Spoilers herein.
I'm sure there are all sorts of sociological observations that have been made about the ethnic makeup of this group, their class standing, the portrayal of adults and wealth and on and on. Complicated and slippery stuff, that.
But the cinematics of the thing is simple, I think. Its all about faces. And about us knowing that these are actors-who-are-not-actors. Even the dog who has his own rather obvious costume.
There's something to be said about so-called "natural" acting. The idea is to find someone who as a person is appealing, and then more or less let then be themselves by placing them in situations where they have an excuse. Clara Bow is a great example to my mind. Wayne a more well known one, and today we have Freeman, Hackman, even Arnold and that always refreshed glueball of ingenues. Most of TeeVee is this way.
Today, all such actors are dreary, even discouraging and destructive to the craft. But these kids are appealing. The sad part is the machinery: the producers just used these kids until the charm faded and then replaced them with others. Someone somewhere was making boodles, but these kids -- most of them -- stayed in the underclass.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements
I'm sure there are all sorts of sociological observations that have been made about the ethnic makeup of this group, their class standing, the portrayal of adults and wealth and on and on. Complicated and slippery stuff, that.
But the cinematics of the thing is simple, I think. Its all about faces. And about us knowing that these are actors-who-are-not-actors. Even the dog who has his own rather obvious costume.
There's something to be said about so-called "natural" acting. The idea is to find someone who as a person is appealing, and then more or less let then be themselves by placing them in situations where they have an excuse. Clara Bow is a great example to my mind. Wayne a more well known one, and today we have Freeman, Hackman, even Arnold and that always refreshed glueball of ingenues. Most of TeeVee is this way.
Today, all such actors are dreary, even discouraging and destructive to the craft. But these kids are appealing. The sad part is the machinery: the producers just used these kids until the charm faded and then replaced them with others. Someone somewhere was making boodles, but these kids -- most of them -- stayed in the underclass.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements