'90S OVERLOAD OF CHOICES A RECIPE FOR PROBLEMS : `ROMEO AND JULIET' DID OK WITH MOVIE'S MODERN TAKE.As a kid growing up in the early 1960s, life just seemed simpler. Fewer choices, fewer headaches. Take fashion, for instance. With respect to sneakers sneakers Noun, pl US, Canad, Austral & NZ canvas shoes with rubber soles sneakers npl (US) → zapatos mpl de lona; zapatillas fpl , jeans and watches, there was one choice: Keds, Levi's and Timex watches. Boy, have things changed. Technology, globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation , marketing and the baby boomers See generation X. have seen to that. Back then, there were eight local television channels, and no cable TV. Less was more. Growing up on the East Coast, we used to watch the Yankees play baseball on Channel 11 and listen to Phil Rizzuto Today, with hundreds of channels clamoring for viewers, television has become a vacuum searching for the latest ratings titillation. Nature abhors a vacuum, and television is no different. Freeway chases, bank robberies and other ``crimes in progress'' have become the mainstay of every news and quasi-news organization in TV/cableland. We should ask if the broadcasting of crimes in progress encourages future such activities. Many of these criminals seem to be, in a sense, mugging for the ``sky-cam'' as they careen down the freeways, running from the police. The North Hollywood bank robbery is an interesting case in point. Many viewers were so enamored en·am·or tr.v. en·am·ored, en·am·or·ing, en·am·ors To inspire with love; captivate: was enamored of the beautiful dancer; were enamored with the charming island. by the televised gun battle, they went out and rented the movie ``Heat.'' Apparently, scenes from the movie closely resembled the North Hollywood fiasco. To me, that botched botch tr.v. botched, botch·ing, botch·es 1. To ruin through clumsiness. 2. To make or perform clumsily; bungle. 3. To repair or mend clumsily. n. 1. bank robbery less resembled a scene from ``Heat'' and more resembled the closing scene from ``Butch Cassidy This article is about the criminal. For the singer with this pseudonym see Butch Cassidy (singer). Butch Cassidy (13 April 1866 - c. 1908), born Robert LeRoy Parker, was a notorious train and bank robber. & the Sundance Kid.'' It felt like a suicide mission Noun 1. suicide mission - killing or injuring others while annihilating yourself; usually accomplished with a bomb martyr operation, sacrifice operation in search of a camera. Let's face it: Televising criminal behavior glamorizes such behavior and thereby perpetuates it. God forbid we infringe upon the First. To me infringe a little. I'll opt for more life, more simplicity and a little less titillation. Jeffrey C. Peter - Toluca Lake This letter is in regards to Worley Thorne's letter to L.A. Life. He stated that upon seeing ``Romeo and Juliet'' he felt the need to walk out. Speaking as someone who went and saw the movie about six times, I can't relate whatsoever. I absolutely loved the movie. And, yes, I am a fan of Shakespeare. I have been since I first read him in the eighth grade. I saw nothing wrong with the way the story was portrayed. It seems to me that perhaps Thorne has forgotten one minor detail about ``Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers die as teenagers. [Br. Lit.: Romeo and Juliet] See : Death, Premature Romeo and Juliet archetypal star-crossed lovers. [Br. Lit. .'' It's a love story. A love story for 15-year-old girls who dream of finding a true love, and rebelling against their parents along the way. I'm sorry if you felt that the ``nonstop pace'' turned the play into a ``comic strip comic strip, combination of cartoon with a story line, laid out in a series of pictorial panels across a page and concerning a continuous character or set of characters, whose thoughts and dialogues are indicated by means of "balloons" containing written speech. gone mad.'' Welcome to the life of a teenager. They don't call them the MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. generation for nothing. Things need to be a little flashy and fast-paced to hold the average teenager's attention for two hours. Every time I went and saw the movie, I honestly think my friends and I were the oldest people in the theater - and we're only 22. This movie introduced a whole new group of people to Shakespeare. ``Romeo and Juliet'' stopped being a boring, old play that you had to read in school, to an actual story. One that made sense. Mercutio and Tybalt stopped becoming just names and became faces with feelings and character. I believe William Mechanic (of 20th Century Fox) has every right to wonder why ``Romeo and Juliet'' wasn't nominated for an Oscar. The actors and actresses in the movie did a splendid job at portraying old characters in a contemporary setting. The costumes were wonderful and the sets a masterpiece. Definitely a job well done. Vicky Wagar - Simi Valley CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Helicopter shots of a deadly bank robbery may have influenced many to rent ``Heat,'' starring Al Pacino as a street-smart detective. |
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