Once upon a time, a long, long time ago1, I started a project in the comments of The Dissolve. It was that kind of site, the kind of place where you’d just start writing about something you loved in the comments, just because you wanted to talk about it. When The Dissolve shuttered, I didn’t bring it over to The Solute; I didn’t think I would be writing that much for the site, if at all.
So for Media Magpies, I’ve decided to start again on what was called the David Fincher Video Project, and is now Start to Finish: David Fincher’s Music Videos. Fincher was hardly the only filmmaker to make his career in the MTV era, but he’s certainly one of the most prominent and successful, and he’s also the creator of some of my favorite videos from the Golden Age of MTV.
Some of these videos are pretty basic, but Fincher and his creative partners were taking big swings right from the start, and I’m eager to share Fincher’s early successes with everyone. I did some cross-referencing back in the day and I believe my list is more comprehensive than Wikipedia’s, so this is, hopefully, content you won’t find anywhere else. I may rewrite some of the old essays or I may start fresh; I’ll let you know either way.
Fincher’s earliest hit isn’t a music video at all: it’s the smoking baby. People still cite this American Cancer Society PSA from 1985 for its striking imagery and horror movie vibe. The smoking baby is a puppet — CGI wasn’t nearly robust enough to depict something this realistically (Young Sherlock Holmes was the cutting edge at the time). I’m always a fan of puppetry, and the classic effects work well.
In the United States in 1985, when you walked into a restaurant, you might be asked “Smoking or nonsmoking?” The “nonsmoking” section was mostly distinguished by the lack of ashtrays on the tables or booths, but smoke floated across the restaurant anyway. Usually there wasn’t any physical barrier between the sections at all. Smoking ads were everywhere: Virginia Slims still heavily and specifically targeted women, and Joe Camel was about to get more popular than ever. But there were also seeds of the change to come. In 1986, the U.S. Surgeon General released the first official report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. The country’s first smokefree restaurant ordinances were a year away. In 1989, smoking was prohibited on all domestic airlines. The following year, San Luis Obispo, California became the first city in the world to ban smoking in all public places. The mid-nineties led to lawsuits that would eventually result in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and the final coffin of a lot of cigarette marketing. (The tobacco companies would then hop on the vaping bandwagon. Don’t get me started.)
I don’t think the smoking baby PSA turned the tide of public opinion about tobacco use, but I do think it was a powerful image shared at the right time. (Several networks refused to air it beause they thought it was “too disturbing.”) This ad could easily have turned into camp — a lot of well-intentioned PSAs are known more for their parodies than their content — but this one stays right on the horrific side of uncomfortable. In 1989, smoking during pregnancy was reported in 19.5% of American women who gave birth. By 2016, it was down to 7.25.
Rating: 5/5, would get the heebie-jeebies again.
Next time: Rick Springfield gets dystopian.
- More than a decade ago, in fact. Damn. ↩︎
Hell yeah on this series.
Interesting to consider this ad – and I will consider his future ads we explore – in the context of Fincher’s professed philosophy on commercials. Link below to his specific thoughts, but he essentially says making commercials quickly taught him to identify the goal he was trying to achieve, and to be able to articulate that to his crew. We’re hear today to make it look fucked up when a fetus smokes. I wonder if he intentionally chased the uncanny valley with this one, too, though it helps that fetuses already have that going on.
https://youtu.be/uznTzbJd2OY?si=DJn-_YWaqo0sw73N&t=204
For a guy who made the anti-commercial Fight Club, I feel like Fincher has increasingly naked commercial ambitions (there’s Oscar calculations in Benjamin Button and Mank, his attempts to bring back the adult thriller in Gone Girl and the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake. He seems naturally suited to commercials, even if this example (and I’m eager to see more) shows that he’s perfectly capable of subverting that area as well.
He’s definitely a ‘understands the assignment’ guy.
What did we watch?
M*A*S*H, Season One, Episode Twenty-Four, “Showtime”
This is nowhere near the worst episode, but it’s the one I usually remember with distaste, mainly because I remember the obnoxious show the characters watch taking up much more time than it actually does. This does have a fair bit of substance for one of the mosaic plot episodes with many smaller scenes making up one big one. The existence of these feeds my theory that the show was heavily rewritten for maximum comedy; I imagine these were times the writers were allowed to goof off a bit with something easier and less polished.
