"Ian Balfour, an English professor at York University, postulated, in the journal Camera Obscura, 'A principal effect of Pee-Wee's histrionics, whatever the outcome of the episode, is to unsettle cultural codified notions of masculine and feminine, indeed to twist them around.' [Paul] Reubens [who plays Pee-wee Herman] shrugged. 'When people write stuff like that, I want to go, like, "Duh." '"
from Michael Shulman's Talk of the Town article about Paul (Pee-wee Herman) Reubens, The New Yorker, January 18, 2010
If only I'd known! And to think I was watching Pee Wee's Playhouse as a delightful kid's show (actually, it was that, too).
ReplyDeleteWell, I think the point is you did know, because even without the labored academic jargon it was obvious that's what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI know I told you how shocked and horrified I was (in a good way) at Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which was the first time I saw him -- it hit me the way those Bunuel/Dali films are supposed to.
ReplyDeleteThe audacious success of "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" owes as much to Tim Burton, the director, who was making his first film, as it does to PeeWee. It was a perfect match of character and filmmaker, and using "The Bicycle Thief" as an underlying motif was some kind of brilliant, too.
ReplyDeleteI saw "Un Chien Andalou" for the first time on a homemade screen in the back of a hipster bar in Lake Tahoe around 1970. Since I knew my film history, the eyeball slicing wasn't as big a surprise as it was for the rest of the bar. You should have seen the reaction. It was way cool.
I have mixed feelings about Tim Burton (except for Ed Wood, which I think is great), but I'm fully prepared to acknowledge his contribution to Big Adventure, since the other Pee-wee films/shows are different in style and tone.
ReplyDeleteI think already knowing about Un Chien Andalou and L'Age d'Or as well as knowing that they're supposed to be shocking, has really lessened their shock value, so I was glad Pee-wee gave me a taste of what it was supposed to feel like.