Word: supermarketing
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Most cumbersome ideological baggage for a light comedy: Dupler's employer is a supermarket chain called UltraSave (U.S., get it?), whose aisles are patrolled by emasculated wimps and homicidal amazons, where the security guard is trigger-happy and a toy helicopter strafes and devastates the store...
They would proceed from a strong premise-The Incredible Shrinking Man, a deadpan 1957 sci-fi thriller-and give it a feminist twist. While the original protagonist shrank from a dose of radiation, Tomlin's happy homemaker would suffer from exposure to the mysterious ingredients in supermarket products: everything from "tumescent tissue of bull scrotum" to a mad scientist's most corrosive chemicals. The audience would know when to laugh: at the sight of a madcap chase, at a friendly gorilla, at Talk Show Host Mike Douglas. The resulting movie is sometimes very funny. It also represents...
...nice to know that Ron is doing to her what he's been doing to the rest of us." Says Patricia, who works for a highly regarded local firm: "People are so hateful without really knowing me. It affects everything I do, from writing checks in a supermarket to making reservations at a restaurant." Adds Ron, 36, an attorney with a public interest law firm: "The reaction has only demonstrated the need to challenge head-on this xenophobia and greed...
Inevitably, there were a few incidents of tasteless exploitation. A San Francisco executive of a supermarket chain suggested to store managers that they tie yellow bows around household plants, boost the price by $1.50 each, and tout them as mementos of the national celebration. At times too, the national euphoria passed the bounds of reason. Hand-lettered sign after sign along the parade routes proclaimed U.S. 52, IRAN 0, as if the release of the hostages represented an overwhelming American victory rather than what it was: the negotiated end to a prolonged national nightmare...
Nonetheless, in the America of the superhighway and the supermarket, the carless face redoubtable problems. Getting home from a party, for example. "You let people hear you calling a cab," says Herblock, "and they insist on giving you a ride. Then you have to wait while they have another drink. The only way out is to say, 'Sorry, the taxi's already...