Out-of-Touch Football 2

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=75 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="005dba33.gif"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us/"><U><IMG SRC="13891330.jpg" border=0 width="145" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>     | <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U>home</U></A> |   back to  <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="OutofTouch Football"><U><B>Out-of-Touch Football</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=405 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="13b50503.gif"> <bR> <bR> <div> Out-of-Touch Football 2</div> <div> __________________</div> <bR> <div> Some comments on Mikey's clothes <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="#football2_top" TITLE="OutofTouch Football 2"><U>(or go directly to this page's pics)</U></A></FONT>: </div> <div> In the top frames on this page, we get a good look at Mikey's sweater/jacket and see that it's obviously too small for him.  The pockets are little and placed too high.  The entire jacket is too short, not meeting his pants as it should, which makes the belt with the flags on it look as if it's put on strangely--more obvious, probably, on the previous page.   At first, I thought the shoulders were too broad, which seemed a bit odd.  Then I realized that he's probably been pulling the sleeves down to his wrists, which would stretch out the shoulders of a knit jacket.  Something else more obvious on the previous page is how tight the sleeves are, which would support this "theory."  </div> <bR> <div> This is New Canaan, Connecticut.  People here have plenty of money to buy new clothes.  Whose problem is it that Mikey's out here wearing a piece of clothing he's obviously outgrown (not terribly small around, so it's his height that it doesn't fit)?  Is it Mikey's fault?  His parents?  Enough blame to go around?  </div> <bR> <div> But in other parts of the movie, Mikey's often dressed in 1970's chic. (I graduated from high school the year this story is set, so I know good fashion when I see it!)   His hair is probably the best of anyone's in the movie, as far as being in style (hmmm... well, maybe except for the minister, but he's too self-conscious about it), and we see him with it styled several different ways, all of them "with it."  But this jacket, and the red one later on, are out of it.  Another puzzle about Mikey...  </div> <bR> <div> It's also been pointed out that Mikey's pants zipper is partway down in this scene.  He hasn't noticed.  What makes even more of a point is that no one else has noticed--or hasn't considered him important enough to tell him, or even harass him about it. And I can't believe that this would have been accidental: Ang Lee's directing, Elijah Wood's acting, Elijah's mother is on the set... It has to be a consciously-added detail telling us something about Mikey. [Everything in this paragraph is from discussion in the Faculty Lounge.]</div> <bR> <div> <B>__________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="football2_top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <B>Starting here, Mikey stares, motionless except for slight movement of his right arm (interesting hand position).   </B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="3c0d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c1d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>As he stands and stares, the football comes into view.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c2d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>He's gotten himself into perfect position to simply reach out and catch it. </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c3d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>But he just lets it go by.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c4d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c5d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c6d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>He seems to wake up--looking rather as if he's checking in at the same point in time that he checked out, expecting the ball to be coming toward him. </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c7d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>But where's the ball?  He realizes something's wrong.  I'm not sure what, if anything, this lean to his left means, unless it has something to do with what he </B><I><B>thought </B></I><B>would be his effort to catch the ball.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c8d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>If there is some long-term medical condition involved, this has probably happened to him before.  Which makes it entirely plausible that we'd see a moment of confusion...</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3c9d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>...followed by the horrified realization of what's just happened.  Horrified?  About a casual game of flag football?  He's 16 and an outcast already.  He was poised to do something that would have let the others see that he could do something right--something athletic, even.  And instead he screwed up--again.  I'd say "horrified" is a mild term.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3cad0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Here we get a shot of the teammate who threw the ball.  He shrugs and makes a "What the **** </B><I><B>happened</B></I><B>?" motion to Mikey.  He then pretends to take a drag on a cigarette which, this being 1973, I'm guessing is his way of saying that Mikey must be stoned [comment added later: that does match the </B><A HREF="id36_pot.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="OutofTouch Football"><U><B>script excerpt</B></U></A><B> shown on the previous page].  At this point, Mikey probably wishes he were. </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3cbd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>The next few frames are a study in complex emotional transitions. </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3ccd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3cdd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3ced0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>  <A NAME="mikey_turn"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <B>The question comes up sometimes about whether PJ saw things in Elijah's earlier movies that he used in </B><I><B>LotR</B></I><B>.  It's impossible to say what was in the director's mind, but this little move looks </B><I><B>vaguely </B></I><B>familiar: </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d1d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3cfd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d0d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d2d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d3d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d4d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d5d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d6d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d7d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d8d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3d9d0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3dad0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3dbd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3dcd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3ddd0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>With the following shot, we realize we were watching that turn from Wendy's point of view, which would also explain the change of emotion on Mikey's face in those last few caps. </B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3ded0980.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 66 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#football2_top" TITLE="OutofTouch Football 2"><U><IMG SRC="1647d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 66 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="OutofTouch Football"><U><IMG SRC="3e17d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Another scene from this movie: <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikeys Delight"><U>Mikey's Delight</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/id18.htm"><U>General comments on this movie</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>