(OUT OF MY HEAD By Bill Burnett – March 30, 2017)
Here at Good Citizen’s Mission Street headquarters in beautiful South Pasadena, we have discovered the formula for what works in modern culture. You can bank on it. To be successful, a film or TV series or music act must be a combination of either Corn with Edge or Edge with Corn.
The easiest way to illustrate this concept is by comparing two of the most successful music groups of the 1960s. The Beatles were Corn with Edge. The Rolling Stones were Edge with Corn. The Stones were Street Fighting Men, who also sat and watched As Tears Go By. The Beatles Wanted to Hold Your Hand, but they also knew how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall and what it was like to be dead.
Examine any standout success and you’re sure to find this Corn/Edge dichotomy. Some recent examples: “La La Land”: Corn with Edge. It was a classic Movie Musical love story that ended coldly. “Moonlight”: Edge with Corn. A gritty tale of street hoodlums who fall in love. No wonder the Academy was confused.
Lady Gaga is Edge with Corn. She came on as a shape-shifting freak show, but has morphed into a veritable crooner. Beyonce is Corn with Edge. Starting as a sweet Destiny’s Child and always a devout Christian, she’s now an Amazon Queen, the world’s sexiest bombshell and an unpredictable artiste’.
Other examples: All the Pixar films are Corn with Edge. Laika Animation opts for Edge with Corn. South Park is Edge with Corn. The Simpsons are Corn with Edge. “Transparent” is Corn with Edge. “House of Cards”, Edge with Corn. “Close Encounters”: Corn with Edge. “District Nine”: Edge with Corn.
South Pasadena, by the way, is Corn with Edge: Old world charm mixed with modern Eclectic Edginess. That’s why we love it. Drop by our office for a steaming cup of Corn with Edge. And remember…you heard it here first.
Bill Burnett is the Creative Director of South Pasadena’s Good Citizen Media Group.