Crass

crass







Y

D



–adjective 

1. without refinement, delicacy, 

or 

sensitivity; gross; obtuse; stupid: crass commercialism; a crass misrepresentation of the facts.  



2. Archaic. thick; coarse. 



obtuse

–adjective

2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.





C



crass (adj.)   

 

is a pejorative word meaning a range of unpleasant, gross, affrontive, tasteless, stupid, egregious, insensitive things, and it is often used, especially in the adverb crassly, as an intensifier with no very explicit meaning. It is Standard in these senses and uses. 





　

This is one film that could benefit, dramatically, from the gutsy decision to become crasser and more graphic, to make palpable for the audience the grimy filth and humiliation of Bettie's molestation, spousal abuse, and sexual assault, thus drawing an even more vivid contrast between these events and the modeling.



As for its strengths, Harron and lead Gretchen Mol somehow convey Page's innocence so thoroughly that the film's recreations of the Bunny Yeager nude stills come across as unadulterated celebrations of the female body -- 



so [pure] and [unfettered] 

that 

we feel an angel has [disrobed] before us, 



and find ourselves subconsciously overlooking Bettie's birthday suit. It is a mystifying accomplishment. (How did the filmmakers pull this off?) Equally admirable is cinematographer W. Mott Hupfel III's ability to somehow capture the look (in movie form) of old black-and-white '50s photographs and (in the film's Miami sequences) early Kodachrome snapshots, with their heightened primary colors. 



Overall, Harron has created an interesting if flawed work, and a worthy addition to the overlooked cinematic canon of obscure period biopics -- much as she did with her debut, 1996's I Shot Andy Warhol. But, in the final analysis, 



the film feels [vapid] and [empty], 

like 

a hand reaching for something [elusive] 

and 

grasping only [air].





bumpkin rustic yokel

boor

They snickered and whispered and made [boors] of themselves.

churl

isn't it [churlish] to ask why they didn't take less time to do what everyone can do? 

He was a churl in his [affections].  

obtuse

crass

This is one film that could [benefit], dramatically, from the gutsy decision to become [crasser] and more graphic

The sheer [crassness] of some of the scenarios -- 

the crass methods of [political] hucksters.

knave

Our Lady of Humanitarian Narcissism here [endures] another dreadful fate: losing her child to a mob of [knaves]

Schmuck