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cultureboxCultureboxArts, entertainment, and more.2NA=1154&NC=1208&DI=4098&PS=58310&PI=7315CultureboxfalsefalseError:System.Xml.XmlException: This is an unexpected token. The expected token is 'EQUALS'. Line 2, position 30. at System.Xml.XmlScanner.ScanToken(Int32 expected) at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.SetLiteralValues(XmlAttributeTokenInfo fld) at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.SetAttributeValues() at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.ParseElement() at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read() at System.Xml.XmlValidatingReader.ReadNoCollectTextToken() at System.Xml.XmlValidatingReader.Read() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadCurrentNode() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc) at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml) at Publisher.PageBase.ExpandPage(Stack PageStack)CulturespacernotembeddedcultureboxThe Soiling of Old GloryLouis P. MasurThe photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis: How it was taken, and why it still matters.noThe Soiling of Old GloryThe story of the photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide show on The Soiling of Old Glory.falsefalse1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132780755202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132780755202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278075520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Soiling of Old Glory9407351/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132782317702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132782317702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278231770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM6334334613700000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132783880202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132783880202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278388020false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn his recent speech on race, Barack Obama spoke about the legacy of racial hatred and resentment in America. One of the events he probably had in mind was the controversy over busing that erupted in Boston in the mid-1970s. A single photograph epitomized for Americans the meaning and horror of the crisis. On April 5, 1976, at an anti-busing rally at City Hall Plaza, Stanley Forman, a photographer for the Boston Herald-American, captured a teenager as he transformed the American flag into a weapon directed at the body of a black man. It is the ultimate act of desecration, performed in the year of the bicentennial and in the shadows of Boston's Old State House. Titled The Soiling of Old Glory, the photograph appeared in newspapers around the country and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. The image shattered the illusion that racial segregation and hatred were strictly a Southern phenomenon. For many, Boston now seemed little different than Birmingham.In 2006, when Deval Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Globe expressed hope that his inauguration would "finally wash away the shameful stain of that day in 1976." Last June, however, a Supreme Court ruling forbade school districts from assigning students based on their race, and Patrick's administration has been forced to find ways to avoid dismantling desegregation programs throughout Massachusetts. The issue, and the photograph, continue to haunt Boston, and the nation.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/1_soiling.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/1_soiling.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132785442702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132785442702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278544270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph © Stanley J. Forman.20084920538PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:38 PM63343346738000000020084920538PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:38 PM633433467380000000 spaceryeshyperlinkIn September 1974, a federal court ordered that the busing of students was one of the remedies to be used in desegregating Boston's public schools. Protests and violence erupted in predominantly white South Boston. Opponents denounced "forced busing" and took every opportunity to organize and march in opposition. By April 1976, these rallies had become commonplace, and Forman, dispatched by the Herald-American to take a photo of the latest one, was in no rush to get to City Hall. Before heading over, he stopped first to visit his girlfriend, who worked nearby. The delay rewarded him. Because he was behind the pack of protesters and reporters, he had a long view of the melee. Using a Nikon with a 20-millimeter lens, he steadied himself and snapped. The motor drive froze, so he switched to manual, which forced him to take individual shots of the action. He didn't know what he had until he got into the darkroom. Later, some commentators would criticize the photographers on hand that day for not coming to the victim's aid. But in a sense, with his camera, Forman had.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/2_formantaking.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/2_formantaking.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132787005202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132787005202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278700520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph courtesy Stanley J. Forman.20084920552PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:52 PM63343346752000000020084920552PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:52 PM633433467520000000spaceryeshyperlinkForman was already an accomplished photographer. The previous year, he had followed a firetruck to the scene of a fire in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. He instinctively ran to the back of the building, where he saw a fireman climbing down from the roof onto a fifth-floor fire escape to rescue a 19-year-old girl and her 2-year-old goddaughter. As a firetruck extended its ladder toward the girls and their would-be rescuer, the fire escape collapsed. The firefighter pulled himself to safety, but the woman and child plunged to the ground. Forman kept shooting, then looked away. Still shaking, he developed his pictures and found this chilling shot of woman and child in free fall. (Forman would learn later that the woman had died but the child had survived.) The photograph would lead to stricter fire escape regulations, and it would win Forman the first of his two consecutive Pulitzers.