Scots Taffer on 23/9/2008 at 08:40
Never read them but I thought that the basis of the 2 books adapted into one film and there being so damned many of them meant that there was a wealth of naval adventures to choose from.
Also echoing Thirith's sentiments about how "painterly" (queer word) M&C is; I was struck by that in the first instance.
N'Al on 23/9/2008 at 09:00
"Lots" of naval adventures yes, "wealth" no. :p
Then again, considering they turned a crap book into a decent movie means they could have possibly done it again with one of the other books...
Angel Dust on 23/9/2008 at 10:02
Quote Posted by Thirith
Angel Dust: Interesting point, although I'm not sure it holds for me. I didn't have that much of an emotional reaction to
TWBB, mainly because I felt fairly detached from the characters. Then again, I don't think it's a cerebral film. What it was, for me, is abstract: I reacted to
TWBB pretty much the way I react to early(ish) modern painting, to Francis Bacon or the famous portrait of Wyndham Lewis. The film has a very different eye with which it looks at the characters and landscape. In this respect I found it intriguing and compelling but at the same time it left me rather distant.
What I am actually driving at, with the cerebral vs feeling thing, was exactly what you expressed here. When I said you 'feel' these films I was not meaning the usual human emotions but more of that instinctive feeling, much like when you look at an abstract painting. I just didn't do a very good job explaining it!
Anyway the whole point was that a lot of people, certainly some of my friends, don't get into to these films because they think it's all about understanding the symbolism and themes. Watching them is too much like hard work for them but in actuality they're making it hard for themselves by trying to piece it all together to find out 'what it all means'. What really matters is what does it mean to you, which is why Kubrick never tried to explain 2001.
Thirith on 23/9/2008 at 10:55
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
... "painterly" (queer word)...
Heh. Guess that's what I get for doing a couple of degrees in LitCrit. My head is full of queer words. :D
Scots Taffer on 24/9/2008 at 03:53
I like it! It's definitely a weird one.
