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Catuli 
"Loves Film and Fun"
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 Posted - 01/05/2007 : 04:53:37
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A lot of times my reviews are declined with the explanation "don't undertand," even though the theme of the review seems self-evident. I can only conclude that it's basically an across the pond thing. For instance, for the movie "Hold That Line," a Bowery Boys flick wherein Huntz Hall is transformed into a football player, I wrote "Satch becomes Red Grange." Please, no rankings of the review, it's not a gem, but I think it succinctly captures the leit motif of the film, that is if you know who Red Grange is. Just for the record, he was one of the most romanticized football players in history, particularly for his collegiate exploits. Methinks the MERPs simply didn't know who Red Grange was. Any thoughts?
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GHcool 
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 05:13:51
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My recent review of The Battle of Bunker Hill got declined for this same reason. Every American with a seventh grade education knows (or should know) that the Battle of Bunker Hill was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War faught at Lexington and Cocord, Mass. I provided this as an explanation and it was immediately approved within a day. My guess is that one of the European or Australian MERPs declined it the first time, or perhaps it was one of the British MERPs who got the joke, but had sour grapes about that specific battle.  |
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Pope George Ringo
"the Pope on stage"
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 07:25:42
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While I can't claim the Pope's success, I do think it helps that I grew up in the USA and married a Brit. I can tell when something might not go over for the American MERPs or when it might not go over with the MERPs with the sexy accents. I'm sure a small explination is all that's needed in either case. Sometimes, I find I'll need to explain something just so that the MERPs know which side of the pond's slang I'm using.
Of course, that doesn't stop me from handing in lousy reviews with lame puns that neither get. |
Edited by - ChocolateLady on 01/05/2007 07:26:56 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 09:55:55
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| There was definitely a change when it went from just Benj approving reviews. Now I tend to explain British references. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 09:57:23
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quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
perhaps it was one of the British MERPs who got the joke, but had sour grapes about that specific battle.
Nah, we don't even consider it a revolution (just a war of independence), so there is not enough to have sour grapes about.  |
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benj clews 
"...."
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 10:23:37
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I don't do sports references, so anything football (the original sort or the American variety), baseball, basketball, golf or whatever-related will always get a 'Don't Understand' from me (the only exception is extreme sports, but nobody else here seems to know anything about that so this proves to be of little use).
I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of US references in general, but I still end up getting caught out on obscure US celebs. |
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aahaa, muahaha
"Optimistic altruist, incurable romantic"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 16:06:11
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| It need not be culture alone. Given the immense backlog, the MERPs may also face some fatigue in approving. For example, my review for Saddam Hussein: A visual biography was rejected but it was approved the same day after I explained it with a laconic Not Saddamning = Not so damning. or something to that effect. And so far, it has been the top review for that film. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 16:11:27
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quote:
Originally posted by aahaa, muahaha
For example, my review for Saddam Hussein: A visual biography was rejected but it was approved the same day after I explained it.
That would actually have been approved then because I made a special request for reviews for the two Saddam films to be processed. |
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turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:04:45
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| I'm a big Bears fan, but without an explanation I wouldn't expect many people to know about a very good player from the 1930's. On top of that unless Red Grange was specifically a theme in the movie (I don't know the film) then you may as well have said Satch Becomes Brett Favre, Joe Namath, etc. I often use explanations when I think half or more of the people may not know the reference, and if I think 90% won't know the reference (unless it is very accurate and specific to the film), then I just don't use the review. |
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Rovark
"Luck-pushing, rule-bending, chance-taking reviewer"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:17:46
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quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
My recent review of The Battle of Bunker Hill got declined for this same reason. Every American with a seventh grade education knows (or should know) that the Battle of Bunker Hill was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War faught at Lexington and Cocord, Mass. I provided this as an explanation and it was immediately approved within a day. My guess is that one of the European or Australian MERPs declined it the first time, or perhaps it was one of the British MERPs who got the joke, but had sour grapes about that specific battle.
Does every American know that the Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breeds Hill.  |
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turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:33:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Rovark
Does every American know that the Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breeds Hill.
Or that Archie Bunker was actually called All in the Family (sadly this fact is probably better known than yours, Rovark). |
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Yukon
"Co-editor of FWFR book"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:36:44
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I never understood No. 17 on the top 100: "It is a bird!" for Supergirl, until I read in the Fourum a Brit FWFRer using the term Bird to describe a women.
The review is completely obvious to someone in London, England and makes no sense to someone in London, Canada.
That's how I learned there is a culture gap on some reviews and that's why I started submitting explainations with 90 per cent of my reviews. What's obvious to a guy in the Great White North isn't obvious to a guy in England, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Israel and the many other countries of FWFR members. |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:42:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Yukon
What's obvious to a guy in the Great White North isn't obvious to a guy in England, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Israel and the many other countries of FWFR members.
