The American Happy Ending

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I was criticised when I opened a Topic on the anti hero. Various negatively minded people who do not contribute to antimoon but who only make negative comments thought that I was just wasting their valuable time.

Have you ever thought?

Why do American films always have a happy ending?

Why do Hollywood films make no attempt to tell the truth?

This is to do with censorship in the USA.

In the Great Depression, Hollywood started making popular films in which the bad guy came out on top. This fitted the mood of the time, which was disillusionment with the Establishment.

A catholic priest challenged Hollywood and as a result the Hays Code was introduced – Censorship.

In the future only the good guy would win - a moral message in every film!

More WIKI?
More WASTING of your and our time?
What has this to do with LANGUAGE?
Are you sure that this is THE reason?
Do you believe that you are the GOOD guy?
Didn't you write that you'll GIVE UP Antimoon?
Want MORE negative comments?

Lots of American movies don't have happy endings. Who told you they did?

Asshole
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This article is semi-protected due to vandalism.
For other uses, see Asshole (disambiguation).

Asshole (or arsehole in British English and Australian English) is slang for the anus and is often used as an insult. It is formed from arse, which according to the Oxford English Dictionary has been used since the 11th century to refer to the rump of an animal and since the 14th century to refer to a person's buttocks. The combined form arsehole is first attested from 1500 in its literal use to refer to the anus. The metaphorical use of the word to refer to the worst place in a region (e.g., "the arsehole of the world") is first attested in print in 1865; the use to refer to a contemptible person is first attested in 1933.[1] Its first appearance as an insult term in a newspaper indexed by Google News is in 1965.[2] But as with other vulgarities, these uses of the word may have been common in oral speech for some time before their first print appearances. By the 1970s, Hustler magazine featured people they didn't like as "Asshole of the month."[3]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Semantics
* 2 Political usage
* 3 Songs using the word asshole
* 4 Similar compounds with ass
* 5 See also
* 6 References

Semantics

The word is mainly used as a profanity towards someone the speaker does not like or whose behavior is hurtful, self-centered, or particularly abrasive. Usually, the term is directed at a male (in female anatomy, the focus is deflected to the nearby genitals; see cunt). It may also sometimes be used to describe people who are viewed as stupid or useless or even meaningless, similar to wanker.

This word or its literal translation is found in colloquial speech in a number of cultures (in both English and other languages). This is because it describes an organ of elimination that is considered a taboo region (since it belongs to the intimate parts) of the body in many societies.

The English word ass (meaning donkey, a cognate of its zoological name Equus asinus) may also be used as a term of contempt, referring to a silly or stupid person. In North America, the words arse and ass have become synonymous; however, in the rest of the English-speaking world, ass still only refers to the donkey, rather than the arse (buttocks). It is worth noting that speakers of some varieties of English “drop their Rs” before consonants, leading to a pronunciation of arse that is quite similar to ass.

Until the early 1990s, the word was considered one of a number of words that could not be uttered on commercial television in the United States. Comedian Andrew Dice Clay caused a major shock when he uttered the word during a televised awards show in the 1980s. However, there were PG-13 and R rated films in the 1980s that featured use of the word, such as "The Terminator" (1984) and the PG-13 "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989) and "Back to the Future Part II" (1989). By 1994, however, the word was considered less vulgar and was featured in dialog on the long-running television series NYPD Blue, though it has yet to become anything close to commonplace on network TV. It is important to note that while the word arse has found a place on broadcast television, arsehole is not used, probably due to its more vulgar connotation. In some broadcast edits (such as the syndication airings of South Park), the word is partially bleeped out—ironically, as "arseh---", with the profane half of the word intact.
Political usage

In 2000, during a Labor Day event, then candidate George W. Bush made an off-hand remark to his running mate, Dick Cheney, that New York Times reporter Adam Clymer was a "major league asshole." The gaffe was caught on mic and led to a political ad chiding Bush for "using expletives... in front of a crowd of families," produced for Democratic opponent Al Gore. [4]

