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Sonali Campion
Jessica Goodman
Jessica Goodman
Sophie Balfour-Lynn
Sonali Campion
Jessica Goodman
Lauri Saksa
Sophie Balfour-Lynn
Lauri Saksa
Rebecca Nye
Sophie Balfour-Lynn
Niina Tamura
Lauri Saksa
Rebecca Nye
Rebecca Nye
Lauri Saksa
Rebecca Nye
Rebecca Nye
The ancient language of Christ is undergoing a rebirth as Aramaic classes offered by Oxford University attract record numbers this month.
The language, regarded by experts as endangered, has gained attendance figures which may not have been seen since Jesus was speaking the language some 2,000 years ago.
Drawing students from as far as Liverpool and London, there are now 56 learning Aramaic at the university, more than the numbers studying Greek. The free lunchtime classes are taught by David Taylor, Fellow of Wolfson College, who is described by colleagues to “live and breathe Aramaic.”
Dr John Ma, an Oxford University classicist and participant in the classes, was “thrilled” by the turnout and hopes to expand the project. “We’re attempting to sew something new and create a wide community of speakers that will help us to better to understand the ‘granddaddy’ of classical languages and its significance in the ancient world.”
Having taken the lessons himself, Ma said he is now beginning to dream in Aramaic. They are very dull dreams, he admits, “mostly verb paradigms, and once saying to someone, ‘Mindeam la avdeth anah’ … I didn’t do anything.”
But pronunciation of the language is not easy to get to grips with. Quoting a fellow student on mastering a particular vowel sound, Ma said, “[it sounded like] a guttural throat sound not unlike incipient vomiting.”
However, after two lessons Ma said he could read in the original the words spoken by Christ on the cross: “My God, my God why did you forsake me.” After eight, he realised to his surprise that he could understand the Aramaic dialogue in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.
“It was very satisfying, it’s not always like that when you learn a new language,” he said.
Although dialects of Aramaic are still spoken in the Middle East, David Taylor, teacher of the new Oxford course, believes the war in Iraq has helped push the language to the verge of extinction.
The new course comes at a time when the Classics department at Oxford faces a “climate of uncertainty” due to recent government proposals for cuts to the university budget for humanities. Commenting on the situation, Ma said, “This unique course is leading the field in Aramaic research. It’s stupid that the government thinks it’s OK to cut world class projects like this.”
It may be hard for the archetypal student protestor to find their Christmas spirit this year. With tuition fees on the rise, funding to humanities cut and Education Maintenance Allowance confined to the history books, it seems that we would be justified in throwing away the tinsel, leaving the halls un-decked and removing our Santa hats. However, when you look at the values of opportunity, equality and future security upon which the protests this year have centred, we see that actually we should pause before pulling the stockings off the wall.
After a year of hesitation, deviation and, dare I say it, repetition, the American Congress has finally come up trumps as a beacon of hope for the liberal student masses. Within the final two weeks of the legislative year, the current lame duck Congress has passed a measure removing the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy from the US Military and ratified, through the Senate, the New Start Treaty. These actions represented a bipartisan movement towards equality of opportunity and rights, and a more secure future.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy had placed a legal obligation upon American military personnel not to disclose their sexuality. In total, since the policy was enacted seventeen years ago, over 17,000 troops have been discharged because of their defiance. In 58 days time, it will finally be safe for homosexual members of the military to be honest about their sexuality without fear of the consequences. It was an act which many speculated would never come. In 2007 Time Magazine published a poll in which only 30 percent of the American public claimed to believe that openly gay servicemen should be allowed to serve in the army, causing speculation that the policy, which Marine General Peter Pace at the time argued was the only way to avoid condoning “immoral” behaviour, would never change. However, the numbers have now moved in favour of repeal. A Gallop Poll published only two weeks ago showed that now 67 percent of the American public were in favour of the repeal which was finalised with President Obama’s seal on Wednesday 22nd December. The American public, Congress, and even 23 Republicans therein, have allowed the passage of a piece of legislation which eases the lives of a, speculated, 65,000 gay or lesbian troops whilst promoting equal rights and opportunities across the forces.