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/3_fire-escape.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/3_fire-escape.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132788567702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132788567702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278856770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph © Stanley J. Forman.20084920634PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:06:34 PM63343346794000000020084920634PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:06:34 PM633433467940000000spaceryeshyperlinkBefore the busing protestors poured out onto the plaza, they had gathered in city council chambers, where they were greeted warmly by Louise Day Hicks, the city council president and a leading opponent of busing. She served the students hot chocolate and then led them in reciting the pledge of allegiance. Joseph Rakes, a South Boston teen, had grabbed the family flag before heading out to the rally that morning. He stands, hand-over-heart, with his classmates and friends. The students were angry because their parents were angry—because their neighborhood felt under assault, and because for nearly two years, ever since the federal judge had ordered busing, life had not been the same: classes disrupted, police at the schools, national media in the streets. That anger would soon be directed at Theodore Landsmark, a lawyer hurrying to a meeting at City Hall on behalf of the Contractor's Association for which he worked.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/4_pledge.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/4_pledge.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132790130202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132790130202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279013020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920716PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:16 PM63343346836000000020084920716PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:16 PM633433468360000000spaceryeshyperlinkSpotting Landsmark, one protester yelled a racial epithet. Suddenly a student stepped forward and punched him. Another hit him as well. He was kicked, and he fell to the ground. As he rose, Rakes came at him with the flag. The entire incident lasted 15 or 20 seconds.Though he was at City Hall on routine business that day, Landsmark, a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, was a veteran of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. He had marched from Selma to Montgomery and attended King's funeral. At the hospital, following his beating, he made certain that his broken nose was bandaged in such a way as to draw maximum attention. He held a press conference two days after the assault. In a remarkable speech, he said he did not blame those who attacked him. Indeed, he said he identified with them as poor, working-class victims of a system that used race to mask deeper economic divisions in American society. "We continue to need jobs and housing and high quality education and human decency" for all people, he said.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/5_landsmark_bandaged.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/5_landsmark_bandaged.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132791692702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132791692702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279169270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920730PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:30 PM63343346850000000020084920730PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:30 PM633433468500000000spaceryeshyperlinkForman's photograph appeared on the front page of the Herald-American. (At the time, the quarto-size paper was owned by the Hearst Corp. and competed with the Globe for hard-news stories; it would be transformed into a tabloid after it was sold to Rupert Murdoch in 1982.) Forman's image also appeared in newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle. But it almost didn't appear at all. The Herald-American editors vigorously debated whether publishing the photograph would further inflame an already explosive racial situation that had made national headlines for nearly two years. They feared reprisals and increased violence. In the end, they published, believing the image was too important to suppress. Had Howard Hughes not died the same day, the photograph might have occupied even more space above the fold.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/6_front-page.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/6_front-page.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132796380202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132796380202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279638020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920744PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:44 PM63343346864000000020084920744PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:44 PM633433468640000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe photograph had an instant and profound impact. At the Boston State House, legislators debated a resolution condemning the attack. It passed by voice vote, with some representatives choosing not to vote. Mayor Kevin White, who had witnessed the assault from his office window, and Gov. Michael Dukakis denounced racism and mob violence. One minister warned that war was being declared against the black citizens of Boston, while other religious leaders called for calm. The opponents of busing did not defend the attack, but they did blame the media for one-sided reporting, saying that the news seldom reported busing-related incidents in which whites were the victims.An outburst of retaliatory violence led to the brutal beating of Richard Poleet, a car mechanic who was driving through mostly black Roxbury. An anti-violence march organized by the mayor drew thousands, though not the leaders of either the black caucus or the anti-busing activists. Later in the year, the Socialist Workers Party used Forman's photograph as a presidential election poster: "200 Years of Racism Is Enough." The socialist candidate received the most votes that year in the history of the party.