Reader question:

Please explain “never saw the light of day”, as in: “Film scripts that never saw the light of day.”

My comments:

Film scripts that never got published. No movies have actually been made from or based on these scripts, in other words.

Film scripts are screenplays detailing actions and dialogue of characters. A director reads a script and directs a film accordingly, doing their best to express the idea and ethos conveyed in the script.

Understandably, not all scripts get to be turned into movies. For one thing, there are too many of them. It’s like what happens with books. Many people write books. Few gets published. Even fewer get to sell a lot of copies. Very few books make it to the best-selling list.

So it is with film scripts. Out of hundreds, if not thousands of scripts that a film studio get their hands on, only a few, two or three or maybe five or six see the light of day as only a small number of films are produced each year.

Oh, let’s get back to “see the light of day”.

This expression originally refers to a baby being born. After the baby is born, he or she opens their eyes and, literally, see the light of day for the first time.

And then they cry.

They all cry. Healthy babies cry because apparently they’re able to realize in an instant that life in this world is not going to be easy.

Joking aside, you get the idea of “see the light of day”.

Figuratively speaking, if something, such as a film script, never sees the light of day, then it’s never been released. It’s remained hidden and buried ever since the writer put their pen down, supposing we’re talking about an old writer who finished their work a long time ago.

All right, here are media examples of things that see or never see the light of day:

1. Microsoft has reportedly scrapped plans for a dual-screen Surface Duo 3 and is moving to a truly foldable design instead. Windows Central reports that the next Surface Duo will be more like devices like the Vivo X Fold or Honor’s Magic Vs, after Microsoft reportedly spent a year prototyping and experimenting with its current dual-screen design.

A Surface Duo 3 was reportedly planned for the end of 2023 with the typical dual-screen design and narrower and taller displays, wireless charging, and other design changes. Microsoft has reportedly scrapped that design to fully focus on bringing a foldable display to the Surface Duo.

Microsoft originally resisted a truly foldable display for the Surface Duo, preferring glass instead. “It wasn’t difficult for us to realize that taking a screen and folding it wasn’t the right option for this product,” explained Steven Bathiche, who oversees hardware innovation for Surface and other Microsoft hardware, in an interview with The Verge in 2020. “We wanted glass. We wanted glass that wouldn’t scratch because we also wanted to give you a pen.”

Bathiche and the Surface team also wanted a 360-degree hinge for the Surface Duo, but Windows Central says the truly foldable Surface Duo will include a 180-degree hinge like most foldable devices.

All of this means we’re unlikely to see a new Surface Duo this year, which could mean more than two years will pass until Microsoft updates its Android-powered handset. The Surface Duo 2 launched in October 2021 to mixed reviews. The price, frustrating bugs, and awkward form factor were highlighted in my colleague Dan Seifert’s review, but after Microsoft fixed a bunch of software issues, it became Dan’s favorite device of the year.

If Microsoft doesn’t ship a new Surface Duo this year, it could launch a different type of Android phone instead. Windows Central reports that Microsoft has been experimenting with more traditional slab smartphone designs that could ship as more of a Surface phone product.

Microsoft regularly experiments with many hardware projects that never see the light of day, so it’s not clear whether we’ll even see a true Surface phone emerge. But if you’re interested in a new Surface Duo, it looks like you’ll be waiting a while for the next one to arrive.

- Microsoft’s next Surface Duo might have a truly foldable screen, TheVerge.com, January 10, 2023.

2. The world can’t stop buzzing over “Cocaine Bear!”

The latest film from director Elizabeth Banks (“Pitch Perfect 2”) boasts an insane, meme-like premise that cinemagoers just can’t stop laughing over. In the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“21 Jump Street”) produced film, an American black bear enjoys an unhealthy helping of cocaine, and soon finds itself embarking on a murderous rampage. It’s chaotic visual poetry, the likes of which we don’t see much these days.

Audiences are ready to ski with Universal Pictures’ latest, with Deadline reporting that the film brought in $2 million during Thursday previews. The outlet speculates that the film will have a mighty weekend at the box office, with a domestic debut in the high teens. While the film is on track to do well for Universal, it may be surprising to learn that the creative team behind “Cocaine Bear” wasn’t all in on the creature-feature.