Should this news have you only replacing the fallen baubles on the tree, and not yet donning a full reindeer costume or hanging mistletoe, the ratification of the New Start Treaty by the Senate, also on Wednesday 22nd December, may help to push a reluctant dieter to a second mince pie. The New Start Treaty with Russia reduces the limit on the production and purchase of new nuclear warheads by 30 percent on the limit set in 2002, and also allows for the visual inspection by either side of the other’s adherence to the treaty. Although this Treaty cannot be said to remove all nuclear threat, the improvement which it shows in relations between Russia and the USA, alongside the reduction, however small, in nuclear warheads, can be seen as a positive step towards security and peace. Passed by the Senate with 13 Republican votes, this treaty is still to be ratified by Russia, a debate which is due to take place on Friday 24th December. Unfinished and restrained as the New Start Treaty may be, movements by the US Senate allow a clear message of hope for peace and diplomacy, one which student protestors can recognise, to ring out over the carols.
They may be small steps but repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the ratification of the New Start Treaty highlight continued belief in and aspiration towards social equality and a less threatening world. Even with tuition fees placards only just beginning to gather dust in their defeat, crestfallen protestors, do-gooders and liberals the world over can see the wassail being raised by the American Congress.
The forthcoming royal wedding between Will and Kate has been the subject of much media speculation over the past few weeks, and plans for the occasion will be the focus of intense scrutiny until the day itself. At present, the royal family will be painstakingly planning this ceremonial royal rite of passage, which some hope will be just as much a popular entertainment as a religious celebration. Choosing the musical content of such high-profile occasions so as to please all listeners is an undeniable challenge, and the choice will, no doubt, be particularly important to the royal pair, who (we can surmise) will be keen to project an image of freshness and modernity.
Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, perhaps the last royal occasion subjected to a similar level of hype, was in danger of becoming more of a show-biz performance than a solemn funeral, by the inclusion of Elton John’s rendition of Candle in the Wind. Despite its gut-curdling lyrics, this song went on to become the biggest selling single in UK history as a result of the funeral. In the ceremony itself, it was placed alongside the contemporary composer John Tavener’s specially commissioned work, Song for Athene, in what could have been a deliberate attempt to balance popular music with what is perceived to be more ‘high-brow’. Perhaps Diana’s funeral has set the tone for future royal events as celebrations of our culture’s musical pluralism. In contrast, the music for Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 consisted almost entirely of core English classical works by composers such as Elgar and Handel.
Important musical decisions for this wedding will lie with the Prince of Wales, who is reported to be pressing for the wedding music to have a Welsh theme. Might this mean, as rumoured, a duet between crooner Tom Jones and the Welsh ‘angel’ Charlotte Church? This depressing potential line-up could grow with the possible inclusion of Andrew Lloyd-Weber, the ‘demi-god’ of musical theatre, with his fail-safe combination of classical and popular styles. Elton John himself, that over-rated veteran crowd-pleaser, has recently joked that, although he might perform at the wedding, it would probably be as a busker outside. If only.
However many concessions are made to musical populism, there will at least be one man who should uphold royal traditions as Master of the Queen’s Music, a position established in the seventeenth century. He is Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Officially commissioned to write a piece for the occasion, he has stated an intention to give his work a ‘Scottish feel’ in honour of the country in which the couple first met, and where he himself lives. His music will probably dissatisfy many ears across the country, unaccustomed to the sound of his modern classical works, although much of his choral music is more accessible to inexperienced ears. We can hope that for such a piece he will make full use of the outstanding abilities of Westminster Abbey choir. His adventurous style is no reason to dismiss his work; after all, Wagner’s famous ‘Here comes the bride’ march, when chosen by George V for his wedding in 1897, would have been considered a daring choice of music at the time.
Popular music should have its place in the wedding celebrations, but perhaps best outside the official ceremony. Since Prince Harry is reportedly in charge of the engagement party, we can safely assume that this occasion will be a fitting musical tribute to the latest sounds in pop culture. Mark Ronson, who lists Harry among his good friends, has requested the privilege of DJ-ing for the couple, and the Prince is rumoured to have lined up Tinie Tempah and Snoop Dogg to perform. The latter is promoting his new single ‘Wet’ as a potential wedding gift to the pair. With lyrics such as: ‘I just wanna get you wet, wet…Drip, drip, Drip, drip for me mami’, it seems unlikely that the Queen will be in a hurry to download it onto her iPod.
At least Snoop Dogg is under no illusion that his song is a serious homage to the royal wedding. The same cannot be said of Elton John, and we may well have to prepare to be drowned by another wave of gushing media-drive emotion come April 29th, inspired by his banal and syrupy lyrics.
