poster has achieved its objective. People collect movie posters for various reasons. Of course there are teenage collectors who put up movie posters to reflect their individuality. Some swoon over their movie star idols and therefore put their posters up to show everyone and themselves who they love. Whatever reason is, teenagers make up majority of movie poster collectors.
| | The Joke's On You -- Who Should be the Butt of Your Jokes?Written by Tom Raymond
This article was prompted by something I heard (second hand) about performance of a local magician at a child's birthday party. Now, granted, this wasn't done by a clown, but I've seen clowns doing similar things. As one of his tricks, he has a child (a young girl approximately 9 years old) holding two handkerchiefs knotted together. He pulls her hands apart, and instead of a third handkerchief appearing (or a flag, or whatever else) he has a pair of ladies' panties appear. The magician received reaction he wanted: audience laughed loud and long at discomfiture of young girl. She, however, was on verge of tears, having been publicly humiliated, for having done nothing more than helping on stage when asked.As I say, this prompted some thought on my part. The first thought I honestly had was about insensitivity of this particular magician. My next thought was empathy and sympathy for little girl. And my third thought was about how differently a clown would (or should) have handled that entire routine. People think that a clown is someone who dresses foolishly, and does foolish things. This is correct, as far as it goes. It's also been said that a clown is a living cartoon, a Looney Tunes come to life, who sees and thinks differently than 'normal' people. This, too, is true as far as it goes. But there's something deeper about being a clown. As Floyd Schaffer puts it in his wonderful book, "If I Were a Clown", a clown is someone who lowers himself, in order to lift someone else up. This is not limited to any sort of theological context. David Ginn, one of my favorite authors, and a wonderful kid's magician, uses same premise over and over in his book "Clown Magic" with his 'clown-in-trouble' routine. In short, when a trick doesn't work, it's never fault of child -- it's clown who looks foolish. The child is one who makes rabbit appear, makes ropes repair themselves, etc. We performers are foolish ones, who should have pie in our faces, who are ones humiliated, who are 'brought low.' It is our audience, children or adult, who should be empowered, triumphant, lifted up.
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