Editorial opinion: , Encampment: Penn State Ericampment '73, this weekend at the Elks Country Club, gave students, administrators, town officials and others a chance to sit down together and talk. It brought together many in dividuals who rarely see each other, known toeach other only by name or position. .The Encampment also marked the return to an 18-year-old tradition, discontinued in 1969. With this Encampment, the Univer sity has the option of renewing the event, much resting with the "suc cess" or "failure" of the past weekend. What was gained from the 18 hours or so of "communication"? Very little has changed as a direct result of the Encampment. No con crete courses of action were planned, no problems were resolved, personal prejudices and biases, if weakened, remain intact. Although policies have not changed, some individuals have. Many are better informed, aware Kilpatrick, Von Hoffman Beginning this week, The Daily Collegian will feature the opinions of Jambs K. Kilpatrick and Nicholas Von Hoffman on this page. If you have ever-'seen the CBS news program "60 'Minutep," you are aware that Kilpafrick is a Southern conservative and that Von Hoffman is a radical liberal, The day after Judge John — Slrica's opinion came down, a page one headline in the Washington Star-News 'summed up the state of both the weather and the law: "Smog Is the Worst Ever Recorded Here." All over town, lawyers, pundits, clerks and cab drivers are construing the Constitution. Both newspapers have handed down concurring opinions. Serv. Sam Ervin called in to add his note of approval. The consensus is that Judge Sirica was right. and the President was, wrpng, in theJmatter of the presidential -tapes. 'lt is ordered," the judge said, "that respondent, President Richard M. .Nixon, or any subordinate officer, official 'or employee with custody or control..., is hereby commanded to produce forthwith for the court's examination in camera the subpoenaed documents or objects which have not heretofore been produced to the grand jury..." Well. I dissent. Judge Sirica's opinion was reasoned and temperate His solution, if so, it may be termed, does the least possible violence to the principle the President is defending. This principle holds that the judicial branch cannot "command" the executive branch to disclose its confidential papers. That proposition seems to me sound; and the principle, like chastity, cannot be , surrendered in part. If the principle can be violated, goodbye principle. The Republic would survive, but our power structure would be significantly altered. It is said that the tapes contain, or may. contain, substantive evidence of value to the grand jury still investigating the Watergate scandal. "What distinctive quality of the' presidency," the judge asked, "permits its incumbent to withhold evidence?" The answer. it seems to me, is that the presidency is in fact unique. Everything about the office is distinctive. A good deal of demagogic blather has been heard these past few days about the President "being like other men." The argument runs that Citizen Nixon just happens to be sitting in the White House now, but he is plain old Citizen Nixon so far as the law is concerned. "He ain't no king." Stunning, hypnotic By MARK TRACHTMAN Collegian Columnist It isn't often that a motion picture utilizes the medium of film so expertly that it deserves •to be called' a "masterpiece." Most commercial films are basically narrative affairs, composed of a series of photographs showing performers acting out what is essentially a play.'Only rarely will a film maker exercise the power he has with filming, editing, music and so on to produce a truly cinematic motion picture. Only . rarely can a commercial film handle so effectively the elements of sight and sound that it creates a stunning, hypnotic effect. Walt Disney did it in the 40's with "Fantasia." Stanley Kubrick did it in the 60's with "2001" and it now appears that Norman Jewison has achieved this refined success in the 70's with "Jesus Christ Superstar." Jewison set out to do the opposite of most movie production take an existing piece of music and find visual images to match. The usual procedure is, of course, to put a musical score to a film after it has been completed. With "Superstar.," Jewison tackled the difficult problem of transforming one of of opposing viewpoints, and more ready to cooperate. The Encampment also helped people approach problems with a "community" spirit, leaving behind individual organizations or depart ments: Most of the beneficial com munication and discussion: came from the 21 workshops on,Satur d'ay morning and afternoon: Many of those heading the workshops had prepared their presentations carefully and sensitively. The discussions which followed were informative, open and interesting. One of the first workshops on Saturday was chaired by James McClure, State College Borough Councilman, examining the "trans portation trauma" in the area. His presentation, complete with drawings, maps and a•slide show, answered a lot of questions from the group and raised a lot more. The discussion centered on the possibility of a comprehensive public bus system in the area, replacing the need for both witty and articulate com mentators. A former editor of the Richmond News-Leader, Kilpatrick is a believer in limited