Sunday, September 13, 2009

Blondgeist!

To:lufthansa.movie@dlh.de
Date:3 September 2009 10:38
Subject:Question regarding movie choice
mailed-by gmail.com



Dear Sir, Madam,

On a recent Lufthansa flight from JFK to Frankfurt, ýour airline chose to screen the film "Hannah Montana: The Movie" raising a number of troubling questions about your airline´s opinion of its customers, not to mention, on a personal level, my threshold for such cinematic detritus as I watched the entire film.

You can imagine my relief when I saw this e-mail address appear after the film. Your answers to my questions may ease my annoyance at having lost 2 hours of brain function.

My first question would be, What, exacly, made Hannah Montana:The Movie appeal to the screening body responsible for such decisions? Was it the contrast between her stage personas Blondgeist and her "real" down-home Christian self? To this I might answer: if pop culture has taught us anything in the past decade it is that such a contrast cannot be trusted. Time and time we have been let down by such faux blonde purity. I need point you no farther than the Spears family.

Convincing as Ms. Montana may have been for your airline, I, much like my neighbors on this flight, was not impressed. The 7 year-old behind me was not soothed by her screeching pop ballads, and continued to kick my chair with much gusto. My neighbor to the left, a 75 year-old gentleman, was seemingly not entertained either, and continued talking to me throughout the 6 hour flight, mentioning on several occasions that his traveling companion was, in fact, just his sister.

In short, I hope that when I fly with Lufthansa in the future, your airline will show a minimum of discretion, and not aim for the lowest common denominator. We may travel Economy, but our standards are First Class.

As perplexed as I may have been by your choice of the Hannah Montana film, I would like to applaud the choice of two Disney cartoons from the 50´s. Especially deft was the choice of two films which do not rely on WWII or Cold War memes. Mazel Tov, Lufthansa, on a pleasant end to what would have otherwise been an entirely culturally insufferable voyage.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

NB: To date, I haven't received a response. Stay tuned, dear readers.

No comments: