Re: Manly Wade Wellman
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 13 August, 2020 10:27AM
Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Knygatin Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Sawfish Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > > > If you would ever like to get a pretty good
> > > > rendering of central/western Appalachian
> > > dialect,
> > > > try out Cormac McCarthy's The Outer Dark,
> or
> > > Child
> > > > of God, if you haven't already.
> > > >
> > > He writes about pretty gritty matters,
> doesn't
> > he?
> >
> > Pretty grim sometimes, yes.
> > The first and only time I read The Road, I had
> to
> > put the book down for a while, when I realized
> the
> > reality ...
> > I've never had that happen before or since,
> ....
>
> Grim social realism makes me upset and depressed.
> I have to avoid such literature and film, although
> I have seen my share.
Funny observation: when younger, this sort of observed threat/distress was fairly meaningless to me, and I would say that my assumed POV as an observer/reader was seldom the object of the threat, it was either the threat, itself, or much more often, a totally detached observer.
But as I got older, and no longer viewed myself as immortal, as young males tend to do (!), I found it more and more disturbing on a personal level, as if I was now sharing the threat.
Then, just about when I turned 50, we had our daughter. After that it seemed like *everything* was a threat, if not to me (but remember: as an older guy this was increasingly the case, anyhow), then to her and/or my wife.
Hmmm... Now that I think about it, before I was married I felt much less threatened, but afterwards then perceived sympathetic threat increased.
Interesting...
>
>
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Do you feel that they [The Residents] may well
> have affected David
> > Lynch's visual sensibilities?
> >
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think Lynch
> > is aware of them. Lynch is such a strong
> > individual that he almost seems to stand
> > independent all on his own.
>
> I may add that DUNE is one of my very top favorite
> films.
Hah! Me, too.
But this puts us in a vanishingly small minority.
> But I found BLUE VELVET and MULHOLLAND
> DRIVE too unpleasant (and could have done without
> them),
I liked both quite a lot, but believe that MD is his best work. In particular, the combination of the narrative framing device (the shot at the beginning and the circumstance at the end) plus the revealed distortion of the central narrative due to the device of "unreliable POV" (like Oscar in The Tin Drum) was handled masterfully, and I'm waiting for it to return to Netflix or Amazon Prime so that I can see it again for no extra charge.
> and avoided TWIN PEAKS.
FWIW, I didn't think much of it. A Nancy Drew mystery adapted by the Marquis de Sade, with comic interludes concerning cops and doughnuts and the like.
> I saw ERASERHEAD in
> my late teens, and it was curious; I may pay it a
> visit again.
>
> Do you like David Lynch?
Oh, yeah....
The best balance of artistic vision and cinematic discipline we currently have, in my opinion.
Very, very consistent in this, and then you look at The Straight Story, and you realize he could easily be a first rate director of more conventional films, if he chose to.
You might compare this with Ridley Scott, who has zero narrative vision and the highest level of visual and cinematic discipline. He makes soooo many films that every now and then he stumbles--by blind luck, apparently--on strong material; he seems to treat both screenplays and actors as basically cogs in a visual machine. Mostly it's just visually excellent mush.
As always, my opinions, only.
--Sawfish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~