[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by Finnegan (View Post) Antin has also indicated that he's trying to revive the tradition of Victorian burlesque as social satire. What it is that's being "burlesqued" is something that no review I've read has addressed.

That seems no longer quite true:

Burlesque is ... so hackneyed and naive that the only viewers young enough to buy into it should probably be watching something with a bit less cleavage on show. ... You know exactly what's going to happen. But Burlesque scampers through its clichés so enthusiastically that you're just as likely to smile at its brazenness as you are to laugh at how predictable it all is. It doesn't just embrace genre conventions, it gives them a great big sloppy kiss. -- Nicholas Barber, review of "Burlesque" by Steven Antin, The Independent (London), December 19, 2010

[wolkenfuehlen]

Burlesque is ... so hackneyed and naive that the only viewers young enough to buy into it should probably be watching something with a bit less cleavage on show.

Apart from that, it actually sounds quite good?

[Finnegan]

Burlesque is ... so hackneyed and naive that the only viewers young enough to buy into it should probably be watching something with a bit less cleavage on show.

Originally Posted by wolkenfuehlen (View Post) Apart from that, it actually sounds quite good?

Except for the bit about cleavage, one might say much the same thing about Young Americans, might one not? How young must one be not to appreciate, rather early in the first episode, that it's not "real," that it's deliberately "too good to be true," rather than "buying into it" at face value? Not that there's anything wrong with buying into YA at face value when one is young, or with being young.

I haven't seen Burlesque yet. I'm almost as scared to do that as I would be if my wife showed up with plastic surgery in a hooker's dress. I think it's going to be recognizably the same Antin, but ... I'm still working up the courage.

[s e r e n i t y]

Ill definately be watching it as soon as I can get my hands on it, a musical with Christina in it and Antin directing? cant really say no being the huge musical fan that I am

[wolkenfuehlen]

^ do report back how you like it!! I disliked the trailer so much, but, sigh, I don't know. Maybe I'll end up giving it a chance. The things I do for YA...!

[Finnegan]

I've finally managed to confirm two things that I've long suspected from the content of Young Americans, and that I think are important in understanding YA: Steven Antin is Jewish, and was raised in a household that took religion seriously.

Years ago, Jonathan [Antin] was identified as Jewish in a newspaper profile. ... A print biography of billionaire record/film producer David Geffen, 72 (who, coincidentally, was once engaged to Cher) ... notes that Geffen dated Steve Antin from 1982-83. Antin was Geffen’s first public gay boyfriend. When Antin first met Geffen’s Russian-born mother Batya, she took one look at Antin and declared, “He’s not Jewish.” Antin assured the skeptical mother, “I’m Jewish. I promise you, I’m Jewish.” Cinematographer Neil Antin, 54, another sibling, writes on his website that his parents were “almost Orthodox” English Jews who came to America in the 1950s. -- Nate Bloom, "Jewish Stars," Cleveland Jewish News, December 17, 2010

[Neil] Antin is a bit of an international entity himself. Born in England in 1956, his religious, "almost Orthodox" Jewish family moved to the States six months after Neil's birth. Antin's father was a graphic artist by trade and landed a lucrative job in the defense industry as a commercial artist. A young Neil Antin spent his early years growing up in California's San Fernando Valley. -- "Fight Channel prepares for launch," Fight Channel press release, March 2, 2001

Notes:

1. The biography of Geffen cited by Nate Bloom, above, appears to be Thomas R. King's The operator: David Geffen builds, buys, and sells the new Hollywood (Random House, 2000), already cited on this thread.
   
2. We know from the online autobiographical sketch of Michael Antin, father of Steve, Neil, Robin and Jonathan, that only his wife, Brenda, is of recent English origin. Michael, born and raised in New York, met Brenda while serving in the U.S. Air Force at Greenham Common Air Base in England in the 1950s.

I shall post on this board's thread, "Raven at my window with a broken wing," how I think the information that Antin is Jewish, and was raised in a religiously observant family, may help us to understand Young Americans. However, this much seems worth posting here:

Antin, openly gay, seems no longer to be a fully observant Jew. He seems likely to have experienced, in his youth, a “loss of faith,” in the traditional sense of “faith,” particularly as it relates to erotic love. Any reliving of his youth in an ideal form – not as it was, but as it should have been – seems likely to relive that encounter with loss of faith ideally, to show how erotic love can help sustain some kind of religiosity even if it is inconsistent with traditional religiosity. Since Young Americans is Antin’s reliving of his youth in an ideal form, we might expect to find that in YA.

