In the early 90s WHIT STILLMAN created the ultimate
aloof urbanite talk movie trifecta: Metropolitan, Barcelona and Last days of disco.
all of which feature possibly
over educated
over sophisticated
vaguely jaded young people wearing sharp suits and exchanging sharper dialogue.
However, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
(featuring Chloes Sevigny-the last time she looked non-crazy
and Kate Beckinsale relishing her inner bitch) wins the solo boozing prize of the week
bcse:
you don’t feel like you are drinking alone.
there are enough Diana Ross Classics, Sequins, drug abuse and vodka tonics
floating around on the screen that you feel like
you ACTUALLY ARE AT A PARTY
(well, maybe)
and in the midst of all the dancing,
whining
( Yuppie stands for “young upwardly mobile professional”. Nightclub flunkie is not a professional category. I wish we were yuppies. Young, upwardly mobile, professional. Those are *good* things, not bad things.)
and railroad apartment backstabbing
you can find such amazing pop culture morcels of convo
such as this Lady and the Tramp Dissection.
There is something depressing about it and it’s not really about dogs.
Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start,
the dogs all represent human types which is where it gets into real trouble.
Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond cocker spaniel with absolutely nothing on the brain.
She’s great looking but, let’s be honest, incredibly insipid.
Tramp, the love interest is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind, an oily jail bird out for a piece of tail or whatever he can get.
No, he’s a self confessed chicken thief;
an all around sleaze ball.
What’s the function of a film of this kind?
Essentially it’s a primer about love and marriage directed at very young people,
imprinting on their little psyches that smooth talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls in sheltered homes.
When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why.
Films like this program women to adore jerks.
and.invest in the soundtrack. its worth it.
