other things that haven't been acknowledged, like the marketing of EWS and its similarities to White Men Can't Jump.
show me an example.
there's a lot to admire about the racial and gender politics in the film, it really pulls no punches especially in its conclusion where it settles for realism instead of idealism. but what i was referring to specifically kind of stems from this:
this is a dvd cover but it's essentially the same as the theatrical poster minus the tagline "it's not easy being this good" which is usually placed between the two. what struck me was the bluntness in the way the stars are presented as simply WOODY, WESLEY, then the memorable title that kind of instantly creates drama between them.
having the whole poster kind of rely on just a few names is maybe not uncommon, but this presentation is supplementary to the trailer which i will go into a bit later. the point is that EWS also used this to an extreme degree..
the difference is that kubrick puts himself as a third figure. here are both cruise and kidman pictured, but where is kubrick? he's unseen, but being the role of director (assumed knowledge) we understand his part in the trio: that is perfectly illustrated in that image he captured on the poster. Alice's solitary gaze at herself in the mirror is odd because it's centered but avoids our gaze completely, while oldmate doesn't even notice. we notice, but then our gaze at the screen does not connect to hers. the only thing connecting it all is kubrick's gaze, which captures all of the above.
let's look at the white man can't jump trailer:
and of course the EWS teasers are just names:
the trailer for white men is a repetitive cut to single-name identification as a selling point that is interspersed in monochromatic text throughout the length of the trailer. You're flashed WESLEY and WOODY and they attempt to remind you of who ron shelton is but they don't push hard enough. they skimp on the love story too, probably because if people went in looking for that they'd be left a bit unsatisfied.
CRUISE KIDMAN KUBRICK. always struck me as a really oddly pretentious or self-aggrandizing way for kubrick to sell a movie, making himself an equal star to the others. but i think kubrick was being alternately playful and deadly serious, sort of like the vibe at the toy store. yes he always insisted on having his name above the title, his mark on the original work superceding any other name previously attached (stephen who?) but the way it was presented in EWS felt like he was consciously putting himself INTO the film.
he'd already made some headway into this on FMJ, the drill instructor being one of the greatest "directors" ever captured on film, and that camera crew later on with the dude who looks a bit like kubrick. in EWS he really kind of found his place in the dreamscape he had created. it's his most personal film because it deals with things close to his heart, which he presents quite bluntly upfront... his marriage, his occasional waltz, his wife's paintings plastered everywhere, his friends and closest associates starring in the film, his hometown, his dad's profession, and basically the only world he ever knew condensed entirely into a feature length film, that is his experience of the 20th century.
i think what kubrick liked about White Men Can't Jump was the fresh dialogue and natural performances, also sports, he liked sports.
