Clark Ashton Smith as a Californian
Posted by:
Gavin Callaghan (IP Logged)
Date: 29 June, 2013 06:54PM
I have not read much CAS-criticism, so I'm not sure if this has been dealt with before: CAS as a Californian.
I've never been out there myself, but I am fascinated by California. There's a peculiar atmosphere there. I collect films and books on the subject. Anything to do with California and/or Los Angeles: Chinatown, LA Confidential, Mullholland Falls, Mulholland Drive, The Two Jakes, No Man's Land, An End to Violence, The Black Dahlia, Dragnet, trashy 1980's teen pics with LA backgrounds and settings. Books on true crime, books by James Ellroy, Mank's books on Universal monsters. Still have yet to see Hollywoodland. In all this welter, there are several recurring themes that stand out:
1)True crime.
2)Mysticism and the occult.
3)The vampiric gothic.
4)Pretty girls (the Beach Boys aesthetic.)
5)The movie industry.
6)The desert/wilderness.
7)The freeways/roads.
8)Pornography, pornography, pornography.
9)General weirdness.
All these themes all overlap and blend together in various ways. Pretty girls are often the victims of true crime, and often star in films. Criminals, in turn, often utilize occult symbolism (Zodiac, The Night Stalker[s]). The movie industry blends with true crime via exploitation pictures, as well as Dragnet. A murderer once buried the bodies of his victims beneath the newly-built LA freeway system (true crime plus freeways.) Occultists like Anton Zandor LaVey starred in films, and used pretty girls in their rituals. Hollywood Vampiric Gothic and Hollywood films go hand in hand. The Manson Family included many pretty girls, who believed in mysticism, and who lurked in the desert and committed true crime, etc., etc., etc.
CAS it is true lurked on the periphery of all this, yet one can see some overlaps: at least with the occultism, wilderness, and gothic aspects. Strange he never made any contacts in the movie industry....What was my point?
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 29 Jun 13 | 06:57PM by Gavin Callaghan.