Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Chewing with Bazin
I'm not hung up on Andre Bazin as a critical force of the post-WWII or the godfather of the New Wave or how he changed the face of criticism or birthed the autuer theory, although all of those things are notable in his 40 years between 1918 and 1958. When I come across a collection of his work like Bazin At Work edited by Bert Cardullo, as I used to with "What Is Cinema?" (The French title of those volumes sounds so much better not so elementary and simplistic "Qu'est-ce que le cinéma?" which I also believe was not his title since they were published posthumously) I scan the pages and find these passages that seem to have a poetic and solid truth formulated from the perspective of viewer, not theoretician.
Statements like "The fantastic in the cinema is possible only because of the irresistible realism of the photographic image." in an essay that explores the use of superimpositions in films with fantasy elements make one want to take pause and consideration of these words. Something to chew on.
.
The Ontology of the Photographic Image on the other hand is the first (and perhaps last) encounter that many folks have with Bazin. This is Bazin the theorist writing. It is a well enough thought provoking essay. It begins with "If the plastic arts were put under psychoanalysis, the practice of embalming the dead might turn out to be a fundamental factor in their creation."
But I rather prefer Bazin the moviegoer:
- On Fellinni: "One remembers the discovery of La Strada as an aesthetic experience of great emotion, of an unanticipated encounter of the world of the imagination."
- "The extraordinary richness of acting in Welles's films is this technique" (low angle, deep focus Mise-en-scène)
- "For the producer and the distributor, the western cannot be anything more than a n infantile and popular film destined to end up on television, or an ambitious superproduction with major stars."
Bazin must be considered to be one of the many patron saints of the well-executed buffet.
Labels: appreciations and tributes, film historical
posted by well-executed buffet at 12:05 PM
(0) comments
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Goodbye Hoof
The buffet is lit by candles tonight in honor of the life of Greg Hoofnagle. Greg and I were in some of the same classes over 30 years ago at Western Washington University when he was a rising star in the journalism department, although we didn't know each other or later realized we were there until we talked about it 20 years later.
We recalled a most memorable class with Tom Robbins as guest speaker, shortly after Cowgirls was released in paper where he begged a beer from the audience and drew hisses from the hardcore feminists in the audience even though he carefully tried to explain the the difference between sex and sexism, it made no difference, they did'nt want to hear his description of what it was like for a guy to have an erection in a field when he thought about his girlfriend. It was astonishing how, even though we didn't know each other, I remember who he was (Western Front editors had a pretty high profile on campus) and how we shared other vibrant memories of those times, like the war that went on in dorms in the Fall of 1975 where residents voted their lifestyle preference by putting a cross or a cannabis leaf in their windows. It was a heck of a colorful tic-tac-toe on those buildings overlooking Bellingham Bay or High St. that season. Maybe we remembered it so well because it was the kind of thing that one best appreciated as an outsider, not as one or the other side trying to outdo each other.
It was an honor to have Greg in my classes at Clark College. He took on new computer applications with a zeal and intensity that makes it a real pleasure to be in an educational institution helping others gain access to digital tools and what they can do for them. It was a privilege to have been his faculty sponsor for the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence. The WAVE scholarship is a highly competitive, funded by legislative fiat and paid for two years of tuition. Greg couldn't attend the luncheon with state officials in attendance where he was recognized because he had a more important personal duty: he had to help care for an urgency situation involving his grandmother. Family and friends play an important role in our lives, but maybe even more so for Greg.
In 2003 and four, it was excellent to watch him take his vibrant, energetic work ethic and intellectual intensity to challenge and raise the bar up at Washington State University Vancouver's Digital Technology and Culture program where he finally earned the bachelor's degree he began so many years earlier before a period in his life where he didn't make the best of choices.
And it was very exciting to have watched him turn his life to another new level in the last year after recovering from catastrophic health episodes. His legacy will be memories of many, many folks who will recall his positivity, high energy, and the intelligent sharpness he brought to his life and endeavors. Goodbye, Hoof. You inspired a lot of us.
Labels: appreciations and tributes