Sidney Poitier and a Rabbit

I find the similarities between art and "real life" to be fascinating. Sometimes these crossings are done purposefully, while other times - as in most cases - they happen simply by coincidence. I noticed two of these similarities this weekend.

The first occurred to me last Friday, when I was inadvertently channel surfing. TV Land was showing the moving "Fatal Attraction," with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. It is one of those movies that I love to hate. I never really watched the entire movie in one sitting, but have gotten sucked into watching parts of it several times over the past few years. I just can't help it. The performances and filming were mesmerizing. It is about a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end and who becomes obsessed with him. One of the most famous (or infamous, I guess) scenes is where Michael's Douglas' character's family comes home to find that the character portrayed by Glenn Close, has boiled the family's bunny to death on their kitchen stove. While watching this movie, I was also watching CNN and MSNBC, who were both discussing Governor Sarah Palin and the negative things that were "leaked" out by Republican staffers about her activities while campaigning. They were things like - she spent too much on clothes, she was too "mavericky," she refused to be coached, she didn't know that Africa was a continent, she used low level staffers credit cards, she was difficult to control, etc. After flipping back and forth between CNN and TV Land, I realized that the general plots of these two stories were the same. Both Glenn Close and Sarah Palin were used as seemed fit at the time, and then later revealed to be "unstable." Believe me, I bet if John McCain had won this election, that these Palin tidbits would not have been released. Now Sarah Palin is like Glen Close in the final bathtub scene. Everyone is waiting to see if she comes up for air or if she is down for the count.

My second instance of art imitating life, or visa versa, was when I decided to record the movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," from the Turner Classic Movie channel. It is a 1967 comedy-drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, and Katharine Houghton. The movie revolves around Joanna Drayton (Houghton), a young white American woman who has fallen in love with Dr. Prentice (Poitier), whom she met while vacationing in Hawaii. The couple plans to marry. The plot is centered on Joanna’s return to her liberal, upper-class home in San Francisco, bringing her new fiance to dinner to meet her parents (Tracy and Hepburn), and the reaction of family and friends to his being black.

Barack and Michelle Obama are going to be meeting with George and Laura Bush at the White House this afternoon. The current President and First Lady will greet the future President and First Lady. There are many in this country, and around the world, who wondered whether this day would ever come in the United States. Just as surprised as Spencer Tracy's character was regarding his daughter's choice of a fiance, so are some regarding the United State's choice of a President. This meeting at the White House at 2pmET will be an amazing moment. 1967 was over 40 years ago, and so much has changed. But, the content of Spencer Tracy's closing monologue at the end of the film seems just as appropriate today, as it was back then (see below).