Sunday, February 05, 2006
Tristram Shandy
posted by RICK : 2:11 AM
Editor's Note: I posted this early Saturday morning. It then disappeared. But yet, somehow, is available via kinja. I don't really understand. In any case, I'm reposting... so appologies if you've seen this one.
As previously mentioned, my idea of doing background research before seeing the film "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" was to watch the first season of "I'm Alan Partridge," Steve Coogan's popular BBC series from the late 90s, and not, say, actually read the book, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman." Perhaps this is the perfect illustration of my media-priorities: be sure you get the joke even if its at the cost of context. This isn't anything new. An American who hasn't "read the book" is kind of like a German who hasn't "persecuted the jews." If I really wanted to shock the world I'd say that not only did I read the aforementioned novel, but wrote an academic paper. Yeah, that would have shown you all!
But enough about my lack of literary context, let's talk about Steve Coogan, yeah? Yeah. First, my hunch about "I'm Alan Partridge" proved to be correct as "Tristram Shandy" did have a few Partridge referrences (not limited to Coogan's co-star doing an impression of him as Partridge). Laugh track aside, the series is pretty brilliant. It's safe to say that there wouldn't be "The Office" without it. David Brent and Alan Partridge are basically different takes on the same personality. Both crave fame but one already had it (and lost it). The biggest difference is that Brent wanted everyone to be his friend (of at least let them think that he wanted everyone to be his friend-- every cloud, yeah?) whereas Partridge is really only looking out for #1 (he tells his staff that they got picked up for a second series only to fire all of them 3 minutes later).
What is perhaps more interesting is that Coogan's approach to the character is much more of a cartoon, whereas Gervais' Brent is firmly rooted in reality. This made "The Office" the better series, but over the long haul it will likely prove Coogan to be the better actor. It comes down to three roles, really: 1) Alan Partridge, 2) Tony Wilson in "24 Hour Party People" and 3) Steve Coogan in "Coffee and Cigarettes" and "Tristram Shandy." The roles aren't entirely dissimilar, but the variance in Coogan's performance is uncanny-- he's played himself twice, each with its own nuances.
I can barely play myself in real life.
And yes, he did make the Jackie Chan adventure "Around the World in 80 Days," but DeNiro did "Showtime" (and in that he never had to act in a hot-air balloon).
Draw your own conclusions.
Editor's Note: I posted this early Saturday morning. It then disappeared. But yet, somehow, is available via kinja. I don't really understand. In any case, I'm reposting... so appologies if you've seen this one.As previously mentioned, my idea of doing background research before seeing the film "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" was to watch the first season of "I'm Alan Partridge," Steve Coogan's popular BBC series from the late 90s, and not, say, actually read the book, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman." Perhaps this is the perfect illustration of my media-priorities: be sure you get the joke even if its at the cost of context. This isn't anything new. An American who hasn't "read the book" is kind of like a German who hasn't "persecuted the jews." If I really wanted to shock the world I'd say that not only did I read the aforementioned novel, but wrote an academic paper. Yeah, that would have shown you all!
But enough about my lack of literary context, let's talk about Steve Coogan, yeah? Yeah. First, my hunch about "I'm Alan Partridge" proved to be correct as "Tristram Shandy" did have a few Partridge referrences (not limited to Coogan's co-star doing an impression of him as Partridge). Laugh track aside, the series is pretty brilliant. It's safe to say that there wouldn't be "The Office" without it. David Brent and Alan Partridge are basically different takes on the same personality. Both crave fame but one already had it (and lost it). The biggest difference is that Brent wanted everyone to be his friend (of at least let them think that he wanted everyone to be his friend-- every cloud, yeah?) whereas Partridge is really only looking out for #1 (he tells his staff that they got picked up for a second series only to fire all of them 3 minutes later).
What is perhaps more interesting is that Coogan's approach to the character is much more of a cartoon, whereas Gervais' Brent is firmly rooted in reality. This made "The Office" the better series, but over the long haul it will likely prove Coogan to be the better actor. It comes down to three roles, really: 1) Alan Partridge, 2) Tony Wilson in "24 Hour Party People" and 3) Steve Coogan in "Coffee and Cigarettes" and "Tristram Shandy." The roles aren't entirely dissimilar, but the variance in Coogan's performance is uncanny-- he's played himself twice, each with its own nuances.
I can barely play myself in real life.
And yes, he did make the Jackie Chan adventure "Around the World in 80 Days," but DeNiro did "Showtime" (and in that he never had to act in a hot-air balloon).
Draw your own conclusions.
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-Rick
(co-creator)
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