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/7_socialist_workers.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/7_socialist_workers.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132797942702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132797942702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279794270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920757PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:57 PM63343346877000000020084920757PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:57 PM633433468770000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn looking at Forman's photograph, viewers made connections to other images, but in particular to Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre. The visual parallels are striking. Both images depict enclosed spaces from which there is no escape. Both contain powerful horizontal lines—the flag, the rifles—that guide the eye. Indeed, the Landsmark incident occurred within shouting distance of the site of the Boston Massacre, which counted a black sailor named Crispus Attucks among its victims. It wasn't long before Landsmark was compared to Attucks, held up as a 20th-century victim of the struggle against oppression. Ebony asked what Attucks would have thought of the assault and concluded that "he would have understood the racism ... but it is doubtful he would have understood the insensitivity of public officials." Landsmark himself made the connection as well, saying to a reporter after the incident that the assault occurred not far from where "Crispus Attucks ... got his."spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/8_bostonmassacre.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/8_bostonmassacre.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132799505202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132799505202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279950520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920835PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:35 PM63343346915000000020084920835PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:35 PM633433469150000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Soiling of Old Glory was also compared to Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Often considered the finest spot-news photograph ever taken, and certainly the most widely reproduced, Rosenthal's photograph stood as a symbol of all that was glorious about the United States: six faceless men united in effort, their exertion a perfect ballet of balance and form. No less a figure than Sen. Ted Kennedy made the connection a few weeks after Forman's photograph appeared: "There are two pictures in which the American flag has appeared that have made the most powerful impact on me. The first was that of Iwo Jima in World War II. The second was that shown here in Massachusetts two weeks ago in which the American flag appeared to have been used in the attempted garroting of an individual solely on the basis of his color."spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/9_iwojima.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/9_iwojima.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132801067702008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132801067702008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM633435113280106770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph by Joe Rosenthal. Courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920847PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:47 PM63343346927000000020084920847PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:47 PM633433469270000000spaceryeshyperlinkAfrican-Americans have often sought to show their patriotism by taking ownership of the flag. It is no accident that Barack Obama delivered his speech on race with flags displayed in the background. During the civil rights movement, activists waved the flag as a symbol of justice and equality and embraced it as representing their struggle. Forman's photograph disturbed viewers for many reasons, but none more so than the use of the flag to puncture the dream of inclusion. Unfortunately, that dream is still far from being fulfilled. On Sept. 1, 2005, Associated Press photographer Eric Gay took this shot of 84-year-old Milvertha Hendricks waiting in the rain outside the Convention Center in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her brow is furrowed, and her eyes stare blankly forward. The fingers of her right hand slip beneath the fabric that provides her only shelter. The flag has become a mourning shawl. She appears to be waiting for deliverance and wondering whether it will ever come.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/10_milvertha.JPGhttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/10_milvertha.JPG600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132802630202008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132802630202008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM633435113280263020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph by Eric Gay/AP.20084920921PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:09:21 PM63343346961000000020084920921PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:09:21 PM633433469610000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on the photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis.truenotochyperlinkno200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000cultureboxIt's Me in That 9/11 PhotoWalter Sipser was in that picture Frank Rich wrote about. Here's what he thinks of Rich's column.noIt's Me in That 9/11 PhotoI was in that 9/11 photo Frank Rich wrote about. Here's what I think about his column.noYesterday, Slate posted this piece criticizing Frank Rich's New York Times column about the 9/11 photo shown here. The picture was taken by Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker on the afternoon of 9/11. Calling the image "shocking," Rich suggested that the five New Yorkers were "relaxing" and were already "mov[ing] on" from the attacks. Slate's David Plotz disputed that characterization of the picture, arguing that the subjects had almost certainly gathered to discuss the attacks and to find solace in others' company. Rather than showing callousness, as Rich suggested, it