Embarras Valley Film Festival 2012: The Versatile Gene Hackman

                                                   October 27 & November 1-3, 2012

                                                              Charleston, Illinois

THE VERSATILE GENE HACKMAN

Saturday, October 27     EIU, Tarble Arts Center Classroom

10am - 1pm      Stop Motion Film Workshop led by Gabe Przygoda (ages 11-14)

Thursday, November 1   EIU, Coleman Hall 3290

2pm                    Colloquium: the films of Gene Hackman

Thursday, November 1   EIU, Doudna Lecture Hall

3:30pm             Bonnie and Clyde with introduction by Robin Murray

Friday, November 2        EIU, Doudna Theatre

7pm                    Unforgiven with introduction by Chuck Koplinski

Friday, November 2        EIU, Doudna Theatre

10pm                 The Royal Tenenbaums with introduction by Chuck Koplinski

Saturday, November 3   Downtown Charleston, Charleston Public Library

10:30am-12pm Children’s Hands-on Activities

Saturday, November 3   EIU, Tarble Arts Center Atrium

1:30pm              Student Stop Motion Film Premiere

Saturday, November 3    EIU, Tarble Arts Center Atrium

2pm                   Hoosierswith introduction by EIU Basketball Coach Jay Spoonhour

Saturday, November 3    EIU, Doudna Theatre

7pm                   The French Connection with introduction by Dann Gire

Festival co-sponsors are Eastern Illinois University's College of Arts and Humanities; the Coles County Arts Council; Tarble Arts Center, EIU; Doudna Fine Arts Center, EIU; Charleston Carnegie Public Library; Booth Library, EIU;

Funding provided in part by City of Charleston Tourism Funds

http://castle.eiu.edu/~evff/

Gene Hackman is just one of a surprising number of east-central Illinois natives who went on to achieve success in Hollywood, and this year, it's his turn to be honored in the Embarras Valley Film Festival.

Five films featuring Hackman -- an Academy Award-winning actor who grew up in Danville -- will be showcased in the film festival, which is held annually to pay tribute to movie stars with connections to the region.

The 2012 festival, themed "The Versatile Gene Hackman," is set for Oct. 27 and Nov. 1-3. All events are free and open to the public.

Each film will be introduced by a guest speaker. It's only fitting that "Hoosiers," regarded by many as the best sports film of all time, will be prefaced by remarks from new EIU men's basketball coach Jay Spoonhour. Spoonhour's reputation as a basketball expert is well-established, but many will be surprised to learn that he is also a self-described "movie junkie" who co-hosted the "Movie Show" on KFNS radio in St. Louis in the late 1990s.

Other speakers will be Dann Gire, a Charleston High School and EIU graduate who is president and founding director of the Chicago Film Critics Association; Chuck Koplinski, who been reviewing films for 20 years for central Illinois media; and Robin Murray, who teaches in the EIU English department and serves as the coordinator for the College of Arts and Humanities’ film studies minor.

Five Hackman movies will be shown:

• In "Bonnie and Clyde" (R, 1967), a bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Midwest in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run. Hackman plays Buck Barrow, older brother of Clyde and member of the Barrow gang.


• "Unforgiven" (R, 1992) blurs lines between heroism and villainy, and man and myth, when prostitutes unsatisfied by the justice served by Sheriff "Little Bill" (Hackman) in the death of one of their friends put a bounty on her cowboy killers. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as “The Schofield Kid” (Jaimz Woolvett), as well as aging and reformed killer William Munny (Clint Eastwood) and his partner Ned (Morgan Freeman), complicating conflicts between law and lawlessness in the West.


• In "The Royal Tenenbaums" (R, 2001), an estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when their father, Royal (Hackman), announces he has a terminal illness.


• Based on a true story, "Hoosiers" (PG, 1986) highlights Norman Dale (Hackman), a coach with a checkered past, and Shooter (Dennis Hopper), a local drunk, who train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship.


• William Friedkin's gritty police drama "The French Connection" (R, 1972) portrays two tough New York City cops trying to intercept a huge heroin shipment coming from France. An interesting contrast is established between "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman), a short-tempered alcoholic bigot who is nevertheless a hardworking and dedicated police officer, and his nemesis, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), a suave and urbane gentleman who is nevertheless a criminal and one of the largest drug suppliers of pure heroin to North America.

Before any of the films are screened, a colloquium will also be held Thursday to discuss Hackman's body of work.

The 2012 EVFF is sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities, Tarble Arts Center, Doudna Fine Arts Center and Booth Library, as well as the Coles County Arts Council and Charleston Carnegie Public Library. The EVFF also receives support from City of Charleston Tourism Funds.