[wolkenfuehlen]

^I didn't know that yet. Thanks for finding out and compiling all that info!

The more publicity Burlesque gets, the worse I feel for not really wanting to see it other than for the fact that it's Steve's movie.

[Finnegan]

If you love one person
well enough to inspire imitation,
you may save the whole world.

Whoever saves one person, it is as if he saved an entire world. - Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin 4:5

[wolkenfuehlen]

^I admired that quote in your signature yesterday. It's gorgeous!

[Finnegan]

It now seems evident that Burlesque is a success both critically and commercially.

-- In addition to being nominated for the Golden Globe for best musical comedy, the film has won the Golden Globe for "best original song in a movie." Specifically for Dianne Warren's "You haven't heard the last of me," sung by Cher. Here it is. The reviews also have grown kinder, as reviewers increasingly catch onto its "campy" satire of its own genre -- or, rather, what its genre has become in the past century.

-- As of January 9th, six weeks after release, the film had grossed $62,839,917 worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. A gross of between $80 and $85 million reportedly is needed to turn a profit on the investment of $55 million, but that does not seem in doubt at this point. DVD and TV distribution has not even begun, and the film did not open until January in much of Europe, e.g., Germany.

Antin has taken a huge risk, flouted industry conventions, spoofed the genre of his own film, and survived.

Antin emerges as a force to be reckoned with in any prospective development of Young Americans for the big screen; had Burlesque failed, he would not be. He seems to have increased his access to the resources needed to bring some variation on YA to the big screen if he wants to. He put so much into YA, and got so little out of it, working in a medium and for an audience so ill-suited to appreciate much of it, that it seems hard to imagine him not wanting to revisit it. He must be keenly aware that a WB teen TV drama far from exhausted its potential.

I want to tell beautiful stories. I know I want to tell stories that appeal to a large audience. I want to make movies that appeal to mass culture, for now. At a certain point, I’m sure I’ll go off somewhere and make my little wonderful, beautiful art film, but right now, I want to make big movies that appeal to a lot of people. -- Steven Antin, interview with Christina Radish, Collider, Nov. 22, 2010

One can do both. But WB summer teen TV was not the best venue in which to try.

[wolkenfuehlen]

I was so happy for Burlesque winning. Yaay. I also maybe squeed a little bit when they showed Antin sitting in the crowd I'm glad Burlesque has slowly turned into a "success". Very happy for him.

Originally Posted by Finnegan (View Post) He put so much into YA, and got so little out of it

True, but at the same time, he didn't make any huge "mistakes" while making YA, did he? Overall, I think he probably looks back and is proud of the project as it is. The only downside there was/is, is that it didn't end up being as successful as one would've hoped and didn't appeal to that many people. So I'm really unsure if he'd want to re-do the project or a really similar project. He's dealt with the topic once, would he really want to again?

[s e r e n i t y]

I can actually see him using his time in the limelight right now to maybe green light a YA movie? I mean, it does seem like he's proud of the project and if he wanted to, well nows the time to do it, isnt it?

Im glad that Burlesque won, quite a few of my online friends have seen and loved the movie so my anticipation grows a lot

[wolkenfuehlen]

Originally Posted by s e r e n i t y (View Post) I can actually see him using his time in the limelight right now to maybe green light a YA movie? I mean, it does seem like he's proud of the project and if he wanted to, well nows the time to do it, isnt it?

Yeah, but no matter how successful Burlesque was, would people really go see a YA movie?

You should watch it and tell us how you enjoyed it

[s e r e n i t y]

Well we would, wouldnt we? and Im guessing if its a reunion movie and not a remake then Ian fans and Matt fans would also go

however if its a remake movie Id just be annoyed to be honest

[wolkenfuehlen]

Yeah, but how often would we have to go see the movie until it'd make some profit?

It breaks my heart to say this, but I can't honestly see the YA guys agreeing to a sequel, after all this time. and a remake would annoy me, too. I hate them