Anahit Behrooz (Section Editor)
What sort of a party is it?
Overly twinkly and fairytale-esque yet homey and very merry.
Where is it taking place?
Outdoors in snowy woodlands (kept warm by those magical patio heaters Parisian cafes have), lit by hundreds and hundreds of fairylights and lanterns, with Christmas decorations sprinkled liberally around.
Who would you invite and why?
Um, Alice in Wonderland as I basically want to be her. Marie Antoinette so I could steal her clothes. The Brothers Grimm for making studying German bearable. JK Rowling because, well, do we really need a reason? Rebecca from The Clothes Horse as she is one of my greatest fashion idols. Sofia Coppola for her stunning films and style, Matthew Williamson for his daring fun designs, Klimt because he is my new obsession and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey so I could steal him away at the end.
What would you wear as the host?
Hmm…I’ve always always wanted the antique cut-off wedding dress that Cecilia from The Virgin Suicides wears. So that. Slightly morbid as it may be.
What are you serving?
A Hogwarts feast, essentially. Plus a gingerbread house, Butterbeer, Lebkuchen and candy canes. And oh-so-much mulled wine.
What’s on your Christmas wishlist?
Lace-up boots, Serge Lutens perfume, lace tights, a subscription to Oh Comely magazine, a plane ticket to New York and a relaxed Hilary term.
Fleur Ma (Deputy Fashion Editor)
What sort of a party is it?
It’s a White Christmas ball set in Ancient Egypt. Pyramids sparkle with snow and Christmas illuminations brighten up Pharaoh’s palaces. Guests can go ice fishing for their favourite shoes and accessories in the frozen Champagne Nile. The only unbreakable rule is that guests must wear their cutest and sleekest winter boots.
Where is it taking place?
Madame Tussauds in London. Wax figure and human alike mingle amidst Ancient Egypt’s Christmas wonderland.
Who would you invite and why?
From style icons to couturiers; the guest list will be a celebration of the great influences of fashion history. Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Steven Meisel, Paul Smith, Anja Rubik, Jill Stuart and Rebecca Taylor (without whom my wardrobe would virtually not exist)
What would you wear as the host?
Hervé Léger black velour bandage dress and a real naja haje cobra.
What are you serving?
Champagne and Ancient Egyptian wines.
What’s on your Christmas wishlist?
Alexander McQueen winged leather ankle boots, Balmain sequined tweed coat and Proenza Schouler leather satchel bag. Absolutely necessary items for winter holidays and Hilary term – to go to lectures in Schools, chill out after tutes, or discuss Luxury Fever (by R. Frank) with friends at a café. Right?
Grace Goddard (Deputy Fashion Editor)
What sort of a party is it?
Disgustingly cheesy, overwhelmingly sparkly and not at all sophisticated.
Where is it taking place?
The mountain ski chalet in Wham!’s Last Christmas video. Or the snow-covered cottage in the Marks and Spencers advert with Take That. I don’t mind as long as both Take That and Wham! are present.
Who would you invite and why?
Cliff Richard – the brussel sprouts of guests – one of those compulsory Christmas things that no one really likes. Frosty the Snowman, because he’s a jolly happy soul. And all drunken Grandmas. However, all guests’ outfits must achieve the required level of glitteriness in order to gain entry.
What would you wear as the host?
An East 17 style white puffer jacket with a fur-trimmed hood, white gloves and white trainers. The finishing touch- one diamante earring.
What are you serving?
Enormous vats of bread sauce which guests can ladle into their own bowls – don’t judge, it’s always the best part of Christmas dinner! Brandy butter for pudding and chai lattes to drink because they just taste like Christmas.
What’s on your Christmas wishlist?
A Steps reunion; ankle boots; less essays; the D&G long-sleeved snowflake-patterned knitted leotard; Bridget Jones’ Christmas jumper; leather bound books that smell old; Gilmore Girls memorabilia; a place on Strictly Come Dancing and a pony.
