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The Emory Wheel
Arts Entertainment Wednesday, February 12, 2020 | Arts & Entertainment Editor: Adesola Thomas (adesola.thomas@emory.edu) | Asst. Editor: Joel Lerner (jlerne6@emory.edu)
Awards Commentary
DC cOMICS
‘Birds of Prey’ is Chaotic, Exhilirating By Aayush Gupta Staff Writer
Courtesy of David Swanson/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
South Korean filmmaker, Bong Joon-ho, celebrates his Best Picture win for ‘Parasite’ at the 92nd Academy Awards. Joon-ho’s hit film won five out of the six awards it was nominated for.
Greatest 21st Century ‘Best Pic’ Wins By Zack Levin Staff Writer
The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony proved to be a historic night as, for the first time in its near-centurylong history, the Oscar for Best Picture was presented to an international film. Bong Joon-ho’s tragicomic social satire “Parasite” deservedly won the top prize in addition to best director, original screenplay and international feature. It’s refreshing that the Oscars awarded a film that is both endlessly
entertaining and timely in its commentary on the drastic wealth disparity of the modern world. The victory of “Parasite” is especially gratifying in light of the questionable nature of other recent films that have won this award. In honor of the Oscars awarding a deserving film best picture this year, here are five best picture winners from the 21st century worthy of that title. “The Departed” (2006) Scorsese films often analyze the
Art That’s Aged Poorly
Revisiting ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ By Adesola Thomas Arts & Entertainment Editor
I started the “Reconciling with Art That’s Aged Poorly Series” to give Arts & Entertainment writers the opportunity to share their experiences with art they once enthusiastically loved but have since become more critical of. The column series was inspired by my own experiences with the “Austin Powers” franchise and early Tyler, the Creator music. But more so, it has been motivated by the current cultural call for increased, humanizing depictions of underrepresented people. A&E writers have commented on the sexism within certain animated films and Christmas songs, and most recently upon the casual racism of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” But in addition to criticizing art that hasn’t gracefully traversed time or approached its subject material, I want us to laud the art that, despite all odds, has. In John Hughes’ classic 1986 teen film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the audience follows a popular Chicagoan teenager, the eponymous Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick). Ferris feigns illness and skips school to spend a day with his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck). They romp about Chicago, see priceless works of
intersections of masculinity, faith and crime. “The Departed” depicts the nexus of these themes and how destructively consuming they can be. “The Departed” chronicles the highoctane story of a cop infiltrating the Boston mob while, concurrently, a mob affiliate infiltrates the police department. The exhilarating premise of “The Departed” leaves room for subtle examinations of loyalty and selfdeception that’s enhanced by the
art, steal Cameron’s father’s car and go swimming. They twist, they shout and Ferris makes it home just in time for dinner. He isn’t caught by his adoring, unsuspecting parents, his rightfully suspicious sister or his annoyed principal. The film is undoubtedly fun. Who wouldn’t want to make out in an art museum and listen to The Dream Academy sing a song by The Smiths? But upon further reflection, Ferris isn’t the real protagonist of the film. Cameron is. Ferris starts and ends the film as a dapper, dimpled “righteous dude.” He breaks the rules and never has to face any hefty consequences for his actions. He is personally static. Yet, over the course of the film, Cameron, a lanky and severely depressed teenage boy, gains the confidence to speak up to his abusive, antagonizing father and name his melancholy. Cameron Frye is a marvel because Hughes pens him as a young man with the capacity to emote beyond that saccharine, surface level of masucline ’80s indifference. For Cameron Frye, life feels impossible and the future insurmountable. But he doesn’t get teased or impugned for feeling this way. Rather, he too gets a day off and remains the best friend of the coolest kid in school. This dynamic is implicitly powerful. Sometimes in teen films, char-
See Cameron, Page 12
See LEVIN, Page 12
dialogue that often makes superhero films cluttered. The film navigates the political upheaval in Gotham due to the Joker’s Grade: Aabsence, as mobsters each attempt to After calamitous attempts at imitat- fill the power vacuum and become the ing Marvel with trainwrecks such as crime boss of the city. The one candidate who seems to “Justice League” and “Suicide Squad,” DC has produced a string of finan- rise up above everyone else is Roman cial and critical successes in “Wonder Sionis (Ewan McGregor), who wreaks Woman,” “Aquaman,” “Shazam!” and, havoc upon Gotham in an attempt most recently, the Oscar-nominated to steal a diamond that would provide him with enough “Joker.” Still, makmoney to take control ing another ensemble over the city. film, particularly an He also begins a R-Rated one, was a ‘Birds of Prey’ manhunt for Harley huge gamble for the empowers her by Quinn by sending studio. freeing her from his henchmen, Victor “Birds of Prey” conrestraints of a Zsasz (Chris Messina) tinues the newfound wave of success, and convoluted storyline. and Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollettdelivers an unabashBell), after her. Also edly entertaining film hunting the diamond that does justice to the rich lore of its source material, despite are Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie being seemingly dysfunctional and Perez), in her pursuit of Sionis, and Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth utterly chaotic in its conception. In a very Deadpool-esque vein, Winstead), who had a personal ven“Birds of Prey” is largely narrated by detta to settle. Meanwhile, Cassandra Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who is Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a teenage pickfront and center and breaks the fourth pocket, is caught in the crossfire. Regarded as a lone bright spark wall regularly. Harley begins the film with a recol- in DC’s misadventure with “Suicide lection of her life up until the pres- Squad,” Robbie’s Harley Quinn quickly ent day, including her childhood, her became a fan-favorite character. “Birds of Prey” empowers her by relationship with the Joker and their eventual fallout and breakup which freeing her from the restraints of a motivates her search for emancipation. It reduces the need for the expository See Robbie, Page 12
Pop Punk
Courtesy of Jessie Goodson
Local band, “ozello,” performs for an enthusiastic crowd at the 529 bar on Jan 30.
‘Queercore’ ATL Band Brings Feels By Erin Oquindo Contributing Writer “I am a boy with question marks at the end.” Atlanta native Jeofry Wages’ fervent chorus rang through the 529 bar on Jan. 30, and the space filled with a new and enthralling energy. Wages and friends, who make up the self-described queercore pop-punk band “ozello,” strummed, drummed and fiddled together with a passion that would make the likes of Jimmy Eat World and the Ramones proud. The urge to hop along to their music was both irresistible and encouraged — spaces like the 529 are ones in
which you often find yourself banging your head and singing for joy alongside complete strangers. Ozello, whose band name is stylized in all lowercase letters, undoubtedly lives up to their self-prescribed pop-punk moniker, but also refuses to let you forget their Georgia origins. The band boasts five multi-instrumentalists, including keyboardist and trumpeter Laura Spears and guitarist and violinist Garam Ri. The trumpet and violin present in most of ozello’s original songs give the band a signature and unmistakably Southern sound. At the 529 in East Atlanta Village Ri’s violin and Spears’s trum-
pet conversed over drummer Mike Burkhardt’s punky fills and Chris Robinson’s bassline during their single “Next Life.” This prompted the audience to cheer and haw in classic folk fashion. If Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros married Paramore and had a little queer Southern baby, it’d be ozello. Fantasy punk-folk family trees aside, ozello’s true charm comes from the band’s extremely vulnerable songwriting. Wages and friends don’t shy away from the struggles of modern life and love; the band’s first single off their
See The, Page 12