I also imagine that the most famous part of this episode is Henry’s wife giving birth; obviously, part of it is that Henry dies two seasons later, adding extra poignancy (“Let’s hope I get to meet him before he gets drafted and sent over here.”). It’s a great demonstration of Radar’s thoughtfulness, and McLean Stevenson has a couple of moments of genuine awe.
My favourite part of this is the first demonstration of Mulcahey’s insecurity about the intangible nature of his work, especially compared to the doctors he works with every day. It’s clear already that Hawkeye deeply values his spirituality and advice (even if Hawkeye’s own religious views are at best unclear), and it comes in handy later.
I also like the story of Caplan the dentist (who has sporadically appeared through the first season) trying to avoid getting hurt because he has orders to go home; he disinfects a steering wheel before using it, making him roughly seventy years ahead of his time. This plot has a great acting moment from Alan Alda, where he appears to have something to say but can’t get it out because he’s laughing too hard.
The one moment of the show I like is Gary Burghoff showing off his drumming.
Burghoff being able to drum comes back at least once. About as close to continuity as we get in the early years.
Southern Comfort – Watched for the movie club but Walter Hill is an interesting enough figure I may have gotten to it. For the first 3/4 it plays the platoon of Nam-era soldiers as so foolish and reckless, it seems like farce would be the more appropriate tone. I’m amused by the observation that US military didn’t have sufficient understanding of its own backyard, let alone a nation on the other side of the globe – these men, supposedly some of the toughest on the planet, have a very poor grasp of how food is caught and prepared. But the shouting matches and stupidity gets wearisome fairly quickly. I do adore the final bit of the movie, when the surviving troops wander into a Les Blank movie. It’s tense as their paranoia is and is not justified (and much of the justified parts are of their own creation), and shows how movies can hit or miss with satire(?) but are very adept at simple survival. The less said, the better it gets.
I liked this more than you but to be fair, these guys aren’t strict military, they’re National Guard, so they have a different level of discipline and active level of duty as I understand it. I also just really enjoy Boothe and Carradine’s dynamic, smarter than the other troopers but different kinds of intelligence.
That’s a good point, which makes more sense from a story standpoint, but kind of defangs the allegory a bit (and maybe Hill wasn’t concerned about that, but I don’t think setting a military exercise in a swampy area in 1973 would invite no comparisons).
Heh, yeah maybe it’s my age but I wasn’t as concerned with that watching, I was just like “Cool, dudes in a territory they don’t get, Warriors meets Deliverance, let’s do this.”
Having a tricky time watching anything new other than Hacks, so threw on the last 30 Rock S6 episodes. One of the rare sitcoms, like Always Sunny, where the jokes get stronger with each season – and fly faster and faster – in part because the characters getting broader and crazier works for them. Still interesting to put this in both a 2011/12 and 2025 context, and it might offer at least a side explanation for why Tina Fey and Liz Lemon’s ilk – the cultural elite, centrist, and libs who make over $200k a year – seem so willing to abandon LGBTQIA people to the Trump Administration’s attacks or at least to not defend them with the fervor and anger I might have. There are a lot of reasons but one the show illustrates is these people’s instinctive heteronormativity (Miller’s already talked about this too.) Lemon might talk about breaking down gender roles, but Fey clearly thinks pansexuality, breaking norms, transsexuality, and kink are for weirdos like Jenna and Paul or people who are not in her social circle, and while you’re supposed to be happy for them, you also *should*, in this POV, be laughing at their weirdness and Otherdom. Not exactly unique to a 21st century comedy but it stands out more with age. (Abbott Elementary, on the other side of the spectrum, has progressive politics but demonstrates why “no hugging, no learning” as a rule can make your comedy actively stronger, if you aren’t trying to teach, you can actually entertain. My friend also observed as a Philly city employee that the show had inadvertently normalized the decline she saw around her – people exclaim “This is just like Abbott Elementary” when a library ceiling won’t stop leaking rather than expressing fury or a desire to change things.)
