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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2012
ARTS & LIFE
Film Review Fun Size MICHAEL SCOULAR
THE CASCADE
In deviation from contained, swift narratives of progression, television often stretches character tribulations into fractured, yet seemingly real time. The passage of years lends a fabricated credibility to the agonizingly slow, repetitive demonstration of the process of falling in love in Friends or How I Met Your Mother, or the same for Josh Schwartz, directing for the first time here, and his stories of young people in The O.C. and Chuck. Part of the appeal is in how individual quirks or flaws are given a running time all to their own, with a mini-resolution for each episode to not quite add up to a whole at season’s end. Rather than the dream of a film romance it is a corner of a fragment of reality, and these two conflicting approaches are found pieced together in Fun Size. After receiving invitation to the hottest guy in Cleveland’s house party despite claims she didn’t stand a chance at attracting his attention, Wren (Victoria Justice) has her night complicated with the escape of her candy-carrying little brother into a crowd of unknowns. For the teenagers of Fun Size, there is nothing more terrifying than the merging of public and private lives – through Facebook, broken social circles and on that most liminal of nights, Halloween. October 31 is supposed to be a clear separation – partying without true faces, action without repercussion, reward without effort, but, perhaps predictably, none of these prove to be
the case. Schwartz’s television impulses step in constantly, whether it’s the opening (establishing shot montage! character establishing voiceover!) or the end (“funny” outtakes from the wise-ass sidekick!). Using scope framing, but not really using it, Fun Size is indistinguishable from other direct, but inexpressive weekly efforts – the expected ladling out of Schwartz’s soundtrack selections from the past year only furthers this connection. Throwaway gags and exciting if-you’re-seeing-this-for-thefirst-time antics (and if you’ve seen American Graffiti, Sixteen Candles, or any other single night of teen vehicular freedom movie, you won’t be) dominate, but the centrepiece in any Schwartz-run fling, despite narrative checkpoints, is the emotion (or is it sentimentality?) at the core of his characters. What defines the humour in Fun Size is a kind of cheerful avoidance of anything too sincere. It begins in the way each of the teens present themselves – smart and funny, but not wanting to be too quick of thought, and knowledgeable about the past, but definitely not theirs. Cultural references in costume ideas turn from personal touchstones to weight deflected, robbing images of specificity and speech of salience: “This is really meaningful to me, but, uh, yeah, whatever.” Whenever the movie turns toward an occasional emotional stab, two things are certain: the growth of unwanted generic score and the deflation of tired “wit.” What Schwartz delights in is turning the grounded into the
slightly exaggerated: windblown entrances, the unuttered blurted out, overactive minds uninterrupted. Though this isn’t written by Schwartz, it’s easy to see his hand in the way a semi-grandiose plan is hatched or a nervous underachiever sees opportunity open. Thomas Mann’s “nice guy” Roosevelt is in many ways Schwartz’s typical protagonist (and Thomas Middleditch plays a similar role), with Chuck Bartowski being closest cousin (or future). In a movie populated too frequently by stereotypes and missing laughs, this is where Schwartz finds something to hold onto. Fun Size doesn’t add much of anything to the Halloween tradition, and in its (thankfully tangential) revisions adds only blasé understanding to the racism of Sixteen Candles and middle-America misanthropy of Sideways. But there is a flicker of what Schwartz brought to television, and why Fun Size, though not able to stand on its own, points to possible futures. For its theatrical screenings, Fun Size is preceded by an “exclusive premiere” of the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen’s “This Kiss,” and taken from that is the idea of digital skipping as trepidation, not wanting something to end but knowing it must. Schwartz’s own past creations could attest to whether it’s the build-up to a first kiss or a first brush with the role of director, in lieu of greatness, what’s most important is what comes after.