For more information, please visit the EVFF website.

Brave (2012), Family, and Nonhuman Nature

The Disney/Pixar animated feature Brave (2012) highlights both an extended clan-based vision of family and an unusual parent/child relationship. Although the film begins with a human-centered focus on mother/daughter relationships in an epic Scotland setting, when protagonist, Merida (Kelly Macdonald) asks a witch (Julie Walters) to change her fate, she inadvertently changes her somewhat orthodox mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) into a bear. The journey Merida and Queen Elinor take together to reverse this change, however, demonstrates the need for interdependent rather than hierarchical relationships between mother and daughter and between the human and natural worlds. Ultimately both Merida and Queen Elinor learn from their foray into nature, moving toward a “middle ground” that includes elements of both nature and culture and building a less traditional mother daughter relationship. As Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald suggests, the film “is a thoughtful meditation on parenthood, specifically the often-quarrelsome bond between daughters on the cusp of coming of age and mothers who want to mold their children in their own image, believing it is for the best.” What sets Brave apart from other coming-of-age stories, however, is the message of interdependence between human and nonhuman nature that is central to the Merida and Elinor’s reconciliation, a message all the more powerful because of the film’s dynamic action images and 3D rendering of a natural Scotland.

Before this positive resolution, however, Brave constructs both the mother and the bear in negative ways. The film takes the time to illustrate how Merida’s relationship with her mother, Queen Elinor, deteriorates as Merida begins to mature. Elinor enjoys her playful side during Merida’s early years, joyfully exclaiming, “Where are you? Come out! Come out! Come on out! I'm coming to get you!” when her toddler daughter hides under a table. When Elinor looks under the table after hearing Merida laugh, she exclaims, “Where is my little Birthday girl? I'm going to gobble her up when I find her!” This playful encounter highlights Elinor’s potential as a more tolerant parent. It also may allude to her future transformation from woman to bear. It may also suggest that “bear-like” characteristics may temper the orthodoxy associated with Queen Merida in later scenes.

Later scenes illustrate Elinor’s tendency toward more orthodox gender roles and highlight her more negative “feminine” qualities. After a day of bow hunting and archery practice, Merida sits down to a meal with her bow, and Elinor reproaches her unladylike behavior: “Merida, a princess does not set her weapons on the table…. A princess should not have weapons in my opinion.” Elinor’s portrayal as a conventional source of domesticity reaches its peak when she prepares Merida for a marriage that will strengthen their clan. Elinor literally constrains Merida during the scenes before the marriage contest, tightening her clothing and concealing her hair as she tells Merida, “This is what you’ve been preparing for your whole life.” The negative associations with bears are also demonstrated throughout the film in relation to King Fergus’s battle with Mor’du, a male bear. Both Fergus and Mor’du survived the fight, but Fergus lost his leg and reenacts the battle for family and friends whenever possible. We later learn, however, that Mor’du and Merida share similar desires to change their fates, desires that not only change humans into bears, but also emphasize the need for an interdependent relationship between human and nonhuman nature. This interdependence is represented most powerfully by the inner changes realized by both Merida and her mother Elinor after their foray into wild nature.

Elinor’s experiences as a bear, and Merida’s attempts to save her illustrate the film’s vision of the ideal mother/daughter relationship, a relationship that also illustrates the symbiotic connection humanity shares with the natural world. As Elinor and Merida search for the witch to break the “bear spell,” they gain a new respect for one another that builds a bond strong enough to overcome the pride that previously limited them. Merida saves Queen Elinor from nightshade berries and wormy water, in one scene. Queen Elinor encourages Merida to hunt by pointing to her bow in another. Elinor also catches fish with her paws and protects Merida with her massive bear body that still embodies the queen’s grace. When Merida and Queen Elinor finally find the witch, then, the way has been paved to implement her advice to change their fate by looking inside and mending “the bond torn by pride.” Merida and her mother Elinor reconnect when pride in each becomes tempered by understanding. That reconnection, however, becomes possible only when human and nonhuman nature merge during Elinor’s inner journey as a bear and their mutual journey into wild untamed nature. 

The film’s conclusion illustrates well this relaxing of convention associated with their wild journey. After Elinor returns to her human form, she no longer insists on Merida’s marriage. In fact, with her brunette hair flying freely beside her daughter’s red tresses, Elinor gallops beside Merida into an untamed forest, highlighting the changing dynamic of their relationship, a transformation that complicates and eases definitions of family roles, giving us the first Disney Princess to reject marriage and all that it entails.

