Giant

Sickness and my continued malaise about the state of our country led me to procrastinate this week with two classic films, both fascinating in their own right, but more so when they are placed in the context of our current national situation. Giant (1956) is a sprawling epic, part melodrama and part midcentury Western. Directed by George Stevens and based on a novel by Edna Ferber, the film explores the life of wealthy rancher, Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson), his romance with the socialite Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor), and his lifelong rivalry with Jett Rink (James Dean), a handyman who strikes it oil rich, allowing him to do opulent things like build his own hotel. Giant was a hit with both the public and the critics back in 1956, earning $12 million at the box office and garnering 10 Oscar nominations (including a win for Best Director). By today's standards, the film's soundstage-bound sets and saturated color palette lend it the aura of technicolor soap opera; the overblown conflicts - fiery romances, accidents on horseback, shady business shenanigans - further serve to propel the overall experience to somewhere way over the top. Throw in some progressive concern for the plight of the Mexican laborers and some overt racism when Jordy Benedict (Dennis Hopper) takes a Mexican wife and you have a gripping, full-tilt drama with a social conscience. Viewing Giant through the lens of our current national situation, one can't help but draw parallels between new-monied oil baron Jett Rink (who hosts balls for himself at his eponymous hotel) and a certain real estate mogul and reality television star whose exhausting omnipresence tarnishes every sunrise. Jett, in a drunken stupor, finally tumbles off the dais and crashes to the floor under the weight of tables, chairs, and microphones; his embarrassing fall seems a justifiable end to a loutish and bigoted life. The film's big finale takes place in a rural Texas diner that proudly displays a sign declaring, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" - a sentiment that mimics the rhetoric of today's religious freedom fighters who long for a return to government-sanctioned discrimination. At first, Bick tries to ignore the racist comments of the diner's owner, Sarge, who hesitates to serve Bick's Mexican daughter-in-law and Mexican-American grandson. (When Bick says his grandson would like some ice cream, Sarge responds that he's surprised he doesn't want a tamale.) For Bick, the last straw is when Sarge refuses to serve and then attempts to physically remove a Mexican family that has entered the diner. Bick takes up for the family and stands up to Sarge, resulting in an extended fight sequence that exemplifies the classic struggle between tradition and progress, the very same struggle we find ourselves still witnessing today, six decades later.