WE'RE ALL GONNA BE OLD ONE DAY, unless something drastic happens in the
meantime. Might as well start preparing. And I don't just mean buyin' into
no-load mutual funds or wearin' earplugs at loud concerts or even buildin' up
the ol' calcium intake. I mean psychologically preparing oneself to really
enjoy the golden years.
Old age doesn't have to mean sitting around with your large-print Reader's
Digest and right-wing talk radio, forever complaining about Those Kids
These Days. No, millions of oldsters are out there having the time of their
lives. Two high-profile documentaries at the recently-concluded Seattle
International Film Festival showed widely different aspects of this.
Bingo: The Documentary, from local filmmaker John Jeffcoat, showed a more conventional
side of senior shenanigans. Shot across America, Britain, and Ireland, and on a
Caribbean cruise ship, it's an hour of 50ish to 90ish ladies and gents having
fun while keeping track of dozens of cards and losing small amounts of money
(plus one 30ish recovering druggie who hangs out at his mom's favorite bingo
hall as a cheap, clean-and-sober way to pass the hours).
There's also scenes from Seattle's own Gay Bingo and an NYC nightclub with
bingo nights for young clubbers. The latter's one of the shortest scenes in the
film, but it might be one of the most vital. These young adults who
enthusiastically embrace an old folks' game are asserting their membership in
the continuum of life. They're proudly eschewing the way-obsolete fallacy of
generational superiority.
The Lifestyle, from David Schisgall, is just as light and frolicky about a less-common
mature-folks' scene, group-sex party houses. While swinging (or bingo, for that
matter) isn't just an oldster's sport by any means, the filmmaker chose to
emphasize groups your parents' or grandparents' ages, in places like Palm
Springs and Orange County, CA and (yes!) Littleton, CO, talking about their fun
times a-spouse-swappin'.
Besides the talk, we also get guided tours of the orgy rooms in subdivision
basements, a topless fetish-fashion show at a big swingers' convention, and a
few brief scenes of naked former-hardbodies doing what women and men have been
doing since before you were born. (Some young-adult audience members at the
SIFF screening cringed at these shots, despite the director's in-person
pleading for them not to.)
Besides cringing, a viewer could take this all several ways. You could
re-evaluate the sexual repression of your own birth family by seeing the film's
subjects as golden-years advocates of sexual liberation. You could cheer that
the hypocrisy of Reagan Country is being challenged from within, however
discreetly. Or you could simply dismiss it all as the actions of bourgeois
hedonists who, like many other Americans, appear to be embracing the idea of
sex as a leisure-time sport, no more or less personal than bingo, in order to
avoid the more troublesome, reality-questioning aspects of real intimacy. (More
about that latter idea in this space next week.)
But I prefer to think of it as a sign of hope, that as we all get older we'll
still get to assert the right to get it on with our fellow humans'
bodies--liver spots, upper-arm flab, and all.
I also have to admit, though, that the bingo players sure seemed to be having a lot
more fun than the swingers.
Tomorrow: Why Seattle loves being the fictional headquarters of Dr. Evil in
the Austin Powers sequel.
UPDATE: The Big Book of Misc. can now be obtained locally at the University Book Store, Steve's Broadway News, M. Coy, Ruby Montana's, Ola Wyola, Pistil, the Fremont Place Book Co., Fallout, Milky World, and the downtown Seattle Borders. More outlets will roll out over the next few weeks. It's also available by mail from this link, and by e-commerce from this link.
Recent highlights:
- Part two of our party roundup, the dee-lish Insta-Poem contest.
- Part one of our party roundup, the groovy MISC.-O-Rama questionnaire.
- Introducing the new daily MISC. World, and The Big Book of MISC.
is now shipping.
- The column's 13th anniversary inspires thoughts on society's and critics' changing views of "popular culture"; plus a Mark Murphy update, a freebie-postcard company that doesn't get what the Seattle Film Festival's really about, and something sweet to nibble on.
- Wedgwood residents fuss about saving a small supermarket that doesn't even have 17 kinds of cilantro; plus Robert Hughes vs. the new Star Wars, the one place Taco Bell goes bilingual, telemarketing calls selling devices to avoid telemarketing calls, an apartment-redevelopment company called "No Boundaries", tips for teens, an intelligent new-age tabloid, and herbal upper and downer drinks.
- Musings on the decline of softcore, as Penthouse sneaks in an apparently-real sex scene; plus Denny's new "diner" look probably won't solve the chain's image problems, the Velvet Elvis and Colourbox clubs fall victim to gentrification, and an HDTV-projection-video theater and bar.
- Another World heads toward soap-opera oblivion; plus the new hip typeface, an insurance company that (heart symbol)s whales, and ex-nerd writers who should empathize a little less with the Littleton killers.
Archives:
MISC. Media Updates:
As of June 14, 1999, the site's changed yet again. Now, your doses of popcult confusion are titled MISC. World and come to you every darned weekday. (The shorter "MISC." title lives on in The Big Book of MISC., which is now shipping.
As of April 29, 1999, we've got a new URL. Re-set your bookmarks for http://www.miscmedia.com so you can quickly get to your favorite popcult commentary and other features.
To learn more about these and future changes, join the splendid Misc.-l mailing list. Send an email to Majordomo@lists.speakeasy.org. Leave the "subject" line blank, and in the body of the message write simply:
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