mondojohnson

In January 1991, when Dimwit Bush the Elder announced that Desert Shield was now “Desert Storm”, I and many other right-minded people had few allies. I was living in San Francisco at the time, and even in that spider-hole of sensibility the jingoism was in full force. Once-cool celebrities were urging us to “kick the Vietnam syndrome”, buying into the narrative scripted by Bush (Sr.), Cheney, Rumsfeld & Powell. The brand-new “Baghdad Cafe” on Market Street came under fire for its suspicious name….

I remember that day clearly. I was driving with my friend Andrew Jacobs, who was visiting SF, at the very moment of Bush’s announcement that “Desert Shield” was now “Desert Storm.” Bush cut into whatever radio station we were listening to, and Andrew pulled the car to the side of the road in grim deference to the sad moment of history being forced upon us.

Allies were few in those days. For instance, I needed to put a “Support Our Troops” bumper sticker on my 1973 Plymouth Duster solely to avoid the angry sneers of road ragers as I drove around the country.

But one small sliver of light shone through the cultural darkness of that depressing winter: Tim Burton’s masterpiece “Edward Scissorhands” had just been released. Between January and March I saw it four times, and at each viewing I shed tears at the film’s uncompromisingly unique beauty and humor. I had been singing the praises of Tim Burton since “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” (which we played at the 8th Street Playhouse for months), and this film affirmed my enthusiasm — the guy is a genius.

The film also moved Johnny Depp into the Brando-Dennis Hopper column of truly great and original actors.

I was struck by all this when I came across the production stills from Burton’s upcoming “Alice in Wonderland”, starring Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham-Carter as the Red Queen and Matt Lucas and Tweedledum and Tweedledee, I was awash with warm reassurance. These past couple of years have been marked by a madness and despair that are akin to those felt during the early days of Gulf War I. Perhaps Tim Burton will once again put madness in its proper context with his “Alice.”