In February 2004, American media reported that during a rally of supporters, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Bush "an asshole" for believing his aides in supporting a coup against Chavez in 2002. [5]. The following year, in September, Nightline host Ted Koppel said to Chavez on national television, "I'm going to perhaps shock you a little, but these are your words. You called President Bush an asshole," to which Chavez replied, "I've said various things about him. I don't know if I actually used that word."[6]
Songs using the word asshole

In 1972, Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers recorded his song "Pablo Picasso," which includes the immortal line "Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole." The song was not released until 1976, after the break-up of the original Modern Lovers. In 1976, Chinga Chavin released the single "Asshole from El Paso" from his album Country Porn. Chavin's song was a parody of Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee." In 1993, actor Denis Leary enjoyed some success with a comedic song called "Asshole", which opened his stage play No Cure for Cancer and was featured in a music video. It topped the Triple J Hottest 100, 1993 in Australia and subsequently reached #2 on the charts in that country in 1994. Alternative rock artist Beck has written and recorded a song called "Asshole", one of his most acclaimed compositions. The British ska-punk band Snuff also have a song named "Arsehole", while Canadian comedy troupe Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie have had a song called "The Asshole Song" in their repertoire since the late 1980s. In 2004, the song "Asshole" by the band Jim's Big Ego was used as the soundtrack to a popular Internet filmstrip about the Bush administration. Gene Simmons of rock band Kiss released his solo album under the name Asshole which also featured a song of the same name. August Campbell & The Spur Of The Moment Band wrote "The Asshole Song", sung about a person who purportedly cut him off while driving his car, prominently features the word as well (i.e. "Were you born an asshole, or did you work at it your whole life?"). [7]
Similar compounds with ass

Asshat is a slightly trendier and less severe variation of asshole, graphically describing someone who has his “head up his own ass” (i.e., not knowing what’s going on): one is wearing one’s ass for a hat. A more modern usage of asshat describes a person doing something stupid, and can apply to anyone: “The boss is up to asshattery because he broke the computer even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing.” This meaning was popularized by Something Awful character Jeff K. The word is popular in many online communities, serving as a more palatable version of its antecedent. According to Google’s Usenet statistics, the word only saw a token appearance every day or two starting in July 1999, but following a slow rise in 2002, it entered popular usage in May 2003. As it continued to grow in popularity, asshat began to be used by online gamers, in first person shooter and massively multiplayer role playing games. It was a commonplace word on servers where vulgar language was not allowed.

The insult assclown is used in a similar fashion, although it is not as common. Assclown has become well known among fans of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) due to wrestler Chris Jericho using it during his promos, especially his “Highlight Reel”. The term was also used in the film Office Space to describe singer-songwriter Michael Bolton. “Assclown” is also used by radio personality Todd Schnitt.

Asstard is another rarer variant upon the ass- theme. It is possibly a portmanteau of asshole and retard and has almost the same meaning as asshole, but with a greater implied connotation of stupidity.[citation needed] An identically spelled version of the same word is a contraction of asshole and bastard, with a commensurately more abusive meaning.

Asspit is a descriptive noun following this construction, used to describe places that are run-down or dirty, as in: “This house is an asspit.” It has a generally pejorative connotation.

Robin Michael,

Intially, I found your posts confusing and well, a little baffling. I didn't like the boys in skirts, the live mocha, and the irish sexuality posts very much.

Sometimes, I looked at the topic, and just went, "Huh?", but then I chalked it up to not understanding the cousins across the pond.

However, I liked the "Bag, please," and the tea post because they seemed original and honest and gave me a little insight into daily life and customs in your area. I found them funny. You made me laugh. Some of the other comments made by posters made me laugh as well.

I understand that in India people participate in laughing therapy. Well, I come to Antimoon. If people come to Antimoon and don't laugh, they are missing a lot.

<<In the Great Depression, Hollywood started making popular films in which the bad guy came out on top. This fitted the mood of the time, which was disillusionment with the Establishment.

A catholic priest challenged Hollywood and as a result the Hays Code was introduced – Censorship.

