MovieChat Forums > The Ice Storm (1997) Discussion > I'm Not Calling Anyone A Liar-But...

I'm Not Calling Anyone A Liar-But...

posted 18 years ago by vze3vhtf
27 replies | jump to latest

I grew up in the exact same area as the locale of Mr. Moody's book/movie (Southern Fairfield County, CT), and I also experienced the Ice Storm of 1973, I'm not calling Mr. Moody a liar-

BUT:

-Regarding the " Key Parties ", I never even HEARD of anything even remotely resembling these events EVER happening anywhere in my area...

-The Storm itself is portrayed as having taken place over the holidays, when in fact it actually happened near the beginning of the year, Jan-Feb.

M

[–] moviedude-72 18 years ago

Well the book was not supposed to be based on a true story; it is a fictionalized story mixing in various 1970s fads, trends, issues ect. Rick Moody never intended the book to be a non-fiction account or anything; it is merely a fictional account on two 1970s families.

R.I.P. River Phoenix

[–] vze3vhtf 17 years ago

[–] scottythefield 18 years ago

In "The Autobiography of Malcolm X", to illustrate the immorality of some WASP-y upper-middle-class people, Malcolm alludes to having heard of the practice, and that was written mostly in 1964, so the idea was definitely out there. Surely it would've been far less commonplace in 1964 than '73, if it ever became commonplace at all.

[–] vze3vhtf 17 years ago

Well I don't know whether this ever happened anywhere else; just that I never heard of any such " parties " ever happening in my area-which was the Same area and the Same time period as the locale of " The Ice Storm ".

M

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] vze3vhtf 17 years ago

I can't believe it! (-.-)

Yeah that's a really accurate comparison-
-NOT!!!

So you think that a superhero movie with CGI effects is the Same as a period drama involving actual events from an author who grew up in that area at that time-
-And I'M the one who's a " retard " and a " frigging dolt "???

Nice Try.

M

[–] TheLastStop41 17 years ago

It's called historical fiction. Look it up.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LGDzMVPziDw

[–] rsheppard-1 16 years ago

Dude, there were swingers in America in the 1970s. What reason do you have to believe that your little area of Connecticut was uniquely immune to the fad? Were you active in the middle-aged cocktail party scene in 1973? (in which case you'd be around 70 years old at present? Sorry to agree with the earlier guy, but you do sound like you're being willfully ignorant here.

there's no place you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.

[–] sleepx2 16 years ago

i don't think it was a commonplace, but if you were looking for that kind of thing you could find it. There are a few swingers clubs in the city I live in. One of my friends his parents admitted to attending swingers parties in the 80s fueled by cocaine.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] thbryn 16 years ago

There were no "key parties" per se, certainly of that ilk. It's a metaphor for infidelity.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] goodandplenty69 16 years ago

Re: I'm Not Calling Anyone A Liar-But...
by - thbryn on Sat Jan 10 2009 19:40:22
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There were no "key parties" per se, certainly of that ilk. It's a metaphor for infidelity.

It's no metaphor. Key parties were and still are, very real.

[–] MicrobialGenetics 16 years ago

A swingers party fueled by cocaine? There must have been a lot of flaccid penises at that one.

[–] shiftylee 15 years ago

I will always remember this response for as long as I live. I have always figured that coke and sex don't mix very well and found it odd that no one else brings this up when the movies depict it.

[–] dottierodman 16 years ago

Ice storms can happen anytime and I am sure in the history of New England there has been more than one. Did you think that the movie was a true story? The ice storm was merely a literary device.

[–] scottythefield 14 years ago

The ice storm was merely a literary device.

Sure, but still the '73 Connecticut ice storm was in fact REAL:

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Region-remembers-ice-storm-of-73 -97594.php

[–] danikka1 15 years ago

This is a joke, right? It's a movie, not an autobiography. I agree with the deliberately ignorant comment.....if it's not deliberate, I am kinda scared for ya.

[–] heathentart 15 years ago

I spent a lot of time in Fairfield Cty., CT, and I was in my 20s during the '70s. Trust me, there were key parties, "bowl" parties, and orgies in CT, as there were elsewhere during that era.

Times have changed greatly since then. Unfortunately, not for the better.

[–] lubin-freddy 15 years ago

It's a common literary device to telescope several events into a shorter time span, as Moody does with combining the ice storm (which was a metaphor more than anything else) and the Thanksgiving holidays. There's nothing wrong with that.

As for the "key parties", they did happen back then, although how wide-spread is another question. But what Moody was going for, successfully IMO, is a presentation of how the sexual "revolution" had reached the suburbs, and how the middle aged Americans seemed as lost as their children, trying to make sense. The boundaries had fallen, but what replaced them was unclear.

The book, and the film, gave a good sense of that reality.

"Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail, and face the truth" - G. Marx

[–] stevenackerman69 15 years ago

I've heard of key parties. They were a big thing in those days, when there was a lot of swinging going on-and I don't mean dancing.

[–] vincebruno11 15 years ago

I remember learning about key parties from Mad Magazine in the early 70's when I was a kid.

"Either you get it or you don't." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

[–] stevegallanter 13 years ago

I was born in 1958 and grew up in a similar socioeconomic class as that depicted in THE ICE STORM.

I can assure you that swingers parties did go on. "Nuts and bolts" parties were talked about among the parents of my social circle.

Gay experiments and drugs were also used as adults groped with the passing of one time and the arrival of an undefined time.

THE ICE STORM is very accurate.

[–] 13 years ago

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