government, a strict constructionist, a foe of com pulsory integration. An author and journalist, Von Hoffman has been writing a column for The Waspington Post James J. Kilpatrick: But, he the most popular, unique and somewhat controversial musical results of the last few years into a movie. Jewison took his cast and crew to the Middle East and in brutally hot temperatures proceeded to enact the rock opera. Using some truly breathtaking aerial photography and some extraordinarily awesome locations he captured on film visual images that are at once beautiful, striking and finely suited to the music. "Superstar" is made up of a series of songs, each one staged separately and performed almost as if it were a number in a traditional musical, some. even complete with choreography. But here dancers and singers appear from nowhere and the music seems to be a part of everything, not a rude interruption as in typical musicals. Here the players take on striking visual clarity. Jewison refuses to tie the film down visually to any particular time, giving the picture an abstract, timeless quality, as if the laws of time and space were somehow suspended for the duration of the film. His characters move among ruins, through ageless landscapes and rock formations, wearing anything from traditional robes to purple . T-shirts. Machine' guns, tanks, post cards, jet planes, all find their place among the bits and pieces of the film. :And in what is perhaps the single most stunning visual-segment in the movie, he uses shots of classic paintings of the crucifixion. is-president The argument is specious. Patrick Henry long ago looked sourly upon the presidential office: "It squints of monarchy.." Henry's vision was defective. No president is a motiarch; but he is president. Even in a purported criminal case, even if he himself were suspected of criminal conduct, a sitting president cannot be "commanded" by the courts to perforni the act here demanded. If this were not true, as Jefferson told John Marshall at the time of the Burr trial, any federal judge could order any president, under. pain of contempt, to produce any paper, to appear in person, to testify at distant trials and so on. The Washington smog is filled with wild surmise.*Suppose Judge Sirica's order is upheld, all the way through the Supreme Court, and the President still refuses to give up the tapes. (Nixon has said he would obey a "definitive" 1 order, but he has changed his mind before.) Would he then be cited for contempt? Would marshals be dispatched to arrest him? To drag him physically into court? Could a president then be jailed until he purged himself of contempt? We have had quite enough hot air without this. We have had too much law and not enough politics, for . lixon's problem is not legal, but essentially political. He could win 9- 0 in the high court and still lose everything in the country. Eventually he will tiave to yield those tapes. The day has long passed when Andrew Jackson could say (as he probably never said), "John Marshall has made his decision now let him enforce it." If the President loses, he will have to obey the court; if the President wins, he will have to make the tapes public as a voluntary act. Nothing less will! suffice to dispel the suspicion, reflected in presidential popularity polls, that Nixon was in this up to his ears. • Another suspicion also floats in the smog, that the tapes have now been doctored and no longer contain ';the truth." But it is too hot to : harry that suspicion. On thiS issue, the President should be trusted, or the President ishould be impeached. But a president, 'I submit, cannot be "commanded." 'Su•erstar' review automobiles. People were candid. one admitting he would be reluc tant to give up the convenience and luxury provided by two ',cars in the garage. In another workshop on the "im plications of changing the age of majority," Yates Mast, legal coun selor, again answered questions and raised more in an area of con cern to many. Other workshops looked at the relationship between campus and town, with 'borough officials speaking openly and honestly for the most part. Admittedly, ' few policies will change as a direct result of the En campment, little action will be taken. Though less evident, •the real results of the weekend are more important communication, interaction, meeting people. Viewed in terms of what realistically could be gained, the Encampment was a success. Hopefully, the success story will be repeated with annual chapters. , since 1966, tagged by Ron Ziegler as_the only one he l'never reads." What Kilpatrick and Von Hoff- man have in common are a sense of humor, an exciting writing style and thoughtful independence. The result is a balance of professional thinking about tssues that concern students. Jewison utilizes the audio end of his - film with equal' expertise. Of [ course the vast majority of the soundtrack is the music, the opera itself, but in a few special instances the sound either stops completely or 'crashes suddenly upon the audience. What you get when you put the sound and visuals together is more than just a movie because the individual numbers (un together to give an overall absorbing, engrossing experience for eye and ear. The motion picture , itself, the photography, sound, etc., becomes such a dominating force that to talk