The Flip Flop Girl

Flip Flop Girl List: Television

We'll have to take a closer look at televison and shape up a list sometime. I know. I just started thinking about a music list and now I'm onto the tube. Well, there's no rush. We're having fun with this. I think the problem is keeping track of all the foot references that are made now. I suggest we look as far back as we can and go from there. I'm pretty sure there were no foot references made on the first TV show ever, "The Milton Berle Show" but I could be wrong. Maybe Uncle Miltie painted is nails when he went on in drag but I doubt it.

You'll love this: I think I once spotted the earliest, if not the first, sort of foot fetish-related scene on television, at least American televison: it's an episode of "Leave it to Beaver" where the Beaver's school teacher visits his home. This is very disorienting for the dim little boy. He can only stare at Mrs. Landers and is besides himself when he's left alone with her in the living room as the parents attend to dinner. Lo and behold, the Beaver is riveted to her feet. She is wearing open toe pumps. He can only stare. He's never seen his teacher out of school let alone in such shoes or, God forbid, seen her toes. All this, of course, makes the young woman unconfortable and she manages to jar the boy out of his trance by talking about homework or some such thing.




Perhaps Theodore Cleaver represents middle America at mid-century, all bloated and innocent, oblivious to what lay beyond its suburban prison. And Mrs. Landers is the Other. She represents Sin. She represents the sophisticated outside world that chubby little boys like the Beaver may only dare to fantasize about.

Discuss amongst yourselves. And let me know if you find a clip or any info about that particular episode and any and all of your favorite moments from FEET TV.

Labels: blogs, commentary, criticism, feet, foot fetish, open toes, pop culture, sex, televison, Writing

Flip Flop Girl: Another Pop Culture Snapshot

Hello there, I was just thinking again about the mess we seem to be in regarding our collective mindset, full to the gills with pop culture, at least in western society, specifically American. Still pondering poor Anna Nicole, the latest victim of our tabloid nation feeding frenzy. Good that we have artists that help us see the big picture. A perfect example is Charlie Chaplin who remains quite relevant in his world view.

I just saw a film that seemed to put our perpetual pop culture circus in its place. It is A King in New York. This was Charlie Chaplin's last film in which he also stars. I take this straight from Wikipedia: "A King in New York is a 1957 film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last starring role, which presents a satirical view of certain aspects of United States politics and society. The film was produced in Europe after Chaplin's exile from the US in 1952. It did not open in the United States until the early 1970's."

How interesting that this film wasn't allowed into the US until 1973. It took that long, a whole generation, before the United States was ready for the sort of satire that Chaplin delivered which is not heavy-handed but quite sensible! Nice how a mild approach can still sting some people! And those same sorts are still among us today--just take a look at the Bush White House and the right wing blogosphere! Basically, Chaplin is asking for tolerance and understanding during the McCarthy Communist witchhunt. What makes this film so beautiful is that he is also doing so much more than that!

Get this: The plot really takes off when Chaplin's character, the exiled King Shahdov, is the victim of a reality TV prank!

King Shahdov is forced to leave his country after a revolution and makes it to New York only to find his assets have been stolen. Broke and desperate, the king is forced to become a spokesperson. Clumsy and befuddled, his mistakes make him more and more popular to where the public will buy anything he endorses.

To look good for television, the king is willing to try plastic surgery which distorts his features and leaves him unable to form real expressions. Lucky for him, the procedure is reversible and he gets his old face back!

Meanwhile, Americans are caught up in a patriotic frenzy that leaves them suspicious of each other and vulnerable to government and media manipulation.

As a leader of a small and struggling nation, the king feels that atomic energy might prove the key to improving his country's fortunes but he is forever being suspected of actually wanting to create weapons of mass destruction.

Despite it all, the king is still optimistic about America and can see a time when the balance of power will return.

What do you think?! See this film! And totally as an aside, there is even a little scene where Chaplin is engaging in a little foot play with Dawn Addams! Very cute.

Labels: blogs, Bush, Charlie Chaplin, Communists, criticism, film, foot fetish, journalism, marketing, McCarthyism, media, politics, pop culture, reality tv, right wing, sex, terror, war, witchhunts, Writing