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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Oct 1, 2006 20:56:26 GMT -5
Last evening, since it was just Scruffy and I at home, I put on The Karen Carpenter Story VHS that I made when the show first aired. I KNOW I have watched this, at least I've watched "at" it several times in the last two years, but something really struck me last night as I was intently watching it, undoubtedly for the first time in a while. I got chills, literally, when they began the story, because (as most of you know) the story opens with Karen colapsing on her bedroom floor - in the closet - and then it shows the paramedics driving up to the Newville house. WOW...that's where it really hit me! I'VE BEEN TO THAT HOUSE. I SAW, with my own two eyes, the place where Karen died. I'd never thought about it in those terms before. I HAVE thought about the fact that when I went to the Newville house two summers ago that it was where Karen and Richard spent a good majority of their time during the early part of their career. I DID think about the fact that they used to rehearse in that house, and that lots of various things went on there, but I NEVER thought about the fact that Karen DIED there. [October 25, 2006 - MODIFICATION] - I have to modify this post a bit....yes, I suppose I did think about it the day we went there, and I read my own words just recently to jog my memory - I do remember when I was at the Newville house thinking of the ambulances driving up to the driveway. What I THINK I mean here is, it didn't SINK IN that Karen Carpenter actually died in this house, and when that truly hit me, it was like a slap in the face with a ton of bricks. I hope I've made myself clearer to you all. Didn't mean to be talking out of both sides of my mouth, or anything! I watched intently, and even backed up the tape in one spot there at the beginning, as I remember driving up to that house and being in awe that I'd always only been able to "imagine" where Karen and Richard lived in those early years - never thought I'd see it. And to think, that is the spot where Karen's life ended was just a bit chilling for me. I know there are other forum members who have been to the Newville house. I wonder, did you think about this at the time? It never crossed my mind, until last night. There were many things I thought about during this show that I hadn't before. There are things I've learned right here on the forum that I didn't know the last time I watched this movie. I know it's not all true to form the way Richard would have liked, but it gives one a flavor of the lives they lived, and the happiness, along with the struggles they went through. All-in-all, I would say they SEEMED happy, but too many times, this movie would show Karen "hoping" for the love of her life to come along, and Richard "spent" from having to do so much. I guess I'm trying to say I saw this movie with different eyes last night. It was really odd, as I have seen this movie many times in the past, but never made some of the connections that I made as I watched it last night. I went through all 61 pages of the forum around midnight last night looking for other threads about this movie. I saw one that Cam had started about the actress who played Karen, and I know we've discussed bits and pieces of this movie in the past, but I wanted to bring it up for discussion again, and didn't find a specific enough thread to "revive", so I started this new one. It was haunting me, so....here we are. Thoughts? Best, Tim
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Post by enigma on Oct 1, 2006 22:02:11 GMT -5
Hi Tim Wow man I ejoyed reading your post and can imagine what you feel. I have never been to the Carpenter household but I know I would "feel" the history that was made there it would kind of take me back to the time K&R lived there. I can say this because I have had simular experiances when visiting historical places I imagine myself there at the moment an event has occured and its as if I am back in that moment in time if that makes any sense. Based on past experiance I would have an erie feeling if I ever visited the place where Karen died so in an indirect way I can relate. Now. as far as the movie goes inaccuracies aside it is a good start to introduce a person to the Carpenters in a general way their story is told there and thats good as long as it is clear that some elements were changed or added for dramatic effect so its not absolute fact. Yes it focuses on some less than ideal aspects of their career such as Karens pain and Richards struggles but that was the unfortuneate reality of what K&R went throughg and I feel wasw useful to give people an idea that the life of K&R was not all great with no heartach and pain as alot of people may want to believe based on their immage they had thier share of struggles as we all did. Overall the movie was quite good and entertaining in its own right.
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Post by GoodOldDreams on Oct 2, 2006 0:58:38 GMT -5
Hi Tim,
Your reactions remind me of the shift in my frame of reference whenever I go back to visit the house and neighborhood where I grew up in, remembering the happy times as well as the sad realization that the people who used to live there have long since moved away or passed on, never to return and now just a memory.
In retrospect, Richard had expressed his regrets about having been involved with the production of this made-for-TV movie, even though he seemed to have much control over it at the time. Surely it must have been difficult to distill a lifetime into just a few hours without compromising accuracy with some dramatic license. The movie was at best a simplified and editorialized representation of much more complex facts, emotions and memories. Had Karen's life not ended so shockingly and tragically, a feature-length movie about the Carpenters probably would never have been made in the first place, let alone garnered the attention of the large share of the TV audience that it did when it was first broadcasted. I applaud Richard for his courage in divulging some very personal and painful aspects of their lives in order to provide the public a basis of understanding how the scourge of anorexia may have evolved.
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Post by smoothie2 on Oct 23, 2006 23:41:10 GMT -5
;DOh MY Tim...I haven't been to that house, but of course have seen the movie. I can see why that was a chilling experience for you to have such a thought At times we all feel like we're lost in the Twilight Zone, i guess. As I have said in the past and will again, if I ever get in a position to be able to go somewhere, that would be California, mainly to see "all things Carpenters", as well as Disney (land , World, whatever) there. For me, once I learned (yes, scary thought huh..) that the movie was filmed actually at the Newville House and especially that the same paramedics that actually tried to save Karen's life were doing the same thing only acting on C. Gibb,....And that Gibb EVEN WORE the Same clothes, as Karen did that horrid day... well, i can just get choked up just thinking of that.... ............. I have also learned several things also ..facts about the movie and etc. AND, I can't help but be even more fascinated, obsessed, crazy over the Carpenters!!!!!!!
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Oct 25, 2006 16:36:39 GMT -5
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Post by smoothie2 on Oct 25, 2006 23:33:59 GMT -5
Wonderful Tim! I also suspected those were his hands too. But to hear it from Richard himself...Wow!
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