Nashville is great – am in Bongo East for a bit before heading down to TFT central for a screening.

i dunno if i ever passed this on, but i've meant to on several occasions over the years – the poor testing and subsequent rewriting of, 'Fatal Attraction' Glenn Close mentions is recounted in some detail (in the context of a feminist critique) in Susan Faludi's book, Backlash. makes for disturbing reading.
the test preview reactions (as i recall) exposed not simply the overt misogynist exploitation of mental illness but of the audience wanting the nuclear family to remain firmly intact and Michael Douglas's character to be, to all intents and purposes, exonerated for his infidelity.
it makes for disturbing reading as she tracks the script changes. absolutely backs up Close's comments. and then some.

and something i didn't know, that a google search just offered,

“One powerful section of Backlash is devoted to the movie Fatal Attraction, which Faludi says both represented and reinforced backlash resentments and fears about women. Faludi paints director Adrian Lyne as a sexist bully who badgered and humiliated actresses, and went to great lengths to transform the originally feminist script for Fatal Attraction into a fable in which the uppity single woman is violently suppressed. In Lyne's most recent movie, Indecent Proposal, he takes a passing shot at Faludi – the camera zooms in on a copy of Backlash in the hands of a blonde and apparently air-headed secretary. In the next scene the secretary is shown vamping in front of the movie's hero. So much for feminist enlightenment.”
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_...)

there was an comment piece by Eliabeth Wurtzel in the Guardian earlier this year on the theme of female stalkers in film,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/fema...

hope you're enjoying Nashville

1LB

Nashville is great – am in Bongo East for a bit before heading down to TFT central for a screening.

i dunno if i ever passed this on, but i've meant to on several occasions over the years – the poor testing and subsequent rewriting of, 'Fatal Attraction' Glenn Close mentions is recounted in some detail (in the context of a feminist critique) in Susan Faludi's book, Backlash. makes for disturbing reading.
the test preview reactions (as i recall) exposed not simply the overt misogynist exploitation of mental illness but of the audience wanting the nuclear family to remain firmly intact and Michael Douglas's character to be, to all intents and purposes, exonerated for his infidelity.
it makes for disturbing reading as she tracks the script changes. absolutely backs up Close's comments. and then some.

and something i didn't know, that a google search just offered,

“One powerful section of Backlash is devoted to the movie Fatal Attraction, which Faludi says both represented and reinforced backlash resentments and fears about women. Faludi paints director Adrian Lyne as a sexist bully who badgered and humiliated actresses, and went to great lengths to transform the originally feminist script for Fatal Attraction into a fable in which the uppity single woman is violently suppressed. In Lyne's most recent movie, Indecent Proposal, he takes a passing shot at Faludi – the camera zooms in on a copy of Backlash in the hands of a blonde and apparently air-headed secretary. In the next scene the secretary is shown vamping in front of the movie's hero. So much for feminist enlightenment.”
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_...)

there was an comment piece by Eliabeth Wurtzel in the Guardian earlier this year on the theme of female stalkers in film,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/fema...

hope you're enjoying Nashville

1LB

but to further explore the question put before us – movies can make u sick. Especially if you're emotionally immersed and invested in what's happening before you. They can affect ur mood and seeing open displays of 'mental instability' can send u reeling in that direction. But i suppose they can 'heal' too, which is why I think it's good to keep a few back up movies to 'cleanse the mental palate' or act as a chaser after you watch the ones that are…'unstable'…like Quills…sheesh…

If you are referring more to “psychosis” in movies, how about “The Fisher King”? Some people cringe just at the mere mention of Robin Williams, but I thought the movie handled the story compassionately.

I'll throw one controversial one out there: “Psycho”. While it could be argued that Norman Bates is the same murderous monster that Close argues against, but Hitchcock does not end his movie with the “villain” meeting his horrific come-uppance so the audience can applaud at his demise, but last seen in a hospital, presumably to get help/treatment (though sequels blow that up by exploiting the Bates' franchise created by the movie's popularity – not Hitchcock's fault, however).