Powered By Blogger

Friday, August 10, 2012

8-04-12 Survival Jobs for Writer-Musicians -- Starter Job #168 (Yuppie Culture in NYC, Where will it all end for me, already?). . .


Let me repeat those coupla disclaimers, first:

** News flash to loyal readers: not feelin’ my usual healthy self since my CA trip. . . did Jet Blue poison me with their plentiful fun snacks and ”superhealthy” Snack Up box? Hope not! Anyhoo, pardon the (temporary) disappearance. I’ll get back up to speed so hang on & fasten your seatbelts: it’s gonna be a bumpy ride (kinda). . . pickin’ up old memories for me ain’t all roses and chocolates. . .

*** PS - I could use another real good survival job right now: any ideas?

Yuppies on the screen: All right, other than the aforementioned Afterhours by Martin Scorcese, various Yuppie portrayals on the screen helped form the image that we formed and projected of that sometimes scurrilous sociological species: Yuppie.

All right, so there was Michael in The Big Chill.  In the movie, he was called cold and manipulative, and wasn’t very sexy. Played by Jeff Goldblum in thick eyeglasses, he was also a funny Jewish yuppie. Of course, yuppies came in all sizes, ethnicities, and religions. But, on re-watching The Big Chill, it seemed insipid and unsatisfying. Other than seeing a really young and skinny William Hurt, Glenn Close, and the whole rest of the cast (wow -- well, it WAS almost 30 years ago), and having an all right soundtrack, I don’t like it.

Another funny -- and sweet -- yuppie on the screen: Alex in the television show Family Ties, as played by Michael J. Fox. His yuppieism seemed a reactionary move to his liberal hippie-ish parents, who despaired of him ever earning back the soul he sold to the devil of commerce. . . or tried/wanted to sell it.

But of course the greatest yuppie fairy tale of all came with two strong female characters -- played by Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith -- with one dreamy (at the time) romantic lead, a good guy played by Harrison Ford.

If you said Working Girl -- bingo! I’ve got to mention supporting actress Joan Cusack, too, and Alec Baldwin as the philandering Staten Island boyfriend of Melanie Griffith’s character. . . the movie’s premise, plot, characters, and music was all so well done I still kinda love it. . . “I’ve got a mind for business and a body for sin” is just one of the great lines. And how about, “. . . it’s not even lea-thuh!?”

Working Girl is a classic good yuppie/bad yuppie saga. . . and yuppie style was explained and exhibited very well. . .

No comments:

Post a Comment