Margaret Thatcher and the new conservatism (from 1975)

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by financeguy

I will not be seeing it. I do not think a Hollywood actress has the capability of portraying such a great lady.

people in the UK seem to differ. Ms. Streep has gotten raves-beyond-raves from the press.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by PhilsFan

Horseshit. Rocky ended the Cold War.

[financeguy]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

people in the UK seem to differ. Ms. Streep has gotten raves-beyond-raves from the press.

I wasn't being 100% serious with that comment, but, the movie is not getting rave reviews in the press I'm reading. Indeed some of her inner circle have suggested the movie should not even have been made while she is still alive.

In the past, I've found Hollywood to be notoriously unreliable when producing representations of political figures - Stone's absurd 'JFK' being a case in point. I saw the movie soon after its release, and, initially, naively and unquestionably bought into the thesis, not knowing any better. On subsequent research and investigation, I found that every single thing depicted in the movie either didn't happen, or if it happened, it was not in the way Stone portrayed. 'Nixon' is an infinitely better movie , but, again, given the source, cannot be trusted as accurate and is best viewed as an entertaining work of fiction.

But it's not just Oliver Stone, right wing or apolitical directors are equally as guilty, in their own way. With Hollywood, it seems to me, everything is simplified and dramatised and fictionalised to suit a pre-conceived narrative. Politics, and indeed life, quite simply just doesn't work like that.

All that said, Leonardo Di Caprio's take on Hoover sounds interesting, might check that one out.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by financeguy

I wasn't being 100% serious with that comment, but, the movie is not getting rave reviews in the press I'm reading. Indeed some of her inner circle have suggested the movie should not even have been made while she is still alive.

yes, seems the British director made a kind of crappy movie.

But it's not just Oliver Stone, right wing or apolitical directors are equally as guilty, in their own way. With Hollywood, it seems to me, everything is simplified and dramatised and fictionalised to suit a pre-conceived narrative. Politics, and indeed life, quite simply just doesn't work like that.

agreed. there are dramatic conventions that must be obeyed not even to entertain an audience and make money, but simply so that a story can be followed. movies, i think, do best when they attempt to give us either verisimilitude (since film captures action better than any other medium) of certain events, or in a dramatic interpretation of the "spirit" of a historical character. looking for a film to explain something probably isn't a good idea.

i saw JFK when i was young, too. i found it enthralling at the time, and still admire the craft behind it. but, yeah, as history it's pretty crap.

Oliver Stone had a great run there for a bit. wonder what happened.

All that said, Leonardo Di Caprio's take on Hoover sounds interesting, might check that one out.

didn't see it. all that makeup doesn't convince me, even though i generally quite like DiCaprio. i think Eastwood is a well-intentioned but overrated director -- all his movies look exactly the same.

[deep]

the Hoover movie is pretty good

I think there is an anti-Eastwood bias out there, because of his style or politics, that said it is good

also, he does a much better job here, than he did playing Howard Hughes, that was poor casting.

with Hoover, many make him campy and cartoonist, there is not any public film of him that way, I think a repressed person is more probable.

[dreamletter]

Does it mention her admiration for dictator General Pinochet? A vile evil woman who divided the UK and turned people against each other with her free marketeering policies.

[mama cass]

ewww i am so not interested in seeing this film - the thought of it makes me nauseous actually lol!! i grew up in Thatcher's Britain, saw it first hand, so, no chance!

[Pearl]

She died today of a stroke. R.I.P., even though she was never my PM.

[CrashedCarDriver]

RIP Thatcherism, the Iron lady

all of the above

[mama cass]

Originally Posted by CrashedCarDriver

RIP Thatcherism, the Iron lady

all of the above

oh, "Thatcherism" is still alive and very much kicking in the UK... the Iron Lady, not so much...

i despise all she stood for politically, but i guess she managed to carve out her way as a woman in a man's world, a little too aggressively and trying too hard perhaps...

[cobl04]

http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

[Axver]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Yes, Margaret Thatcher is dead

Rarely have I been so happy to see a page updated. I don't normally approve of celebrating the death of another, but in this case I am gleefully making an exception. Call me a hypocrite, I don't care right now.

Get fucked Maggie. The world is now a better place. Let us all have a moment of silence for all the lives she fucked up, all the families whose daily existence she made more difficult, all the industries she decimated, and all the countries polluted by the noxious influence she spread throughout the world.

PS To the "show some respect" crowd, hell no. She deserved no respect in life and she deserves none in death.

[mama cass]

Originally Posted by Axver

PS To the "show some respect" crowd, hell no.

i'm ready for those kinds of comments too Axver - the woman showed zero regard for the lives of so many when she was in power - what goes around comes around i say (as someone who grew up and lived in an English mining town in the 70s and 80s)

[cobl04]

Originally Posted by Axver

Rarely have I been so happy to see a page updated. I don't normally approve of celebrating the death of another, but in this case I am gleefully making an exception. Call me a hypocrite, I don't care right now.

Get fucked Maggie. The world is now a better place. Let us all have a moment of silence for all the lives she fucked up, all the families whose daily existence she made more difficult, all the industries she decimated, and all the countries polluted by the noxious influence she spread throughout the world.

PS To the "show some respect" crowd, hell no. She deserved no respect in life and she deserves none in death.

Funny - they're using the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter, and Cher fans are very upset.

[Axver]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Funny - they're using the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter, and Cher fans are very upset.

Oh my god no way.

[Pearl]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Funny - they're using the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter, and Cher fans are very upset.

Oh that is epic! Not an epic fail - but epic in confusion and poorly made hashtag.

But man, that's great!

[mama cass]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Funny - they're using the hashtag #nowthatchersdead on Twitter, and Cher fans are very upset.

omg that's hilarious! (had to read the hashtag twice, carefully lol)

[anitram]

She was a woman who supported some truly loathsome policies.

And another one of the generation that considered Nelson Mandela to be a terrorist.

[Irvine511]

i couldn't begin to pretend to know or understand Thatcher's influence on the UK or the world as a whole. but i will say that i find the UK a vibrant, fascinating place with one of the world's truly great cities at it's core, and i can't help but think that she had at least something to do with the country's seemingly successful post-war, post-Empire realignment/reassessment.

surely she can't be all bad?

[deep]

of course she is not all bad, and deserves much credit

I don't like to use the term 'black or white' and usually try and use the term 'right or wrong'.
The problem with 'right or wrong' is there is no gray or background to consider how black or white something is.