In the future only the good guy would win - a moral message in every film!>>

This is a stereotype that many people in Europe have of American film, and it is a stereotype that is largely baseless. I can think of many American films that do not have a happy ending. The first that come to mind are "Requiem for a Dream", "13", "Mistic River" and "Happiness". In addition to these ,there are adaptations from literary classics such as "Moby-Dick", "A Streetcar Named Desire", and "The Last of the Mohecans". There are also classic films like "Laugh Clown, Laugh". I suppose, if all the American films you are watching are along the same lines as "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", then you might get the notion that all American films have happy endings. That says little about American films and more about thee narrowness of the films you watch. Yet, at the same time, the United States has, among many of its cultural markers, been known for its optimism . . . which has sadly been lagging a bit these last few years. If, perhaps, there are more happy endings in American films then some other countries, this history of a social optimism might be its source. Other countries have similar cultural personalities that, though they may not be universal, are present. Why aren't you and your European compatriots whining that Russian novels are all dreary? Or, a better question, why is all your attention focused on the United States and what you dislike about it and not situated on your own house of cards?

<<A catholic priest challenged Hollywood and as a result the Hays Code was introduced – Censorship.

In the future only the good guy would win - a moral message in every film!>>

The Hays Code was dismantled in the late '60s, and very soon after Hollywood produced hundreds of popular or critically acclaimed films with bleak themes and/or unhappy endings.

They Shoot Horses Don't They?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Chinatown
Cabaret
Midnight Cowboy
Easy Rider
Bonnie and Clyde
Straw Dogs
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
etc...

Robin Michael fails once again... This is getting pitiful... Maybe I should stop taunting him, mental illness is real after all...

"A Streetcar Named Desire"

They Shoot Horses Don't They?

Midnight Cowboy

These are some of my favourite films. I saw something about the Hays Code on a program about the Great Depression. The Great Depression happened in the thirties. Before seeing this program, I had not heard of the Hays Code.

cinéaste says that the Hays Code was dismantled in the 60's after which the type of film produced by Hollywood changed.

To answer an earlier criticism. There is English Language and English Literature. I feel that it is appropriate to discuss English Literature on a forum about the English Language.

Up to now, I have not looked up 'Hays Code' on Wikipedia. So here goes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code

1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it.

(Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.)(The Anti-Hero)

2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.

3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

I will stop while I am ahead. However I am pleased with the amount of interest that this Topic has generated.

Yes after all, generating interest is quite a trial for you, isnt it rob?

<<I will stop while I am ahead. However I am pleased with the amount of interest that this Topic has generated. >>

Surely this Sentence could be Proof that Robin Michael is a Troll?

The Hays code is ancient history, Robin Michael, and has been for decades. So don't think that it is still having any major influence on the average American movie. Winterreis is, as usual, very accurate in her assessment of the true state of affairs: there are a lot of silly stereotypes out there that foreigners repeat over and over to each other without ever bothering to see if they are at all true ... which, quite often, they are not.

Sure, there are certain genres of movies that do typically have happy endings -- romances and comedies, mainly. That's because they are supposed to be feel-good entertainment -- that's their whole point. However, other movie genres like dramas, mysteries, westerns, and horror movies quite often do not have happy endings, because they are not designed to be feel-good entertainment; instead they are designed to elicit other emotions like fear, apprehension, curiosity, suspense, disgust, pity, commiseration, etc. They more tyically end in a catharsis or a resolution that wraps them up, but isn't necessarily "happy".

Robin Michael: Everything Wintereis and Uriel has said about our cinema is the truth. I'd like to add that the dismantling of the Hays Code in the late 60s brought about 10 or 15 solid years of hard, gritty films, many if not most of which had either ambiguous or unhappy endings.

To cinema buffs, the 70s, in particular, has been referred to as "The Second Golden Age of Hollywood" because of the ubiquity of these movies. My two favorites from this era are "The Conversation" and "The Parallax View", both of which will tie your mind up in knots. If you don't mind some Charleton Heston, check out "Soylent Green" (remember the Furniture Girls?); another good possibility—an exercise in surrealism—is "Three Women". Let's not forget "The Stepford Wives", a chilling movie if you've never seen it before.

