Monday, December 8, 2008

I Can't Suspend My Disbelief That Much

First of all, Joe the Plumber's book is out this month. Read this op-ed from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/opinion/07egan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

I wish I could have said it that well.

I tried to watch The Empty Acre last night. It's a low-budget movie, sure, but I still have expectations, especially when something is set in Kansas.

Well, about five minutes into the film, the main character, a fellow named Jacob, shoots a coyote with a shotgun from about 200 yards away. A shotgun. That wouldn't happen. Not even with a slug, people.

To the film's defense, the townsfolk are not portrayed as the usual, bumbling Kansas stereotypes. One scene in particular involves a group of old ladies passing around a baby. I've been there--the dialogue is very true to life.

But a shotgun from 200 yards? I haven't even mentioned the bar with no posters on the walls. Every small town bar I've been in has at least two generations of Coors Light and/or Budweiser babes pasted up. This bar? Lime green walls.

Right.

Here's why you write what you know or do appropriate research. They lost me. I didn't finish the movie because of little details that just weren't accurate.

It really doesn't help that half the world thinks Kansas is still like The Wizard of Oz. Chip on my shoulder? No, really?

12 comments:

Jamie Eyberg said...

What happened? Did Joe do NaNo too and just throw that at a publisher? (We all know about ghost writers by now don't we?) :) Because there is no way that schlub completed anything worthwhile in that short amount of time.

Sorry about the movie. My sister lives in Kansas and I really like the state.

Aaron Polson said...

I'm just bitter since high school. This one family moved to town, and every time they came to the grocery store (my part time job), they wore matching: "We're not in Kansas anymore" shirts. Please.

Jamie Eyberg said...

could have been worse. They could have said, "take me to the wizard" or "I've lost Toto." They were from either New York or California weren't they.

Aaron Polson said...

Either California, New York, or...Missouri. They really hate us (Kansans) in Missouri.

Rob Brooks said...

Movie sounds terrible. I hate it when things don't feel authentic in a movie or book. It really is the little details that make or break something.

Cate Gardner said...

Oh dear, I'm guilty of using the 'We're not in Kansas anymore' line in a story. I will burn it immediately.

Being in the UK I don't really know who Joe the Plumber is but I do know that book is out at an extraordinary speed.

Aaron Polson said...

Cate - Just don't buy the t-shirt. ;)

Fox Lee said...

Was there a little dog running around? About a foot high, dark fur, comes to the name "Toto" ; )

Aaron Polson said...

My sister lives in Wamego--home of the "Oz" museum. I really felt sorry for my nephew...until recently, he worked at Toto's Tacos.

Inkpot said...

I can understand why the movie annoyed you. I am sick of seeing movies about or set in Ireland that are so off the point it isn't funny. The most recent I can think of was a movie called Shrooms. Worst thing is, it was actually made in Ireland. It was so inaccurate that after the first five minutes I gave up getting angry and just laughed my way through the rest of the movie. It was supposed to be a horror.

K.C. Shaw said...

At least with Kansas people think of a good movie, The Wizard of Oz. With Tennessee...yeah. The Beverly Hillbillies. Forever.

Katey said...

Worse yet, Tila Tequila got a publishing deal.

Yes. Tila Tequila. I barely know who she is, even when I was 16 I thought MTV was lame, but I know that every time one of these useless #@%^s gets a deal, god kills several litters of kittens.

Think of the #@%#ing kittens, publishers.

(Also, Toto's Tacos. That definitely killed some kittens. I'm just saying.)