Cinema Politica screens anti-plastic film, draws local MLA to UFV NADINE MOEDT
THE CASCADE
An involved discussion Thursday night on the future of plastic in our society followed Cinema Politica’s second film night at UFV’s AfterMath. The Biology and Chemistry Student Association (BCSA) co-hosted the showing of Addicted to Plastic. Andrew Alexander, director of research/development and division liaison of the BCSA gave the audience an inside view on the chemistry of plastic. Local MLA John van Dongen was also present to give his take on the film. A local branch of Cinema Politica, a non-profit network bringing political films to communities and campuses across Canada, has partnered with SUS to bring these independent films to UFV. Addicted to Plastic is a documentary about plastic pollution. The documentary represents three years of filming in 12 countries on five continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. A major concern noted in the film was the accumulation of plastic in the oceans; the UN estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic debris per square kilometer of ocean. The film pointed out that while chemicals are in the ocean, they remain diluted, but as soon as they come in contact with plastic,
they are absorbed. As a result, the concentration of chemicals in the ocean’s plastic is 1,000,000 more than in the ocean water. The plastic then breaks into smaller pieces and is mistaken for food by the fish. Thus the toxins move up the food chain, quickly becoming a human health hazard. These plastic pieces never completely break down. Of this waste, 80 per cent originates from land. The film explored various solutions to the plastic conundrum; reusing, rather than simply recycling, was a big one. It was interesting to note that recycling isn’t quite as widespread as we’d like to think: only five per cent of plastics are recycled in the United States. Alexander of the BCSA took on the task of hosting the event in part to give science a face at UFV. “Being science students we tend to sort of stay in A and B Building,” Alexander quipped. “We’ve got our science centre in there, we come to D Building and think, what’s this?” Alexander finds the contrast between arts students and science students interesting. “Arts majors have such a different view on things,” he said. According to Alexander, science majors have an “analytical, scientific way of looking at things and then you get other views, sometimes the more human side of it, of individual impacts.”
A screenshot from Addicted to Plastic.
“This was a great opportunity to bring our knowledge and ideas into something that’s such a huge issue,” Alexander explained. After the discussion, I spoke briefly with van Dongen about the film. The film, he told me, was a real “eye opener.” “I found the film very impressive in terms of detail,” said van Dongen. “[The filmmakers] looked at not only the problem in terms of how much plastic we use but . . . [also] went into various different efforts to reuse the material.” Van Dongen has been representing Abbotsford voters since 1995. He has held a numerous other positions, including Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety, Minister of State for Intergovernmental
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Relations, and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Van Dongen considers himself a “grounded environmentalist.” His thoughts on a solution? Take matters into our own hands. “I think we all are looking for the government or someone else to do something for us, but I think part of the solution is to just do it ourselves, for ourselves.” “I do think of myself as an environmentalist, but I think it’s how you define it.” He wouldn’t call himself a “tree hugging type,” but van Dongen firmly believes in the agricultural land reserve, in expanding the transit system, in recycling and in having a “responsibly managed” renewable forest industry.
The next film, A Crude Awakening, will be shown mid-November, co-hosted by Students for Sustainability. The film addresses the question of what will happen when we run out of cheap oil. A heated debate on BC’s current pipeline issue will most certainly follow. Alexander’s opinion on the matter of the pipelines as a chemistry student is firm: “I think . . . we need to be moving away from using fossil fuels. While an oil spill is a horrific thing, it’s nothing compared to the potential [damage] that global warming has on the environment.” Alexander cites other scientists to support his position. “An influential climatologist in the U.S., Dr. Hanson, said that while Saudi Arabia has the oil stores that could push us up to this certain level, Canada has enough oil in its reserves to push us up over the tipping point. It’s not a good idea to be expanding those resources at this time.” Van Dongen is uncertain of his position on the issue. “I’m going to reserve judgment on that,” he said with a smile. “I want to hear both sides of the argument. I have some views on how they might be regulated that might surprise some people, but I’m going to save that for another day and another discussion.”