It was a grey day to be out shopping. (Jessica Goodman)
Protesters had come down from all over the city to take action against corporate tax evaders. (Jessica Goodman)
Not much happened for the first hour with just a couple of police officers guarding each entrance of Topshop. (Jessica Goodman)
Protesters got together to show their anger toward corporate greed. (Jessica Goodman)
The press recorded the opinions of the protesters as they waited for the action to commence. (Jessica Goodman)
Vodaphone felt the pressure and had decided to shut down in anticipation of the protest. (Jessica Goodman)
However, protesters decided to have a peaceful ‘read-in’ to demonstrate cuts in funding for libraries. (Jessica Goodman)
Elsewhere, people were still chanting anti-corporate slogans and the focus moved to Top Shop. (Jessica Goodman)
The police were very careful about not letting protesters sneak into Oxford Street’s Top Shop and endanger the profits of a busy shopping day. (Jessica Goodman)
But protesters were determined to hammer home their message. (Jessica Goodman)
And the media were ready for some action too. (Jessica Goodman)
Security and police had to give in at BHS where protesters had a ‘sit-in’ inside the store. (Jessica Goodman)
Police observing the protesters. (Jessica Goodman)
Over at Top Shop, a group of hard core protesters broke through the police wall and managed to stage a sit-in in front of the store’s entrance. However, some shoppers could still get in through another door. (Jessica Goodman)
It was a cold day both for the protesters and security people. (Jessica Goodman)
The police were understandably still uneasy as a result of the recent student protests. (Jessica Goodman)
Fortunately there was good music to keep people entertained. (Jessica Goodman)
Some people were seemingly too absorbed in their mobile distractions to notice the protesters making their point. (Jessica Goodman)
Finally, at 2.50 pm, the protesters evacuated Top shop of their own accord. (Jessica Goodman)
Some people tried an improvised road blockade. (Jessica Goodman)
Protesters were now outnumbered and were forced into a smaller space. (Jessica Goodman)
The protest day was a very peaceful one but the underlying tension was considerable. (Jessica Goodman)
As a speaker of the American tongue, I grew up firmly grounded in an education system with a strict linear progression; first came preschool and kindergarten, then elementary, middle, and high school. College followed, and then – this was the optional part – graduate or professional school.
Unlike in Britain, law and medicine are programs found only at the graduate level in the United States, requiring a bachelor’s degree to gain admittance. Whereas fellow undergraduates at Oxford might be lawyers or medics from the start of their university education, with the exception of a few early-entry medical school programs, in the US students don’t have to decide that they want to take either path until a few years into college, as long as they meet any course requirements.
But since I’m a second-year historian at Oxford, I’ve only got one year left after this at university, unlike my cohorts from American high schools. And it was because of this that I found myself taking the LSAT, or Law School Admission Test, last weekend.
What many students in the United States don’t realize when they take the SAT tests in high school is that many more standardized tests lie ahead. For law school, it’s the LSAT, and for medical school, the MCAT. For graduate programs in the liberal arts or public policy, the GRE is required, and later on, business school applicants face the GMAT. Sometimes it seems as if the list never ends.
This puzzles my friends at Oxford in some ways. While they had to sit for the HAT, or the TSA, or the LNAT before interviewing, it amazes them that I have to go through the whole thing again, for every step forward in my American education that I may want to take.
I never considered that this process might be different elsewhere in the world; after all, when I was taking the LSAT, I could just as easily have been in Canada or Australia, where the test is also required for law school admission, or sitting the exam anywhere in the world at one of the various administration locations for students from around the globe who want to attend law school in one of the aforementioned countries.
Each conduit, both British and American, has its merits and its flaws. Personally, I’m not too irked by this round of testing; I’d rather do it this way than have to decide at seventeen that law was the path I wanted to take. I’m still not sure if it’s what I want to do, and luckily I’ve got time to decide.
‘We see an ancient white crescent moon against black. He is smoking. He whispers a song to himself.’ So reads a stage direction in David Austen’s new film showing at Modern Art Oxford. Austen’s installation and an exhibition of sculptures by Thomas Houseago form the gallery’s new season of work which surprises us by questioning traditional motifs and materials, and sometimes confronts us with images of terrible loneliness.
The centre piece of Austen’s show is the film, The End of Love (2010), in which twelve figures perform soliloquies to an empty theatre. The artist’s creation here extends far beyond the poetry the characters speak: Austen’s background in 2D work gives the film a strikingly painterly sensibility. At one point, the frame is filled with a character’s growing shadow on the stage behind him, swelling as the camera shifts angle like a beautiful inkstain.