of individual actors seems as ;foolish as debating the exact size and shape of tiny figures on a painted landscape. i The performers are generally good, but this is just not an actors' film , not a traditional play where expressions or words matter much. The total becomes more important than any parlt. Certainly there are flaws in "Superstar." ' The basicl simple mindedness of the story, for example, or the almost backward religiotA attitudes. But these flaVvs lie In the original conception of the opera, not with the film. • What makes• the motion that so superb are juste those things that make up a motion' picture cinematography, visual imagery, conjunction of sight and sound. For anyone at all serious about film as a means of expression, or for anyone wanting a breathless two hour trip with music, this film is la must. For people with enough money to have slow vacations in the lazy summer, Labor Day is as much the beginning of a New Year as January' First. They come back to town ready with new prOjects, ready to start over. That early week of September is also when a lot of them announce their divorces. So many milliovs of us have been divorced you'd think the word would hVelaptten around that separation isn't necessarily the solutiO to marriage. Perhaps we continue to put too much hope.in splitting up because our literature has tended to concentrate on unhappy marriages rather than unhappy divoices. Phil Potter, the central figure in Dan Wakefield's morosely excellent new novel, "Starting Oyer" (Delacorte Press, $7.95), is just such a one who broke up a bad marriage for a worse divorce. As the embodiment of the ascendant assumption that the childless, alimonyless American male with a fresh bill of divorcement in his hands has been liberated to carouse in the hog heaven of the libidb, Potter's men friends wink felicitations at him. - rn s. Actually, men frequently take divorce harder than their wives. Brought up, as so many are, to deny their dependency on anyone, they suffer an unhappy astonishment at finding out that the jail they came home to every night was also a home, and that the second bachelordom they thought they wanted so much is a pitiable drag.. Women often permit themselves a more realistic assessment of the pros and cons of their marriages, and if their divorces are no happier they are less surprised at their pain. Trained to cook, sew, and keep house, they ca n at least look after themselves, which retread bachelors like Potter, who live off TV dinners and invites out, can't do. One of the reasons people get divorced is„that they forget why they got married. Many men, for instance, can't fight off the infection of Playboyism, until they.go and do it for a while, and then!, like Potter in the 'book, they may begin to look forward to meeting a woman, taking her out ana not sleeping with her: "He would take it slow, he would get_ to know her. He didn't just want to get laid and go on to something else, in the dulling old routine." The first time around, when you're young, it's easier to find a mate. You live among singles and you're relaxed in the 4 knowledge that you will just naturally pair off in monogamous happiness. The next time, by the nearly universal testimony of divorcees of both sexes, it's not so easy. The available all seem like life's culls, and the nights of Collegian PATRICIA J. STEWART Editor Successor to the Free Lance. est 1887 Member of the Associated Press Charter member of Pennsylvania Collegiate Media Association Editorial policy is determined by the Editor Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of The Daily Collegian are not necessarily those • of the University administration, faculty or students Mail Subscription price $ 1 7 50 a year Mailing Address: Box 467, State College. Pa. 16801 Office 126 Carnegie Both sides now Musical mockery By STEVE IVEY of the Collegian staff Is nothing sacred in this age of cinematic exploitation? "Jesus Christ, Superstar" is a perfect example of how not to film a rock opera. "Superstar's" major failing is that it is totally ridiculous. First of all, it is a rock opera in which the singers cannot sing. Andrew Lloyd Webber's music and Tim Rice's lyrics have been sung before, and better. Ted Neeley's voice is too weak and effeminate for the role of Jesus. When he sings, it sounds as if someone were squeezing him. Barry Dennen, playing the part of the chief priest, has the voice of a Brooklyn gangster. He is better suited to a Frankenstein movie than "Superstar." Still worse, his assistant sings like Truman Capote. This stereotyping of the characters is too simplistic and offensive. Producer director Norman Jewison has taken the easy way out by his choice of singer actors. He did, however, .select Yvonne Elliman to play the - part of Mary Magadelene, the role she had in the original album. Her singing is Nicholas Von Hoffman: Surviving divorce acceptable but a bit nasal and lacks body. One of the better singers in the cast, Carl Anderson, is hindered in that as Judas, he cannot act. Pilate is excellent and the only actor to make his character come alive. Although his singing is not superb, his acting more than compensates. Pilate is real, the other characters fake. The choreography leaves much to be desired, and is reminiscent of the worst of "The Dean Martin Show." The dances are