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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Deep Throat Reveals Himself!
... and the fact that I find this so exciting just proves how old I am.
I hope that this revelation doesn't rewrite the popular history of Watergate - I can just imagine a reshot All the President's Men where we see Deep Throat at home, deciding he's got to hang out in that garage. That said, I expect a bunch of books and reports that'll trace poor Mark Felt's steps throughout those dark days of the seventies.
If anything, Deep Throat the icon is now diminished by knowing who Deep Throat the man is. Which isn't a bad thing for the sake of history, but the whole notion of the shadowy insider leading the young reporters to the truth has become archetypal (almost), as seen on the X-Files and other conspiracy-driven stories. Now that the granddaddy of them all is revealed, it won't be the same.
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I hope that this revelation doesn't rewrite the popular history of Watergate - I can just imagine a reshot All the President's Men where we see Deep Throat at home, deciding he's got to hang out in that garage. That said, I expect a bunch of books and reports that'll trace poor Mark Felt's steps throughout those dark days of the seventies.
If anything, Deep Throat the icon is now diminished by knowing who Deep Throat the man is. Which isn't a bad thing for the sake of history, but the whole notion of the shadowy insider leading the young reporters to the truth has become archetypal (almost), as seen on the X-Files and other conspiracy-driven stories. Now that the granddaddy of them all is revealed, it won't be the same.
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Just saw the same story on the news here...
This has to do with me not being into American history a lot, but why did the man call himself 'Deep Throat'?
At first when I read the title (of your blog-entry) I thought it was about a woman.
I guess it's because I somehow associate that particular combination of words with sex, or more specifically; porn.
I guess there are already too many jokes about this? I mean, a man "behind the curtain" calling himself "deep throat"...
But eventhough it might have been an average/everyday metaphor (or even cliché) in porn for quite a long time, I still find the idea of men getting information regarded as highly valuable through deep throat somewhat amusing...
I really don't know either of these deep throat-subjects very well.
So if anyone can, please fill me up.
Oh just a note:
I wrote:
"At first when I read the title (of your blog-entry) I thought it was about a woman."
I don't know if I really meant that when I wrote it or how it was (getting tired here), but if that was the case I must have somehow missed the for a wide awake person explicit 'himself'.
Hey, I am not trying to flood your blog here... I could use an edit button at this hour, or maybe I should just refrain from posting comments silly at this hour.
Anyway; when I wrote "... I guess it's because I somehow associate that particular combination of words with sex, or more specifically; porn."
I did not mean that only women can deep throat - I just wanted to point that out. When I wrote "... porn."; I was just considering straight porn (and thus I made the woman-connection), but I am of course not implying that deep throat only happens in straight sex/porn.
I don't know about that, so I wouldn't suggest anything.
Again, sorry for the mess I cause.
Hi Chris H:
Don't worry about it, you're asking a completely fair question. At the time of the Watergate scandal, the adult movie Deep Throat(starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems) was released. It was a huge hit and caught the mainstream media's attention. So when journalists Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein's secret informant for the Watergate scandal needed a name of some sort, Felt chose Deep Throat as an ironic reference to the film as well as an acknowledgment of the informant's depth of knowledge and willingness to pass along that knowledge.
It's funny, but most of the people I talked to about Deep Throat today weren't aware of the exact details; all of them were in their twenties or early thirties. They recognized Watergate but not the general details surrounding the scandal. For that matter, none of them have seen the movie All the President's Men, which is about Watergate and features Deep Throat played by Hal Holbrook.
For the generation ahead of me, Watergate was a turning point in the nation's history. For my generation, it was an explanation for the national skepiticism about authority that we took for granted, as well as a playful bit of pop culture politics. And for the generations that followed, it's an obscure reference to ancient history.
Hope that answers your question.
- Ray
Hope that answers your question.
Yes, thank you.