Star Wars! Halloween!

Do you remember when you first saw those words crawling across the screen and into outer space?  I was at Cinema 5 (?)  in Duluth with a girlfriend.  I was hooked-immediately and forever.

The library's annual Halloween Party theme this year is Star Wars. I can tell you, lots of people are really excited about this, from young children to hipsters to those of us who first lined up outside a movie theater to see Star Wars on the big screen that summer of 1977.  What is it about these films that, 37 years later, adults and children alike get excited at the prospect of trick-or-treating in that galaxy far, far away?

Google cultural impact of Star Wars and you will get lots of answers. There are scores of scholarly papers on Star Wars and the heroic archetype. Some mention the general climate of the 70's, as a factor in Star Wars' success.  As a country we were reeling from the effects of Watergate and the outcome of the Vietnam War. Other movies of the same time period echo that feeling.  Chinatown,  Serpico.  The Godfather.  These are gritty, tough movies.  Are there heroes here?  I suppose so, but they are drawn in grey.  Star Wars has black and white, good and evil, and a hero all in white.  Star Wars made us feel good about ourselves again.  No ambiguity here.

Some compare Star Wars' themes to those in other classic stories.  Star Wars and Shakespeare, with it's overtones of Hamlet.  Star Wars and Casablanca, with Han Solo filling the role of Rick and Mos Eisley standing in for the city of Casablanca.

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Some mention how Star Wars changed movies in their technical aspects and pacing. Watch any of the aforementioned films, or really anything pre-Star Wars.  I recently re-watched 'Rocky'. The pacing is S...L...O....W. Enter Star Wars.  Lucas discovered that the human eye could take in twice as many images as was the standard for films up to that time, and you can see it in the pacing.  Images fly across the screen, adding to the exhilarating experience of these films. The dialogue is fast too, almost a throwback to the 30's.

  Of course, being only 13 when the movie came out, none of that really mattered to me.  The images!  The special effects!  The story!  Han Solo!

Whatever the reasons, the Star Wars movies are now a fixture of American culture, and close to many peoples hearts.  I hope you all enjoy the party this Halloween.  It runs from 10:00-12:00 and again 2:00-4:00 on October 31.  Come as a Jedi, a Storm Trooper, or yourself. And may the Force be with you, always.

We're Gonna Party Like It's...1939

Did you know that this year the Superior Public Library is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a video contest?  Perhaps you wonder what libraries and movies have in common?  Well.....

Browsing the new book section recently, I noticed a new filmography-"Majestic Hollywood: The Greatest Films of 1939" by Mark A Vieria.

Films of 1939" by Mark A Vieria.  Well here is a coincidence! I had just watched "1939-A TCM Original Documentary" on Turner Classic Movies. Apparently 1939 was the pinnacle of Hollywood movie making. Why? I decided to dig a little bit deeper.

Of the ten movies nominated for Best Picture that year, over half have novels as their source material. They are:
 "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
 "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank L. Baum
 "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo
 "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
" Goodbye, Mr. Chips" by James Hilton
 "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte.
 And according to TCM.com, the source material for "Stagecoach" was a short story written by Ernest  Haycox and published by Collier's magazine in 1937. (By the way, if you're interested in reading any of these and then watching the movie, we can help you with that-the library has most of these titles in both formats.)

There has been a long association between movies and books. The 1902 French film "A Trip to the Moon" is loosely based upon Jules Verne's novels "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon." 0watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNLZntSdyKE

 More recently, of  the 2014 Academy Award nominees 4 of the 9 are based on novels or memoirs:
Captain Phillips-"A Captain's Duty:Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea" by Richard Phillips
Philomena-"The Lost Child of Philomena Lee" by Martin Sixsmith
12 Years a Slave-"12 Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup
The Wolf of Wall Street-"The Wolf of Wall Street" by Jordan Belfort

So to embrace the long historical link between the written word and film, as well as to celebrate our quasquicentennial, the Superior Public Library is proud to announce our 125th Anniversary Video Contest!

A Grand Prize of $250 is in the offing, as well as $150 for 2nd place and $100 for 3rd. The deadline to enter is August 31, 2014. Complete rules can be found atsuperiorlibrary.org Choose any genre you like-the only criteria is that it showcase one of Superior's public libraries, old or new.  Maybe you have some fond memories of the library-put them on film! (Well, actually digital.  Film has come a long way since 1939).