By placing the characters on stage, the film seems to play with ideas of what it means to be a performer – are we protected by the mask of costume, or vulnerable? The harsh spotlighting means none of the figures can hide from our attention, but they don’t seem to desire this – they are stuck and struggling. ‘Please dear, there is a dark hole here where my heart should be’ pleads a young man in a dandyish suit beneath a sign reading ‘The Death of Love’. When Austen himself is asked to talk about the bleakness of this film, he replies with a small shrug, ‘You should see my last one…’
The use of 12 sections adding up to make a film just over an hour long perhaps suggests the 12 apostles of Christ – but there is no thirteenth figure here, and any idea of salvation is brutally cut short, remaining only in the hope of some of the speakers that love might one day find them.
Images of loneliness also feature heavily in the work by Thomas Houseago – a British artist like Austen, based in LA. His monumental mixed media sculptures involve the body in their making hugely, and there is a palpable sense of the pressures of the artist’s body manipulating the surfaces of the work. The oversized Coins (Stacked) (2010) against a gallery wall, for example, were first rolled out as clay onto a studio floor and then cast in aluminium. Their evident weight, resting monumentally in place, is a playful contrast with the idea of featherweight loose change jangling in your pocket.
This exhibition is also the first time Modern Art Oxford has collaborated with the Ashmolean, installing five Houseago sculptures there. Michael Stanley, MAO’s curator, says this collaboration arose from ‘the nature and the content of the work, it really asks for it’ – and it’s striking to walk through the Ashmolean’s Cast Gallery where the sculptures sit next to plaster copies of ancient, often fragmentary figures. ‘With the casts there’s also this snobbishness that they’re not the original objects, and I think that’s really quite interesting in terms of that point of translation,’ Stanley comments.
We can see this translation in the way that often Houseago’s sculptures are intentionally truncated – an enormous pair of legs standing alone, for example – whereas many of the casts are missing limbs, but entirely by accident. Houseago’s work ‘oscillates and plays with and questions those two lineages of classical figuration and modernist abstraction.’ Ancient and modern sculpture practices interact and elements of one become reflected in another: ‘the fingers of clay in Legs (Landslide) become the serpent in the cast of Laocoon.’
Back in MAO, the simplicity of Houseago’s colours encourages your eye to focus on the varied forms of the sculptures. Their shapes sometimes free us from a burdensome sense of seriousness: oversized domestic references like spoons and dummies are juxtaposed with sprawling human figures and harsh, angular masks.
The focus of the works on show is Baby’ (2009-10) a nine-foot sculpture of a crouching figure with a skull-like head and huge, empty eyes. As Stanley points out, it includes both rounded forms made out of ‘thick fingers of clay’ and 2D surfaces marked with graphite and charcoal. The sculpture feels bare, but not in an unfinished sense: we can see exposed parts of the iron, wood and hemp involved in its construction and these only add to the sense of its weightiness, as an object rooted in place. There is something almost ape-like about the gigantic figure with its sense of tightly-coiled energy. Stanley describes the ‘play between the aggression of the image and the title of Baby, and they [the figure sculptures] do have this incredible pathos about them. They’re aggressive, but they’re resigned at the same time.’
This tension between aggression and vulnerability is everywhere in Houseago’s work, and the enormous eyes of Baby seem to bore into you with an uncomfortable question. ‘It’s quite a tough show in many ways,’ Stanley admits. ‘Along with The End of Love, we’ve gone for something really upbeat for Christmas.’
Thomas Houseago and David Austen are showing at Modern Art Oxford and The Ashmolean until 20th February 2011. Admission free.
Oxford University has opened up its admissions process more than ever before with a series of video diaries charting the experience of tutors during the interview process.
Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, commented, “We want to be as open and transparent about the process as possible, and show prospective applicants what it’s like for those making decisions about who to admit.”
However, the video diaries have been greeted cautiously by some. There is speculation amongst current students that if the programme is expanded to include interviews, applicants may be placed under further pressure in the already stressful process.
Sam Robberts, a first year historian at Corpus Christi, commented, “The idea of filming is good in principle. But the [interview] process is one designed to test a student’s ability and talent, not their nerves in front of a panel. Going before a camera would only add to the pressure, against the interests of the individual student, who must surely come first.”
The eye-view video diaries form part of a larger effort to make the admissions process less intimidating for potential applicants, including a podcast series entitled ‘PodOxford’. OUSU is supportive of the University’s plans, commenting, “These are fantastic resources offering advice straight from tutors about how to do your best in an Oxford interview.”
