Full of controversy until I retire my jersey, till the fire inside dies and expires at thirty — eminem
i saw his movie yesterday in philly, and by “his” i mean nominally curtis “L.A. Confidential; Wonder Boys” hanson’s: 8 Mile. for the first time i understood his appeal. it’s not just that he’s hot, in that pouting, Raphael-cherub, boiling-beneath-the-surface way; or that he’s talented (he wrote the raps and they’re pretty impressive). he’s compelling, like james dean is compelling, because like ol’ jd, you half expect him to explode while you’re watching. he seems to expect no less of himself.
the film reminded me a lot of saturday night fever — the working-class kid who’s set just a little apart from his friends, who has a special talent that’s going to boost him seriously above them and the rest of his violent world any day now. snf made travolta a star; this starts with one pre-assembled. and the fact that 8 mile may be a glorified version of the adolescence of a particularly angsty homophobic misogynist makes this even more of a draw. people like me, who have never listened to hip hop in their lives, are streaming into these theater to see whether their and the media’s judgements of eminem are justified, rationalized, or dismissed.
political baggage aside, 8 mile is a good film. it’s well-directed, well-scripted, self-aware, gritty and grim. it elicits a serious respect for its central medium, not just as performed by our generation’s elvis, and some for our generation’s elvis, too. if nothing else, he can rhyme and he can perform.
on an entirely different note, co|motion met our girls yesterday for the last time until january. i went straight from quilt-making with them (each square a representation or homage to an admired woman) to presenting, with sarah, our proposed production of an ideal husband to the drama board. it’s possible that she and i will be putting on the main stage production of the spring. our actors will need to insult each other wittily and confidently too. i guess that’s a respected skill that never goes out of style.