depicted civic engagement. But since neither Rich nor Plotz knew exactly what the five New Yorkers in the photo were doing or thinking, we invited them to contact Slate and tell us.truenotochyperlinkno200691333014PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/13/2006 7:30:14 PM632937582140000000200691333014PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/13/2006 7:30:14 PM632937582140000000cultureboxIt Takes a HorseMeghan O'RourkeHow America became obsessed with Barbaro.noIt Takes a HorseAmerica's love for Barbaro.noAfter the breakdown of Barbaro in the Preakness Stakes the other week, an astounding outpouring of emotion deluged the pages of newspapers and newsmagazines across the country. "Brave Barbaro, His Owners Must Love Him," proclaimed the Wall Street Journal. "Now's a Time for Healing, for Barbaro and for Matz," noted the New York Times, staunchly. An op-ed writer for the Times offered up a ponderous, if accurate, rationale for why Americans feel so strongly about a horse most had never heard of until a few weeks earlier: Horseracing is dangerous, and so we feel cruel when these "wordless creatures" hurt themselves for our entertainment. Well, yes. But horses—even famous horses, like Go for Wand—break down all the time while racing. What that columnist and other essayists have failed to answer is a deeper question: Why this horse, and why with this much feeling?truenotochyperlinkno200661110209AMThursdayJunJune116/1/2006 3:02:09 PM632847565290000000200661110209AMThursdayJunJune116/1/2006 3:02:09 PM632847565290000000cultureboxFight SnubDavid FellerathHow Cinderella Man sucker punches the Jewish boxer Max Baer.noFight SnubHow Cinderella Man sucker punches the Jewish boxer Max Baer.noAttentive viewers of the climactic fight of Cinderella Man, Ron Howard's Depression-era crowd-pleaser, will notice a Star of David on the red trunks of Max Baer, the lethal opponent of Jim "Cinderella Man" Braddock. The star is significantly less prominent than the one that the real Baer wore in the 1935 fight. It's no surprise that Howard would obscure this detail, as it would complicate his film's Rocky-meets-Seabiscuit narrative. What's funny, and ironic, is that by downplaying Baer's Star of David, Howard may be making an accurate historical comment: Baer was the only self-proclaimed Jew to ever claim the heavyweight crown. But was he really even Jewish?truenotochyperlinkno20056235122PMThursdayJunJune156/2/2005 7:51:22 PM63253324282000000020056235122PMThursdayJunJune156/2/2005 7:51:22 PM632533242820000000cultureboxTowering BabelAlex AbramovichA new translation makes the mighty author stoop.noTowering BabelTowering BabelnoTranslating one of Isaac Babel's stories is no easy task. Translating all of them is less a task than a calling. So while neat, two-volume editions of Babel's collected works have circulated in Russia since the waning days of Perestroika, English speakers have had to stitch together more than a dozen translations, some out of print since the 1930s, to get a full sense of his range. The discrepancy between Babel's influence and the availability of his work has always been striking.truenotochyperlinkno20011024123401PMWednesdayOctOctober1210/24/2001 4:34:01 PM6313952364100000002001102925014PMMondayOctOctober1410/29/2001 6:50:14 PM631399638140000000200311442640PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:40 PM631781584000000000200311442640PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:40 PM631781584000000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM63139043683000000020011029115031AMMondayOctOctober1110/29/2001 3:50:31 PM631399530310000000Why We Need WonderlandJudith ShulevitzspacerJudithShulevitzfalse13Judith Shulevitz is a former culture editor of Slate. Her book, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time, will be published in March. 8636 Benedict PlacePelhamNY10803USA111590820011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101874243PMThursdayOctOctober1910/18/2001 11:42:43 PM631390309630000000leftyesspacer/Slate247/000327_Wonderland1.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediafalsestanding l-r: Billy Burke, Michael Jai White, Joelle Carter, Martin Donovan, (sitting) Ted Levine, Michelle Forbes2009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM6339376586013445802009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM6339376586013445802009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM633937658601344580Pfalse2001101930214AMFridayOctOctober310/19/2001 7:02:14 AM6313905733400000002001101930214AMFridayOctOctober310/19/2001 7:02:14 AM631390573340000000Every once in a while, a talented person takes a threadbare television formula, turns it inside out, and finds something extraordinary in the lining. Peter Berg has done this with Wonderland, the E.R.-like hospital drama that makes its debut opposite that show on ABC next Thursday night, March 30, at 10 p.m. Eastern time. (Berg is an actor turned writer, director, and producer who played a doctor on Chicago Hope.) Concept-wise, the twist is minor--a switch in setting, from a public general hospital modeled on Cook County Hospital in Chicago to a public mental hospital modeled on New York City's Bellevue. But the ramifications are enormous.To begin with, there's the messiness of it all. Emotional disturbance defies easy television-style closure. The people who show up in the admitting rooms of public mental hospitals are people for whom happy endings are no longer imaginable. Having lost spouses and jobs and sanity, or never having had any of these things in the first place, they're living lives of unthinkable complexity. And unlike emergency-room doctors, forensic psychiatrists can't cut, snip, or even medicate their patients' pain away. No one gets better by the end of the hour. The human detritus keeps pouring in.But so do the dramatic possibilities. Dealing with this much raw suffering puts doctors under extraordinary strain, so naturally they sprout personal problems. The people they treat are going through similar stress and trouble, just on a vastly larger scale. Since the doctors and patients have something in common, the writers can establish a powerful rapport not just among the physicians, as on most hospital dramas, but between them and those they treat. The one-on-one encounters between the psychiatrists and their charges unfold like musical duets running up and down the scales--they're variations on emotional themes--and a rich sense of the main characters' inner lives accrues scene by scene, show by show, with the slow, serial development that only television allows. A handsome young doctor grappling with his fear of emotional involvement conducts several intake interviews in which nightmarish relationship stories emerge. One man has tried to kill himself because his wife just left him. A husband and wife married for 50 years have begun to drive each other, literally, mad. We begin to understand why the doctor is afraid.Have I mentioned that the actors are good? They are, especially the two lead male psychiatrists, the understated Martin Donovan--the star of many Hal Hartley movies and also a character in the recent Portrait of a Lady--and Ted Levine, who played the killer in The Silence of the Lambs. Levine brings the same kind of scary concentration to his portrayal of Dr. Robert Banger, a man who's overinvolved with, and almost too compassionate toward, his violent patients, but who is himself weirdly bottled up, with several flavors of impatience and rage waiting to erupt.leftyesspacer/Slate247/000327_Wonderland2.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediafalsel-r: Martin Donovan, Michelle Forbes, Ted Levine2009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM6339376586015008312009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM6339376586015008312009111432420AMSaturdayNovNovember311/14/2009 8:24:20 AM633937658601500831Pfalse2001101951924AMFridayOctOctober510/19/2001 9:19:24 AM6313906556400000002001101951924AMFridayOctOctober510/19/2001 9:19:24 AM631390655640000000Another reason to watch this show is that it's important. I know that sounds portentous and implies that the series is secretly boring. It isn't, though, because it does something rare. How long since you saw a network television series accord the mentally ill--including those who have committed heinous criminal acts--anything like dignity? How long since a network television series treated anybody on the wrong side of the law with respect? The main story line in the first two episodes of Wonderland deals with a psychotic who's a barely disguised version of Andrew Goldstein, the young New Yorker who, having been unable to obtain care and medication from state mental hospitals, lapsed into schizophrenia and pushed a young woman off a subway platform into an oncoming train. In the somewhat more overwrought Wonderland version of events, he's a graduate of Columbia University with a classics degree who shoots two cops and kills three civilians in Times Square, then in a struggle at the hospital plunges a needle into the belly of a pregnant psychiatrist, who happens to be the admitting doctor who turned him away four days earlier.Goldstein was convicted of murder last week, despite his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The Wonderland writers would probably take issue with that outcome, but in their adaptation of the story, they stay focused on the difficult questions: the unbearable amount of damage the man wreaks, the failure of the mental-health system to stop it, the terrible sadness of a person driven to do things he doesn't understand by voices in his head. By reminding us of the humanity of the violently ill, Berg has found a way to sneak onto television a political agenda infrequently furthered by the popular media, because it depends on the ability to get beyond stereotypes. I hope Berg can resist the pressure of time and ratings to cheapen his vision. Call me crazy, but I think shows like this are our salvation.Stills from Wonderland copyright (c)2000/Bob D'Amico and copyright (c)2000/Eric Liebowitz. 10New YorkNew YorkN10TelevisionTelevisionT10UniversityUniversityU10Times SquareTimes SquareT10ChicagoChicagoC10DoctorDoctorD10CopyrightCopyrightC10ActorsActorsA10ColumbiaColumbiaC10PublicPublicP10AdaptationAdaptationAReader Response from The Fray: I do hope this program does not focus solely on the violently mentally ill, and will also touch on the lives of victims of this disorder who do not commit violent crimes, but still have extraordinary stories to tell. Perhaps this program, if successful, will help alleviate the stigma attached to this large group of our citizenry. --Shirley Wilkes (To reply, click here.) A powerful endorsement...I'd all but dismissed this show as a pathetic attempt to upstage ER. Since my brother is mentally ill (manic/borderline schizophrenic), I am passionate about this subject. A show that dismisses mental disorders as treatable-in-one-episode events wouldn't begin to interest me. Wonderland just may be a realistic interpretation of life with the mentally ill. I'll give it a try... --Jeannie (To reply, click here.) If you know anything at all about people with mental problems you know that you can do virtually nothing for them other than, in some cases, prescribe medicine. You can't talk with them in a rational way to somehow talk them through their mental illness. There is this stupid notion out there that if you can show love, compassion, and communicate on a one-on-one level, you can make breakthroughs with the mentally ill. That type of thinking comes straight from television and Hollywood. Trying to have a rational conversation with a mentally ill person is not possible--no matter how much your heart bleeds for them. People who want to work with the mentally ill because they want to "save" them don't last a hot five minutes. Anyone working in mental health care knows that their role is that of an impotent observer, regardless of how much they might want to help someone. --Z (To reply, click here.) (3/28)1Every once in a while, a talented person takes a threadbare television formula, turns it inside out, and finds something extraordinary in the lining. Peter Berg has done this with Wonderland, the E.R.-like hospital drama that makes its debut opposite that show on ABC next Thursday night, March 30, at 10 p.m. Eastern time. (Berg is an actor turned writer, director, and producer who played a doctor on Chicago Hope.) Concept-wise, the twist is minor--a switch in setting, from a public general hospital modeled on Cook County Hospital in Chicago to a public mental hospital modeled on New York City's Bellevue. But the ramifications are enormous.0000false2310falsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalse2472000324102820AMFridayMarMarch103/24/2000 2:28:20 PM6308949050000000002000324102820AMFridayMarMarch103/24/2000 2:28:20 PM630894905000000000