I hope this list of movies, along with the one posited by Wintereis, has hepled put to rest another silly European stereotype.

Well, everybody likes happy endings, don't they? As wee bairns at your mothers' side we learned all about happy endings in the stories and tales we were taught, but as time goes on we all got to learn that life just isn't a fairy story and happy endings are no way the norm, sadly.

As for Hollywood films.....many of them do tend to romanticise a good deal, in much the same way that many of the American TV soaps we see over here tend to show everything to be all rather unrealistic glitz and glamour....all the "desperate housewives" we see in that hotbed of passion and intrigue - the aptly named Wisteria Lane - all look like New York/London/Paris fashion models with perfect glossy lipped make-up, never a hair out of place and outside the sun is always shining from a clear blue sky and all the lawns and gardens of that amazing Lane look as if they are cut straight out of Homes and Gardens magazine...no sign of a weed or a stray cunchy chocolate bar wrapper blowing about in the scented gentle breeze.

Sometimes the Hollywood films go completely off beam when it comes down to actual historical facts! The film about the WW2 German Enigma code deciphering was a real case in point - the twisting of the facts was grotesque in the extreme. According to Hollywood it was very much an American breakthrough.......according to actual Fact it was nothing of the kind.......it was British, but in many Hollywood films the Brits have often been portrayed in a negative light and never really worth much, especially when it comes to winning wars and stuff like that.....oh well, who cares.....let Hollywood engage in flights of fancy if they want to - it seems to make them happy!

Someone mentioned "A Streetcar Named Desire"......Tennessee Williams at its best......the first time I saw this play performed live on the stage it was at the National Theatre, on London's South Bank, when I was working down in London a couple of years ago, and starred the bunny boiler Glenn Close, naturally playing the part of Blanche Dubois...it was fascinating and I was captivated by it. I enjoyed the drawling accent of the American Deep South, as spoken by all the cast members who, apart from Glenn Close herself, were British....they had obviously been very well coached. They all seemed pretty authentic to me but as a Brit myself I'm not adequately qualified to comment on their authenticity. There were a fair number of Americans in the audience - you can never fail to hear - sorry! - notice them! :-) - so they were best placed to judge on this.

This last time I was working in London sure enough another production of ASND was staged at the Donmar Warehouse theatre and I saw it again....same situation.....I really DO like the accent of the American South - it invokes conflicting emotions within me which I find quite strange really....the easy going nature of the people mixed with feelings of their oppression.

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/streetcar-named-desire-tickets-article-7730.html

There are certainly many T.V. shows and films that show people of inordinate beauty. This is not uncommon throughout the world, not just in the United States. There are also shows in which the main characters are rather unattractive. Two very long running shows like this are "Roseanne" and "The Golden Girls". You mention the weather on Wisteria Lane . . . could it be that the show is filmed in southern California. California certainly doesn't have the rain that England gets. Yes, the amount of drama etc. in the show is far reaching, but are your soap opera's that much different in Britain. I have seen some of them, and I can tell you that they are not.

I was, of course, speaking about the original film adaptation of "ASND", which featured the very beautiful Vivien Leigh, and Marlon Brando who was from my stomping ground in Nebraska. (Marlon Brando reading the American x-patriot T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Men" in "Apocalypse Now": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKuA3iee4-c).

It is interesting, at my job several of the conference rooms are named after famous Nebraskans, so that I pass by the Fred Astaire Room, The Marlon Brando Room, the Willa Cather Room, the Johny Carson Room, and the Warren Buffet room before getting to my desk every day. And, yes, we like our romance as much as any country does. I think you mentioned Irvin Berlin in one of your posts. Here is Berlin's song "Cheek to Cheek" sung and danced to by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYHZh-xnqhE.

And Uriel, thanks for the compliment, . . and not that I mind, but the correct pronoun for me would be "his". ; - )

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