FOOT IN MOUTH : EXPERIENCE SEVENTEEN : CHRISTINE TRZYNA WRITING WORKSHOP

 

Think back to a time when you said something wrong, insensitive, or stupid - a time you "put your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH."

What happened? Was it funny then or do you think so now? How did you feel? Did you leave the remark to sting or influence or float in the air and walk away? Was it a remark you aimed or said unthinking?

Did you let it go?

Set the scene. Write it as dialogue.

Go from there.

Christine Trzyna

This exercise is part of a series of writing exercises and to bring up the whole series use the tag Christine Trzyna Writing Workshop. 

C 2018-2025  Christine Trzyna 
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NETFLIX's POLITICALLY CORRECT SERIES "HOLLYWOOD" A FANTASY

I indulged myself in this series, which is supposed to be set in Hollywood after World War II.  I love historically correct exteriors, interiors, clothing (costuming), hairstyles, and so on, so I stuck with it.  It seemed to be an excuse for displaying suggestions of homosexual sex.

I kept thinking about how Netflix often nears pornography and how offended some of our American population is by this; Netflix doesn't care about loosing or offending some viewers. 

Let me save you the time spent watching it.

It was so politically correct it was ridiculously inaccurate.  It was the result of idealistic but ignorant script writing - a clear agenda - not based in historical accuracy.

Let's start with the language.  The young female Black actress talks about herself as a "person of color."  Black people in the 1940's were not called persons of color (to mean anyone not considered to be "white") nor were they called African-American or Black.  They were called Negroes and called themselves Negroes.  Into the 1960's some of the older people still referred to themselves that way.

Then there is a part of dialogue in which the actor refers to "the conversation" using it in the 2020 way.  Nobody in the 1940's thought conversation was anything other than talking to one or more people.

In the fantasy that this series is, feminism and gay liberation as well as racist issues are all part of the plot.  The characters are considered to be heroes and heroines as they move these ideologies forward.  Actually in real life such aspirations started happening twenty or more years in the future.  For instance, female studio executives and studio heads are a result of the thrust of feminism and women's liberation of the 1970's.  But they got it right when they suggested Hollywood was a Jewish-made town and most all of the first stage of female studio executives were Jewish women.

Multiple characters were based on people who are dead and research apparently included tabloids. These characters include Rock Hudson and agent Henry Willson and as characters they are used to give us more sex.

I note that Scotty Bowers, the man who a couple years back wrote the memoir Full Service, about a gas station in Hollywood that was a front for a prostitution service, is named as a character.  I read Scotty's book and he said he never took money for hooking people up, that he did so for pleasure and friendship, but he's portrayed as a failed actor who took a 50% cut.

I guess this is one of the reasons that I'm so focused on documentaries and memoirs. I'm up for some speculation and if a series is clearly labeled fantasy at least I know what I'm in for.  Know those popular posters that have James Dean riding Marilyn Monroe on the back of his motorcycle?  It never happened.  Hollywood - the Netflix series - is like that.


C 2020 Christine Trzyna

MORE WORD CHOICES THAT ARE JUST SO NOW ... OR WAS THAT YESTERDAY?

JOURNEY -  Everything you experience is your journey.  Journey used to be long episodes of travel, across mountains, deserts, or oceans and entail strange foods and weird cultural customs, but now the pettiest things and the most horrendous things you experience all fall into your journey,

"She graduated college. What a journey!"

BATTLE - A battle until recently was a military operation in which two sides violently clashed.

Now Battle is used just about every time someone dies to explain that they were HEROIC.  I.e. the word CANCER seems to always be ASSUMED to be a BATTLE.  But what if you get diagnosed and you think "so it shall be" and you DO NOT BATTLE?  (I will respect you if you choose not to fight a disease.)  Another Battle is supposedly Alzheimer's.  Battle used with Alzheimer's assumes that the person could FIGHT their own deterioration.  Battle's as used to describe the horrific medical treatment some people endure is often used with the word LONG. 

"She died last week after a long battle with cancer."

FIGHT - Along with Battle, the word Fight, which used to be about having a verbal or physical altercation with another person or persons, in particular on the school yard, is used to explain all sorts of activities in which there isn't an opponent exactly, the activity is just difficult or stressful or taxing.  A few letters back and forth with the IRS qualifies.

"If she starts her own business, she's in for a fight."