from www.variagate.com
In this week's New York Observer Chris Lehmann takes on Frank Rich's new Bush-bashing tome, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold," and he's not a huge fan: While Lehmann appreciate's Rich's efforts to expose the spin-stylings of the Bush message machine, he wishes Rich would have delved a bit deeper into the "hard-core ideological vision" of this administration and the very real consequences of that vision in the real world.
Having not read the book ETP can't comment on the fairness of Lehmann's review; what we can comment on, however, is the fairness of the assumption that a reference to the movie "Chicago" is obscure. Per Lehmann:
And don't get Mr. Rich started on actual commercial and critical successes such as Chicago — which reminds him of the White House press corps' dismal performance at a rare prewar 2002 Bush press conference, the lapdog journalists all singing along in the big production number, "We Both Reached for the Gun." (Don't worry — he lost me, too.)
Unlike millions and millions of people in 2002 thereafter, Lehmann obviously hasn't seen the Oscar-winning movie Chicago because if he had he'd surely remember the showpiece production number, in which smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) is represented as a grand puppeteer, utterly controlling reporters at a press conference as they literally dance as marionettes as he pulls the strings. It was a dazzling number despite the absence of Catherine Zeta-Jones' heaving bosom, and its point was pretty clear. But don't just take our word for it; enjoy it here on YouTube, as some random kid sings along. It's really an apt and particularly illustrative example to apply to the string-pullers of the Bush administration.
Now, we can only pity Lehmann for his lack of exposure to the joys of musical theater (Ana! Take this boy out sometime!) but we can gently chide him for criticizing Rich for being obscure on a point of general pop-culture reference (surely Chicago was more seen, discussed and publicized than a film such as, say, Malibu's Most Wanted...which Lehmann references to support his thesis here) (and I don't know what this proves, but I actually only just got this now as a result).
Lehmann is no stranger to oblique and erudite references himself, so it seems unfair of him to call Rich out for "losing" the reader on a matter in which most other readers would not, in fact, be lost. Since ETP is on the record as being a fan of both showtunes and their presence in Rich's work, by all means don't take it from me. There are other people who get it, including but not limited to the following: The kids at Fair Lawn High School in New Jersey; Germans (well, they call it "We Grepen Het Pistool" but why quibble over details); enjoyers of Naples Dinner Theater; people who line up at TKTS in Times Square; lovers of Pokemon; the good people of San Jose; fans of R&B sensation Usher; this girl who obviously has a lot of time on her hands; Scott McClellan.
