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OPINION l Film Review I

By Deborah Morrow
By David Reddy
In a previous Opinion My apologies to those of you
column I discussed the effec- about to read this lambaste of
tive disenfranchisement of the the film, "The Phantom of the
American people by economic Paradise", if you've already
and political factions. A dis- suffered the ordeal of viewing
cussion of the existant power it.
structure in this country is, "Phantom", starring pop
however, incomplete without a song writer Paul Williams,
discussion of alternatives. barely qualifies for a "B" movie
In short , the body politic rating.
must begin to explore methods The movie parodies the rock
of reinstating a democracy in and roll industry by updating
which we may take effective "The Phantom of the Opera",
action regarding issues affect- with overtones of Faustian
ing even our very survival. Students of French 204 this week surprised Dr. Elfie Hummel with bargaining with the devil.
Education is the key to a cake in the shape of an American flag after she had passed oral Any attempt to satire the
making the necessary changes. examinations to become an American citizen. She'll be sworn in glitter rock scene is an easy
It liberates because it creates next January. Students include Barbara Baxter, Andi Light, Sue enough task, since it is a satire
an awareness of a greater field London, Laszlo Farkas, DeAun Viole, William Searby, Nijole Kent, in itself. Unfortunately, "Phan-
of choice. Education creates an and Frederika Suver'kropp. tom" takes a potentially rich
awareness of alternatives lying comedy plot and avoids all but
beyond the scope of our the most sophomoric efforts to
current social organization. rapidly diminishing. Our oil POLL: SENATE lampoon it.
These are the alternatives that supply will last another 40 The main setting is the
must be explored. years at most. This is startling. (Cont'd From Page 1) Paradise Concert Hall, a pur-
Media is extremely im- Our social system is entirely students who are too caught up gatory for terminal teeny-
portant to the educational dependent upon petroleum. in ego trips to be in direct boppers. The movie, including
process in that they determine Our society is an oil junky. communication with the most of the cast, seems to be
the nature and content of We face total social up- majority of the student body. trapped midway through an
information. Media defines our heaval precipitated by econo- As expressed in an earlier awkward adolescence with no
awareness of our environment, mic collapse unless we begin to Opinion column, a college is a hope of a graceful maturity.
providing the limits and extent explore and develop al- microcosm of our entire
of that awareness. ternative energy sources on a society. Just as in national The hero is a hawky aca-
The most influential large scale. We must com- government, a few are making demic artist whose ambition is
medium in America today, the pletely replace petroleum as a decisions concerning the vast to write a rock version of
one responsible for providing source of energy. This is a majority. There are dangerous "Faust". His music is confis-
the most limiting awareness of massive job. possibilities in this situation. cated by Swan (Williams), an
matters that concern us all, is Very little is being done in An effective student evil rock promoter who has all
television. Television has this direction by our govern- government at COC requires the demoniac clout of a senile
superceded the printed media ment. Remember that our student participation and feed- munchkin.
as the prime purveyor of government is controlled by back. The Student Senate Swan attempts to destroy
information to the public. economic factions. Such an should be doing more to inspire the hero but only succeeds in
This preeminent position of energy translation is not in the students to become involved in deforming him by pushing him
television in our society is a interests of these factions. campus activities. into a record press.
sad fact in light of TV's It is, therefore, up to the The existing communica- It's bad enough that he
economic nature. The same public to take action - action tions' gap must be broken for must now crawl around Para-
economic interests that control which is almost impossible in the student government to dise in the guise of a Japanese
the government control the view of the small amount of become effective at COC. beetle in search of revenge.
airwaves. power in the hands of the Even worse, however, is that
These factions thus control people. In any case, this action WATERGATE he is still able to write
most of the information avail- must be preceded by an incredibly innocuous music
able to the public. Any awareness of the situation. (Cont'd From Page 2) which the audience suffers
information that jeopardizes Television, by its very ment. But reforms may curtail through until the END.
their position of power is thus nature, is doing nothing to the undue influence of money." Predictably enough, the
subject to implied censorship. create such an awareness. "Watergate," says Dr. Col- musical boy wonder suffers his
Television seldom analyzes the Each individual, therefore, lier," is used as a term that ordeals for a girl, giddily
basic structure of our society. must take it upon himself to covers the misuse of power by played by Jessica Harper. The
It is information of precisely obtain this awareness. We the Nixon administration in role requires metamorphosis of
this nature with which we must become knowledgeable everything from campaign a Sunday school choir girl into
must be concerned. regarding the twin horns of "dirty tricks" to the estab- a cocaine sniffer in the back-
Television has replaced our dilemma, the political and lisment of an espionage unit in seat of Swan's limousine.
religion as the opiate of the the ecological. And we must the White House. Williams is a talented pop
people. take action through reactiva- "If these methods were song writer, but his skills are
A glaring example of this tion of the democratic process used by a party with a wasted in this film. "Phantom"
condition is illuminated by based upon that information. majority in Congress, the two contains one complete song of
the treatment of the energy We must take charge of our party system might be en- questionable quality that is
crisis on television. Major oil educations so that we become dangered. It is ironic that the repeated ad nauseum. This is a
companies are running ex- fully aware of our condition party Mr. Nixon damaged movie in which pajamas are
tensive ad campaigns extolling and our possibilities. We must most was his own," he said. worn in love scenes and .in
their efforts in the field of transcend the limits imposed In an attempt to place which four-letter words are
energy production. by television and begin to use Watergate in proper perspec- puritanically slurred for the
Standard Oil is extracting media as a tool to promote our tive in today's world and in protection of PG audiences.
oil from tarsand. Shell is educations. We must avert the history , Dr. Collier said,
drilling deeper than Mt. Shasta bureaucratic momentum that "Watergate will be a symbol Profit is obviously the only
is high. The American public is is taking us to destruction. for misuse of governmental motive for this film. If you
led to believe that these Man is reputed to be power. Unless we deal with the must spend your money and
corporations have the situation rational. Each of us must take underlying conditions that time, don't waste it on "Phan-
well in hand. The facts indicate the initiative to interject permitted this misuse of tom of the Paradise".
quite ·the opposite. rationality into our social power, incidents of a similar There are better ways to
Petroleum resources are design. nature can occur again." spend an evening in West wood.