too commercial while the dancers act like they are monkeys on fire or as if they have the DTs. The photography is generally poor. Close-ups of the actors singing make them look like horses neighing. The shots of Masada, however, are well done, as are those of the surrounding desert and rocky crags. Jewison attempted the impossible and utterly failed. In an effort to make "Superstar" simultaneously historical, relevant to today's youth, religious but not too religious, and a light comedy, Jewison came up with a disaster. Discounting the historical inaccuracies, Jewison's bid for relevancy by introducing modern gadgets is ludicrous. There were better methods of making it relevant than opening with a shot of a bus with a cross on top, putting cash registers and postcard Stands in the Temple scene, and arming the guards .with submachine guns and spears. searching and party going to meet new, people more often than not end in sad little grotesqueries as when Potter and a divorcee are interrupted, panicked and humiliated in their passion by her small son. Far from giving relief and• providing liberation, divorce opens up a new life of lonely tedium culminating once a year in 'the trinity of public trials called Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, that annual punishing gauntlet known gaily as The Holidays." Hence, the desire to find someone to share monogamy with can approach the dimensions of a frightened rage. In Wakefield's book, Potter thinks he has found someone to monogue with, but then he runs into another phenomenon. He loses sexual interest in her. 'lc keep it going they try to have sex in every imaginable position and circumstance. That doesn't work for long, and . when his girlfriend demands to know why, as so many, hurt and Z confused ex-partners do, the guilty, defeated Potter can only say, "After doing'it a couple of weeks, it's as if the desire drains out. And yet you're the same person." That's nqt much of an answer. Our ideals and our desires - make us want to think love-making with the same person 7. gets bettei over time, but increasingly we doubt that it happens that way. Wakefield has Potter wonder "if any - husband in America was sleeping with his wife," and the rest of us have nothing to add to that. Potter and his ex-girlfriend stop sleeping with each other, but they don't exactly break up. They become "allies," allies in the search for mates, going to parties together, tipping each . other off as to possibles, plotting and gossiping together. Once this kind of relationship existed only between ti members of the same sex, but now in a time of many divorces and later marriages, you see more and more couples who are really allies. ..1 It makes sense. A man can scout other men tor a woman better than she can and vice versa. Since they're not in competition for mates they don't doublecross each other and when nobody else is around you always have a date. In life and in Wakefield's novel, allies haven't found a way to beat the game, only make it a tittle easier to play. The girlfriend is defeated in her attempts at matrimony and must settle for Christmas by herself as the mistress of a shrink. And Potter, unhappy in marriage and unhappy out of it, weds a perfectly horrible young woman he's barely slept with. He will lose interest in her later. Letters should be brought to The . "'" Collegian office, 126 Carnegie, in persona.. JOHN J. TODD Business Manager so proper identification of the writer can be madea although names will be withheld by request. If letters are received by mail. The - Collegian will contact the signer for verification. The Daily Collegian welcomes,„ comments on news coverage. editorial: , policy or noncampus affairs. Letters should be typewritten, double spaced, g signed by no more than two persons and . a no longer than 30 lines. Students' letters a should include the name, term and major T. of the writer. By keeping the film in just one time frame historical or modern the film would have been improved ten-fold. As it is, the switching back and forth just annoys the audience and detracts from r the film. k. Relevancy does not depend on modern dress and machines. Jewison insults the ..to audience by thinking that 't cannot - get r , into" the film if it is filmed historically. Instead, the most effective scenes were: those done historically. To top it s off, Jewison's strange sense : r of humor is obscure. When the Pharisees decided to talk to Judas. they al sent Centurians after him. In this film, r a , Jewison uses Centurian tanks. ad Humor and irrelevant religion team up to make Jesus' encounter with Herod t offensive and disgusting, Herod : wallowing in a Coney Island on a lake. Jewison does succeed in some scenes. Those that stand out are when L: Jesus tries to help the sick and the grief and anguish on Mary's face when Pilate: condemns Jesus to be crucified. el Unfortunately, the development of a .1 2 realistic mood in which the audience can empathize, is always ruined by the : intrusion of modern-day artifices. By far, the best scenes are those without anything modern in them. "Jesus Christ, Superstar" is a mockery of what a good rock opera can be on film. But it is a film that will make money in spite of its poor quality and poorer taste. Letter policy
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