Interdependence as Necessity in *Bee Movie*

Bee Movie at first seems to illustrate a real need for bifurcation, with any interaction between humans and nonhuman nature—in this case bees—not only advised against but outlawed. Jane Lamacraft notes that “the contrast between the hive, humming with contented collaborative endeavor, and the competitive, stressed-out human world, makes you agree with Barry (Jerry Seinfeld): ‘No wonder we’re not supposed to talk to them. They’re insane’”(60). And Barry’s interaction with humans reveals a shocking revelation: humans are stealing honey from bees for a profit, so Barry takes them to court, suing the human race for their exploitation of all bees. With this premise in place, the film seems geared toward advising the same kind of separation advocated by films such as Bambi. For us, the film offers a complex solution to questions broached in Bambi. Although Bambianswers “no” to questions regarding human and nonhuman nature’s ability to peacefully coexist, Bee Movie asserts that bees and humans must live and work together for both species to survive, either individually as represented by Barry’s relationship with Vanessa, or collectively, as illustrated by the drastic loss of plant life when bees go on strike, refusing to pollinate and thus regenerate flowers and other plants around the world.

There is no doubt that bee populations are decreasing rapidly and that their annihilation would have a devastating effect on agriculture. According to Diana Cox-Foster and Dennis vanEnglesdorp’s March 31, 2009 article in Scientific America, in 2007, due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), “a fourth of U.S. beekeepers had suffered … losses and … more than 30 percent of all colonies had died. The next winter the die-off resumed and expanded, hitting 36 percent of U.S. beekeepers. Reports of large losses also surfaced from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe and other regions.” These losses may be catastrophic for farmers, Cox-Foster and VanEnglesdorp explain, “because one third of the world's agricultural production depends on the European honeybee, Apis mellifera,the kind universally adopted by beekeepers in Western countries.” Loss of bees, then, would deplete agricultural products that benefit humans. But because these bees also pollinate other plant species, their depletion could have widespread effects on a biotic community, destroying whole species of flowers and trees.

Researchers see human factors contributing to this loss of bees. Cox-Foster and VanEnglesdorp cite poor nutrition, pesticide exposure, stress-related viruses, and fungicides as factors influencing colony collapse. In order to slow the collapse of bee colonies and ensure agricultural pollinization, Cox-Foster and VanEnglesdorp assert that beekeepers need to act quickly to minimize disease and ensure good nutrition and less exposure to pesticides for their bee colonies. Farmers too should decrease their use of harmful pesticides and herbicides, so bees can survive and help maintain a food supply for both humans and bees.

            Bee Movie illustrates the catastrophic losses such a lack of pollinization might cause, not because bee colonies have been destroyed by human farming techniques but because bees go on strike. By elucidating this connection between bees and human production, the film also reinforces the need for interdependent relationships between humans and bees, relationships that also draw on both organismic and chaotic approaches to ecology. The film tells this tale of interconnection between human and nonhuman nature through the eyes of Barry, a bumblebee who has just graduated from the equivalent of high school and must choose his job to help keep the hive going. The conceptualization of the process of producing honey works well, with intricate detail, but Barry rebels and joins the pollen jocks instead, leaving the hive to collect pollen for honey processing.

            Humorous elements of his first journey out with the pollen jocks show the dangers of connecting personally with the human world and contending with human civilization. The pollen jocks pollinate flowers with pollen power all over New York City but mistake a tennis ball for a flower. Barry rides on a car window with other bugs toward home, flies into a rainstorm and escapes into an apartment window, entering the apartment where he is nearly killed by a tennis player, Ken (Patrick Warburton) until  his friend, Vanessa, saves the bee because, as she puts it, all life has value to her. Despite a bee law against talking with humans, Barry thanks Vanessa, and they become friends. Dangers of the human world are countered by this personal connection, facilitating a move toward explicit interdependence.That connection is nearly shattered, however, when Barry learns about humans’ exploitation of bees by stealing their honey and works to legally separate bees from the human world. With Vanessa’s help, Barry takes the Ray Liotta Private Select Honey company to court and wins, shutting down honey production and sending all honey back to the bees. All honey production stops, and bees lie back and grow fat, but without pollination, all flowering plants begin to die.

Once Vanessa points out the dead trees and flowers everywhere, including her flower shop, Barry responds, realizing that humans and bees must work together interdependently for both species to survive. He must get the hive working again to save the flowers. With Vanessa’s help, they hijack a flower-covered float from the Tournament of Roses Parade and take it to the bee community and their pollen jockeys. Once the flowers are pollinated, other plants and flowers respond, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship they share. And that relationship is extended to the human world in Bee Movie, not only because Barry and Vanessa set up shop together, but also because bees’ pollination sustains plants that sustain both human and nonhuman nature. The chaos of bee colony collapse is now under control in a biotic community grounded in organismic approaches to ecology.