Patty Hearst #225

"The asymmetrical structure of "Trance," which is divided into parts, interludes and a coda and some occasional typographic shifts, suggests a bow to some modernist impulse, but it does not distract from a polyvoiced narrative about a poor little rich girl turned revolutionary. And the resonant impact of this story serves as a full-blooded lampoon of two Americas: Amerikkka and America. At one point Tania and two of her SLA colleagues, Yolanda and Teko, find themselves in the Disneyland parking lot, Tania observes, "the happiest place on earth''"

"Pink Flamingo may have retained its shock value over the years, but its director has been embraced as part of popular culture. (Scream even featured a lavatory scene that looked suspiciously like the one in Serial Mom, though the latter ended much gorier.) While audiences have become more jaded, Waters has mellowed, which could be a wise move from someone who had nowhere to go after taking extremes to their extremes. Some would be quick to consider this a sell-out. Which is probably what CECIL B. Demented, Waters' anti-Hollywood manifesto, was meant to set straight."

Title image from Steve Webb.

The Patty Hearst Capital of the World is New York City.