Hey ... what about us grils? 
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 18:43:18
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quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
My recent review of The Battle of Bunker Hill got declined for this same reason. Every American with a seventh grade education knows (or should know) that the Battle of Bunker Hill was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War faught at Lexington and Cocord, Mass. I provided this as an explanation and it was immediately approved within a day. My guess is that one of the European or Australian MERPs declined it the first time, or perhaps it was one of the British MERPs who got the joke, but had sour grapes about that specific battle.
I hate to tell you this GH, but I'm afraid your review is wrong.
First of all, Bunker and Breeds Hills are in Charlestown, several miles away from Concord. I'm not sure if you were suggesting it was all part of the same battle, but it certainly wasn't, and there were about two months between the two battles.
Furthermore, the outcomes of the battles were different. The Minutemen won the Battle of Concord...they successfully defended the North Bridge and the Redcoats eventually fled back to Boston. Most of the military supplies stored in Concord were moved to safety, making the mission a failure for the Redcoats because destroying those weapons was the whole point of the expedition. But the Americans lost the Battle of Bunker Hill, although they did inflict heavy casualties. So if the "they...concord" refers to the British conquering the Americans at Bunker Hill, it's factually correct but making reference to the Battle of Concord to illustrate that is incorrect. And if the "they...concord" refers the Americans conquering the British at Bunker Hill, then it's just factually incorrect altogether because that's not how it happened.
Nor was the battle a turning point in the war. By the end of the Battle, the British still controlled the entire Boston Peninsula, and now they ALSO controlled the Charlestown Peninsula. I doubt you could identify a major turning point that occured prior to March 1776, when Washington set up cannons on the Dorchester Heights and the Redcoats decided to evacuate the entire city of Boston. That was nearly a year later, and it wasn't even a battle.
To answer Rovark's question, I don't know about the rest of the country but here in Boston we know where the battle was actually fought. In fact, the Bunker Hill Monument is indeed on Breeds Hill, although we still call it the Bunker Hill Monument. |
Edited by - Downtown on 01/05/2007 18:58:53 |
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GHcool
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 01/05/2007 : 20:11:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
quote:
Originally posted by GHcool
My recent review of The Battle of Bunker Hill got declined for this same reason. Every American with a seventh grade education knows (or should know) that the Battle of Bunker Hill was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War faught at Lexington and Cocord, Mass. I provided this as an explanation and it was immediately approved within a day. My guess is that one of the European or Australian MERPs declined it the first time, or perhaps it was one of the British MERPs who got the joke, but had sour grapes about that specific battle.
I hate to tell you this GH, but I'm afraid your review is wrong.
First of all, Bunker and Breeds Hills are in Charlestown, several miles away from Concord. I'm not sure if you were suggesting it was all part of the same battle, but it certainly wasn't, and there were about two months between the two battles.
Furthermore, the outcomes of the battles were different. The Minutemen won the Battle of Concord...they successfully defended the North Bridge and the Redcoats eventually fled back to Boston. Most of the military supplies stored in Concord were moved to safety, making the mission a failure for the Redcoats because destroying those weapons was the whole point of the expedition. But the Americans lost the Battle of Bunker Hill, although they did inflict heavy casualties. So if the "they...concord" refers to the British conquering the Americans at Bunker Hill, it's factually correct but making reference to the Battle of Concord to illustrate that is incorrect. And if the "they...concord" refers the Americans conquering the British at Bunker Hill, then it's just factually incorrect altogether because that's not how it happened.
Nor was the battle a turning point in the war. By the end of the Battle, the British still controlled the entire Boston Peninsula, and now they ALSO controlled the Charlestown Peninsula. I doubt you could identify a major turning point that occured prior to March 1776, when Washington set up cannons on the Dorchester Heights and the Redcoats decided to evacuate the entire city of Boston. That was nearly a year later, and it wasn't even a battle.
To answer Rovark's question, I don't know about the rest of the country but here in Boston we know where the battle was actually fought. In fact, the Bunker Hill Monument is indeed on Breeds Hill, although we still call it the Bunker Hill Monument.
I don't live in Boston, so I wasn't aware of (or didn't remember) the particulars of the battle. I assumed that it was a victory for the colonists, but a quick Wikipedia search shows that the British actually won, but with a devestating number of casualties (roughly 1000). My review could be explained in three ways:
1. The Americans conquered the British in figurative terms of morale, and not in terms of territory.
2. The "They" in the review can refer to the British.
3. The sentence can be interpreted literally as "They came, and they saw, the town of Concord." |
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How much British/U.S. culture confounds MERPs?