Woman of Straw – Wealthy sick old man Ralph Richardson – a terrible person all the way round – needs a new nurse. Disgruntled nephew Sean Connery hires Gina Lollobrigida, and then concocts a scheme for her to marry the old man, inherit his wealth, and pass on some to Sean. Sean and Gina also become lovers. Of course Gina starts to find Ralph’s lost humanity, and of course things are not what they seem with Sean. The elements are in place for a decent semi Hitchcockian thriller, but this never gets very thrilling or lively under the direction of Basil Dearden, and Connery never really comes alive as the schemer (plus his reported antipathy towards Lollobrigida turns into a lack of chemistry). The famous screen beauty turns in a strong performance in the first half of the movie, but her plans turn to dust, so do Gina’s charms and subtleties. Richardson is excellent throughout despite playing someone whose death you would be excused for rooting for. Nice scenic shots in Majorca.
Kojak, “Sister Maria” – Bad guy Murray Hamilton (Jaws) wants two key witnesses dead before they can testify. But he didn’t reckon with one of the victims’ sister, the titular nun. Only things are not what they seem. Which I suppose is a relief because gun toting nuns seem all wrong here. A few nice twists but nothing special in the story. We have a brief appearance by Holland Taylor. And the time capsule of NYC during the winter of 1976-77 includes a shot of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park with ice floating by in the harbor. I showed that to my wife, who had no idea it was ever that cold. Ah memories.
Porcile (1969)
My odyssey through Pasolini’s works continues, and I feel like either he’s one of the most fucked up filmmakers ever or I’m getting a very bad sampling. Possibly both! This is a film with two non-intersecting stories that comment on each other. In one, a man attempts to survive in the desert (shot on Mt Etna) in the middle ages, eating butterfiles, snakes, and the occasional human to survive. When he’s caught and eventually sentenced to death, he calmly proclaims his quivering joy at having murdered his father (not seen on screen) and eating human flesh. In the other story, there’s an ex-Nazi in 1960s Germany who runs into an old Nazi friend who’s undergone plastic surgery so as not to be charged with war crimes. The two of them keep trying to get one over on the other by bringing up horrible things done by them (or the first guy’s family, since his son fucks pigs in the pigsty, or porcile in Italian). Eventually they bring their two businesses together. The marriage of capitalism and fascism is put up against literally fucking pigs (and eventually being eaten by those same pigs) and against cannibalism. Pasolini’s work is very important now in recognizing that the problems we see today are not new problems. However, unlike Teorema, this film doesn’t give the capitalists their just punishment. They simply tell the common people to keep their mouths shut. We’re all fucked, I guess.
Man, the fetus really seems to have enjoyed that drag. Now I feel bad for all the other fetuses!
Just think of how much those other fetuses will save not having to buy cigs, though!
This reminds me of one of the worst meals I’ve ever had and an experience that was practically farcical:
In 2012, I think, a friend of mine had gotten tickets to see Jeff Mangum at Austin City Limits, and we were driving from Houston to Austin. We stopped in a little town called Giddings to buy some liquor because we weren’t sure we’d get to Austin before 9 PM (aren’t blue laws great?). We were also getting hungry, so we decided to ask for a dinner recommendation. I’ll leave the restaurant out, but the liquor store guy called it “the best restaurant in town.”
The entire experience was terrible. Our server was either barely interested in talking to us or possibly barely cognizant. I ordered the chicken-fried steak and it came with the most flavorless white gravy I’ve ever had in my life. On top of that…
Well, it’s also one of those towns that still allows smoking indoors. And my buddy smoked, so that was fine (and I used to). Well, we’re eating our meal, and two large Texas women with a baby carrier walk in, sit down a table over from us, and stick the baby carrier on top of their table. I joke to my buddy “Oh, great, now we get to listen to a baby crying while we eat, too.”
And then they both pull out cigarettes and light up. With the baby right there.
The perfect surreal capper to the whole experience. Really elevated it from “this is a shitty restaurant” to “we need to get out of this town ASAP.”
That’s some don’t walk, run shit right there.
Thrilled for this series. And this is the first time I’ve actually watched this particular ad, though it’s so famous that even seeing it for the first time feels like a rewatch: it’s so effectively disturbing. I’m sure the in-and-out nature of the ad helps there, too: it’s all only on-screen long enough for you to process what you’re seeing and why, and then it’s out, leaving it to linger in the mind.
Thank you!
And of course, this was far, far before YouTube and even recording on VHS wasn’t that common. You really had to be there to see it, and then you might be wondering what the fuck it is you just saw.