Despite the insane premise and perfect, on-the-nose title, “Cocaine Bear” screenwriter Jimmy Warden never imagined that his coked-out-mammal flick would ever see the light of day. “If I’m being completely honest – maybe I shouldn’t say it – I never thought anybody was going to make this movie,” Warden admitted in a conversation with Variety. The screenwriter continued by confirming that the film was always titled “Cocaine Bear” because of its appealing, daring, curiosity-driven title. Did Warden expect the title to change if the script was produced? Absolutely. “I think that if you asked me back then I would have been like, if it ever gets made, I assume people are probably going to want to change the name,” Warden continued. “But Universal never did.”

- Cocaine Bear’s Screenwriter Never Thought The Film Would See The Light Of Day, Looper.com, February 28, 2023.

3. Many Americans have heard the well-known Maya Angelou quote, “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.” For the four years Donald Trump was in the White House, he was clear who he was on the issue of immigration and what he thought of immigrants. When he came down the escalator the day he announced his presidential campaign in 2015, we knew he thought of Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers and that he wanted to keep keeping Muslims out of the country with the infamous ban. That campaign rhetoric worked in 2016. Trump won the GOP nomination largely based on his immigration stances. Then he won the presidency as well.

While in office, he implemented – or tried to – these discriminatory policies. He also started to ruminate about why the United States had to take people from “shithole countries,” and in his most egregious immigration policy position, started taking kids from parents in the notorious family separation initiative in 2018 to deter illegal immigration in the cruelest manner.

In time, the American people showed that they are not anti-immigrant; voters started rejecting the draconian MAGA approach to immigration. Republicans lost the House in 2018, the presidency in 2020, and performed far below historic expectations in the 2022 midterm election cycle. So, while Trump’s rap may still play to the MAGA base, it is political kryptonite for independents, suburban voters – especially women, Latinos and the immigrant communities who come to this country looking for a better life for themselves and their children.

So why would Trump be telling us yet again who he is in no uncertain terms, saying the quiet parts out loud, on his harsh immigration plans? Perhaps it’s because he knows memories fade, and voters’ attention spans are short. This is why President Biden and Democrats have started to remind voters of the contrast between Biden and Trump.

This past weekend, Trump unveiled his most egregious expansion of his immigration policies. The New York Times outlined how Trump plans in a second administration to round up undocumented immigrants into mass detention camps, and carry out an “Operation Wetback” kind of deportation of the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States, regardless of how long they have been here or whether they have roots, including American-citizen children.

Trump’s notoriously anti-immigrant advisor Stephen Miller promises “sweeping raids,” revocation of birth-right citizenship, stripping deportation protections from Temporary Protected Status holders, taking away student visas from those whom they deemed held “anti-American views,” and restricting entry from certain Muslim countries (Muslim ban 2.0).

Trump is being honest with us, though, and we should believe him. He knows this kind of rhetoric helped him win in 2016. He also knows, or should know, that it was a loser for him in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Many people who voted for Trump in 2016 did not believe he would follow through on these unhinged policies. When Trump did just that, these voters moved away from him in the subsequent elections because these positions are not in line with most Americans in this country. These policies will do nothing to grow or expand the electorate Trump needs to win the electoral college in the 2024 election. But only if Americans are reminded of how horrific Trump’s policies were.

…

When voters hear Democrats’ positions on immigration, they overwhelmingly support them over the hard-line, security-only positions of the GOP. Americans want a fair and balanced approach that is orderly and in line with the country’s pro-immigrant American values.

The policies that Trump outlined in the last couple of days could not be further from where Americans are and what they want as a fix to our broken immigration system. And if elected again, Trump will go even further. Is naturalized citizenship next on the chopping block? Should I, as a Colombian-born immigrant Latina be concerned that my naturalization will be revoked? How can I be sure?

One way we can all be sure these horrific policies will never see the light of day is to take Donald Trump at his word and urge Democrats and the Biden campaign to communicate far and wide – and loudly – where they stand on immigration. It is not even that doing so will be a political benefit to the president and Democrats. It is that not doing so can mean the difference between an optimistic, hopeful America that welcomes and honors immigrants and their contributions, and a dark, divided, and hateful America that slams its doors on the very foundation that has made it the greatest country in the world. Americans should not doubt Trump would do just that. He told us he will.

- When Trump Tells You Who He Is … Believe Him, RealClearPolitics.com, November 16, 2023.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：張欣  編輯：丹妮）