The video diaries have been filmed by Helen Swift, tutor in French at St Hilda’s, and Byron Byrne, an Engineering tutor at St Catz. Each discusses what their role within the application process is and what it is like for them. Swift commented the admissions period is “all consuming”, adding, “There comes a point just after the end of term where you basically surrender everything else in your life and give yourself over to admissions.”
The undergraduate admissions office claims that the videos will help to increase transparency in the application process, showing “how hard [tutors] work, how rigorous the process is, and how consuming and exciting it can be for tutors as well as prospective students.”
Interviews have long been the cause of anxiety for prospective Oxford candidates. It is hoped that projects such as these video diaries and PodOxford will quell the fears many applicants have.
With yet another record number of applicants this year, competition for places at Oxford is more competitive than ever before. Courses such as Economics and Management and Medicine have successful application rates of just 9% and 13% respectively.
Around 10,000 students come to Oxford during December’s interview period. If successful, the video diary programme will be expanded next year.
CORRECTION:It was previously stated in this article that Oxford University was filming prospective student interviews. This is in fact untrue – tutors are being filmed throughout the admissions process but no individual candidates are being filmed or discussed. Cherwell would like to apologise to Oxford’s Admissions Office and to its readers for any confusion this may have caused.
This year we lost Leslie Nielsen, the inimitable comic performer who featured in over one hundred films and countless television programmes but will be especially remembered for his roles in surreal spoof films, such as Airplane and Naked Gun.
Born and raised in Canada, as the son of a Danish-born Mountie and a Welsh immigrant who had moved from Fulham, he trained as a gunner for the Royal Canadian Air Force towards the end of the Second World War, but was too young to be shipped out. He went on to study theatre and music in New York and began his career in 1950s live television, first appearing alongside Charlton Heston for 75 dollars. He moved on to play the leading man in many dramas before finding his true calling, aged 54, in the comic movie.
His impressive CV of serious dramatic roles made him all the more perfect for deadpan Dr Rumack in the 1980 disaster-movie spoof Airplane!. Director and writer David Zucker has described how his greatness lay in the fact that he never ‘winked’: Nielsen played his part in this ludicrous goofball comedy as if he had not the slightest hint of its comedic value. When his character announces ‘This woman has to be gotten to a hospital’ and Julie Hagerty’s character responds ‘A hospital? What is it?’, he replies earnestly ‘It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.’ The wholly serious delivery of silly lines like these characterised his performance in this hugely successful comedy and went on to become something of a Nielsen trademark.
A new niche for Nielsen and his impeccable comic timing, as showcased in Airplane!, opened up in the form of tongue-in-cheek parodies. Just as Airplane! playfully spoofed the 1970 melodrama Airport and the whole of the disaster film genre, Top Gun and other police dramas came under fire in the joyfully irreverent Naked Gun trilogy of the later 80s and early 90s. Again, David Zucker directed and again, Nielsen’s comic intensity shone through. Indeed, Airplane! had brought back a playful breed of comedy film based upon inventive slapstick, absurd visuals and mischievous wordplay. Already reminiscent of much earlier filmmaking, such as that of the Marx brothers, Nielsen’s films added a dimension of parody and spoof, now that there was such a body of po-faced cinematic work to be imitated and mocked.
The enormously successful Pink Panther films, which began in the 1960s under the direction of the much-revered and recently deceased Blake Edwards, had already began to put Hollywood on this path with Peter Sellers and co parodying the well-worn detective genre. Airplane!‘s breed of comedy is, however, quite distinct from that of the Pink Panther series, as is Nielsen’s deadpan panache from the larger-than-life style of Sellers, who had already established a comic reputation in The Goon Show.
Airplane!‘s laugh-a-minute, incoherent and surreal style of spoof has spawned many similar parodies in its wake, such as the Scary Movie franchise, in which Nielsen himself has made a cameo appearance. Other spoofs, however, have started to move away from the light-hearted, absurd tone of the comedies we associate with Nielsen: whilst Nielsen’s deadpan performance contrasts with the silly chaos around him in his films, some more recent parody films such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007) from this side of the Atlantic, have an all-round comic seriousness in their tone and execution whilst some American comedies, such as Zombieland (2009), want to be taken seriously at several points, with genuinely scary or romantic scenes, which make humour take the backseat.
When Leslie Nielsen stars, the comedy of a scene is never muted or relegated to second place. This top-class performer will always be remembered for being hilariously serious and seriously hilarious.
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