WTF?

[shanmonster]

Can someone tell me what the hell a belly dance scene, complete with modern, synthesized Middle Eastern music and modern-style bedlah, was doing smack-dab in the middle of Vanity Fair? (A British period piece, for those of you not in the know, taking place around 1840).

That was the movie's high point, I guess. Nothing else really stood out about it, aside from stilted and pretentious dialogue, and scandalous, ankle-baring behaviour of society women.

Don't bother with this one.

Comments

[sageincave.livejournal.com]

Heh. I just rerented that one, because I never watched it the first time. I even had to pay a late fee. If it sucks that badly, no wonder the video store clerk was looking at me funny. He must think I have horrible taste.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It's not entirely a stinker. There are one or two short bits which aren't bad.

[aberrantmist.livejournal.com]

OMG! They..showed..ankles?? *aghast*

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Better! There was *implied adultery*.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

More than ankles. They showed bare leg to just above the knee, and in public. And no one was leering.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

I do believe it's what we call post-modernism. There's precedent - they weren't performing Sting covers at the 19th century Moulin Rouge either. But it does rather stand out since everything else is basically period.

I wouldn't actually even call that a belly dance scene. It was rather Indian-looking - well, the whole thing was fairly fusiony, actually.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It was like Indian/belly dance fusion. It definitely stuck out as a bizarre, bizarre scene.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

The music had vocoders and other electronic effects for the scene, too.

[littlekeltie.livejournal.com]

I saw that a while back. I thought it was kind of funny. I meant to mention it to you...but I guess I forgot :P

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I think you did mention it to me, but I just saw it for myself. Helluva weird, hmm?

[mysteryelfx.livejournal.com]

I was in a bellydance show in August and the director/choreographer completely stole moves and staging from that scene in that movie for the finale in the show.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It is a fun dance number. How did it look in the show?

[mysteryelfx.livejournal.com]

It played well. We did the whole pyramid formation. It wasn't exactly from the movie, but very similar. I didn't get to see, cuz I was in it, and the video was from the side, not the direct front.

[sorceror.livejournal.com]

Actually, IIRC the Prince Regent had an interest in things Indian; he had his pavillion at Brighton constructed to look Indian (or at least strange). So whatsername performing an "Indian dance" for him isn't so outlandish.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Except they were dressed in North Americanized Middle Eastern dance costumes--the bra and dance belt costumes made popular in burlesque theatres. They were also dancing to modern Egyptian pop with vocoders and synthesizers. But they did have Indian jewellery, so I guess that counts.

[pivyca.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet, but I saw a short trailer for it and I was wondering wtf Resse Witherspoon was doing spinning fire poi (there was like a second-long clip of that in the preview).
So I decided that I wanted to see the movie, just to see what that was all about, but I refuse to see the movie until I've read the book, lest it ruin it for me. So I'm currently 550/800 pages of the way through. I'm kinda digging it.