July 29, 2005

It's Not Easy Being Stone[d]

Pity party for Oliver Stone...the poor education of America's youth (and possibly Mel Gibson) is the reason his "epic" film Alexander flopped at the box office last year:

Oliver Stone believes the critical mauling his epic Alexander received last year (04) was the inevitable result of America's youth misunderstanding ancient history.

[...]

He says, "Because of Braveheart, I think kids see ancient times as, 'Hey man, that's violence!' They don't see it as separate cultures that in some cases had stronger values than ours.

In other words, we dumb Americans can't understand the delicate nuances of other cultures (even ancient ones). Our failure to apply moral relativity to everything means we are simply cultural neanderthals, not worthy of the perfection Stone offers on the silver screen. (I wonder why Stone and other Hollywood paragons actually admit to being Americans, seeing as they are so much more intelligent and sensitive than the rest of the rabble...Let them eat cake!)

While I agree that our students are often shortchanged in the classroom, especially when it comes to history, I simply can't believe that Stone is using that as a reason for his last stinkbomb. I guess his fragile ego would shatter if he actually admitted that he just made a bad film.

Get out the hankies for this one:

"My reputation has been battered to death so many times, I'm surprised I'm still alive."

Perhaps his next epic should be about himself: The Persecution of Oliver Stone.

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