Don't Be Cool. BE HOT!

Don't Be Cool. BE HOT!



“All About Eve,” that pinnacle of what have become “camp” movies, is on
my mind today because I saw that 1950 classic a short time ago at the
splendid old Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The performances
of the actors were awesome, and the script surely can be placed at the
top of the pyramid of Hollywood writing accomplishments. The dialogue
is relentlessly intelligent, fascinating, and acerbic. But the reaction
of the audience made we feel a little sad, for it highlighted two
unfortunate tendencies that are prevalent in our culture today.

The
first is lack of perspective; having any sense of what is important and
what is not important. There are many intentionally funny lines in the
movie, and many that are both funny and serious at the same time. But
the audience laughed at anything that was seen as different from
today’s conventions, either in custom or style or in manner of speech.
These are generally the same people who take their own era’s surface
qualities, such as hairstyles or vocabulary, very seriously. They don’t
see that nose rings and baggy shorts will be laughed at by future
generations, just as they are laughing at hats and the hairstyles of
the 50s.

In order for your opinion to be worth anything, you
need to determine what is important in what you experience. The people
in that theatre missed deep and rewarding levels of that movie because
they were lost in their own shallow time and they were concerned only
with surface values. In most conversations I have concerning this
movie, the devastating effects of a valueless search for fame never
come up. Margo (Bette Davis) grows in depth and self-confidence as she
realizes what matters to her is not the fame she has achieved, but the
love she has for one man. Eve (Anne Baxter), is focused only on
achieving fame, and becomes more shallow and anxious as the movie
progresses. I think a much greater movie could have been made if Margo
were striving for and realizing the value of artistic integrity versus
fame, but, hey - this is Hollywood. Describing what is truly wrong with
a behavior is pretty good. Coming up with something bold and
challenging is asking for too much. By emphasizing the style rather
than the substance, however, I believe most people are coming away from
this movie with nothing.

The second tendency I think is even
more prevalent throughout our culture - and more so with each
generation. It is the need to be “cool.” Part of the power of “All
About Eve” is that at first you are drawn in to Eve because you take
her seriously. But the other night, the audience was never drawn to
Eve, and it wasn’t just a matter of different styles and different
eras. It was because emotions such as sincerity, deep love and real joy
are not to be expressed in this culture. Anyone who displays them is
either manipulative (as Eve turned out to be) or unsophisticated.
Strong passions, such as shown by Eve, are, in their own right, funny.
Sophistication, being “cool,” trumps passionate commitment every time.

The
most horrible way to live that I can imagine is to always be worried
that you are not cool. The great fear becomes that you might embarrass
yourself. To give in to that fear is the death knell of all in you that
is sincere. If you see that what you have said is naïve, laugh at
yourself along with those who point it out. But never let it kill
inside you the capacity to experience being profoundly filled with
sincere feelings.

The solution for those who are overcome with a
need to be “cool” is simple. Throw away your “shades” and, while you
are at it, that look of indifference. Stretch all the muscles in your
face, just like you stretch the muscles in the gym in order to have a
“cool” body. Laugh heartily. Experience wide-eyed amazement. Love
totally. Believe in things intensely. Cry easily, in joy and in
sadness. Listen deeply. Trust in the sincerity of your emotions. Make
joy your goal, not the absence of pain.

And if all of the
above evokes a comic reaction from your friends because of the depth of
your feelings, don’t worry about it. You now have a real soul. You are
ready to find some real friends











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