Variety<\/em> style. It\u2019s partly the breezy tone, whether slanguage is employed or not. It’s most evident in the headlines, which can draw upon a number of devices. I can think of at least three. These examples come from the October 22-28, 2007 print edition.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s rhyming, as most famously represented by \u201cSticks Nix Hick Pix.\u201d Most aren\u2019t that spectacular, but there\u2019s the subtler \u201cStudios try slower pace to kudos race.\u201d (That\u2019s for one of Thompson\u2019s own stories.)<\/p>\n
There is insistent alliteration, which is a pretty common tactic. Three instances: \u201cSuper-size Skeins Shrink Skeds\u201d; \u201cBrooks Book is Biz\u2019s Bible\u201d; and \u201cClaques Click with Canucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, there\u2019s the pun on a familiar title or phrase: \u201cPuttin\u2019 on the Snits.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are all fairly ordinary Varietyese. I wish I could remember some of the past titles that have made me laugh out loud. Glancing through my files, I could only find one of those, on a story concerning studio head Michael De Luca\u2019s abrupt departure from New Line Cinema in early 2001 (above).<\/p>\n
Dignified? No, but Variety<\/em> covers the entertainment industries, and why should it not take on a little of the spirit of its subject?<\/p>\nWhen I was writing The Frodo Franchise<\/em>, I wanted to make its style appealing. I wanted it to be clear that it wasn\u2019t just an academic tome but one aimed at the general reader\u2014especially fans of the Lord of the Rings<\/em> trilogy. Of course there are the standard tricks, such as starting chapters with an intriguing anecdote or with a surprising fact. It occurred to me that maybe I could lighten the tone with some amusing titles for the chapters and their subsections. What better model to follow than Variety<\/em>?<\/p>\nI began to appreciate the challenges a Variety<\/em> title-writer must face. In some cases I came up with some decent ones, falling into the three types I listed above\u2014not that I thought about the categories while waiting for inspiration to strike. I\u2019ve read the trades long enough to know what an authentic Varietyese title sounds like.<\/p>\nRhyme: \u201cLast Ditch for PJ Pitch\u201d for the section where I talk about Peter Jackson\u2019s presentation of his project to New Line head Bob Shaye.<\/p>\n
Alliteration: The book title itself, and the chapter \u201cFlying Billboards and FAQs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puns on familiar phrases: \u201cIn the Darkness Spellbind Them,\u201d on the release and success of the films, and my personal favorite, \u201cZaentz and Zaentz-ability,\u201d on Miramax\u2019s negotiations with producer Saul Zaentz for the Rings<\/em> production rights. A zinger of a Variety<\/em> headline should make you groan at the silliness and yet at the same time shake your head with admiration.<\/p>\nBut I couldn\u2019t think of such \u201cheadline\u201d titles for every chapter and subsection. Many of them ended up being just plain and descriptive. Still, I tried in every case. It was fun.<\/p>\n
That brings us back to the Bergan blog entry. He seems to believe that Variety<\/em>\u2019s writers are forced to write such stuff by their employers and ends his entry by urging them to \u201cgo on strike for more textual flexibility. I can see the headline now: Hax Nix Variety Lingo.\u201d<\/p>\nThe author presumably thinks that that headline typifies Varietyese, but it really doesn\u2019t. It has no rhyme, no alliteration, no pun, and no slanguage words. Bergan just made up \u201chax\u201d to echo the \u201cSticks\u201d title quoted above. (Pretty insulting to Variety<\/em> scribes, too.) I\u2019ll never be good enough or quick enough at this to get a job at Variety<\/em>. Still, I offer the title of this entry as more in the magazine\u2019s true spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristin here– Today Anne Thompson\u2019s blog contains a short entry linking to an \u201cacerbic Brit Blogger\u201d who has objected to the language used in Variety. The writer in question is Ronald Bergan, whose title sums up his claim: \u201cIt\u2019s time Variety started speaking English.\u201d Bergan acknowledges that Variety is the best source of news on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-industry","category-hollywood-the-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9249,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/9249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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