PositiveMode

Spinning Newspaper Headlines

What are the origins of the phenomenon of movies presenting spinning newspapers flying toward the viewer to describe a plot development? It's a quite interesting, and somewhat weird technique.

A good example of overuse of headlines as a plot-transitioner is The Natural, starring Robert Redford (although I cannot presently recall whether they are spinning in that particular film - they may slide into the screen from the side or corner after you see Redford hit a home run - but it's close enough for purposes of Blogging). As the team wins and loses games, in between live action the newspapers tell us how the team's season is going. Ridiculously, there must be at least 12 different points during the season where their fortunes pendulate between "Knights in the Gutter" to "Knights on a Roll" to "Knights Streak to Second" to "Knights in the Gutter Again, Hopeless for Playoffs" to "Pennant Fever for Knights?" (that's a real quote, the others are paraphrased with the intent of semi-humor). A baseball season is long, but not long enough for that many ups and downs, at least not to those extremes. I will have to watch the movie again and count for the PositiveMode Curious just how often these absurd fortune-oscillations occur.

Also, who designs these papers? It must be sort of boring. That probably explains why if you look at the other, smaller headlines that you weren't really supposed to focus on, you can usually tell that the designer was having some fun with this project, while lamenting the fact that they're not designing magazine ads for smokeless tobacco or lipstick (a good example - in a truly atrocious movie, Be Cool (sequel to one of my favorite movies, Get Shorty), the secondary headline on the above-the-fold front page of the Los Angeles Times is "Grape Jelly Producers in Jam").

Related Reader Note: the White Sox are in first place, with the best record in the American League. Though we surely don't know the number or degree of ups and downs they will experience this season, I am happy with the current state of affairs.

posted by PositiveMode @ 11:44 AM