New Jersey Stage 2016: Issue 12 | Page 20

Paterson by Eric Hillis SHARE BUTTON In its poetry, paintings, songs and prose, America loves to celebrate the common man. Not so much in its cinema. In its movies, America generally prefers its heroes to be superhuman. While Springsteen, Whitman and Hopper can NJ STAGE 2016 - ISSUE 12 pay tribute to the unassuming masses who go about their daily, undramatic lives, filmmakers in the US are reticent to give us portrayals of such characters, perhaps in the misguided belief that mundanity equates to mediocrity. INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 20