[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: JIN-ROH and LoTR
On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, The Mattrix wrote:
> > > . . . even the most gripping or depressing or philosophical film
> > > takes us away rom our own limited reality for a few dozen mintes or
> > > so. If we are reflecting on the lives of other characters, whether
> > > real or imagined, are we not escaping our own, personal life
> > > reflections?
> >
> > No, not really, because the whole point of reflecting on their lives
> > is to reflect back on our own.
>
> If I see I flick about a single mom who loses her house and becomes a
> homeless person, how am I to relate that to my life experience?
That depends on your life experiences and how those of the character in
the film are articulated, and how the two resonate with one another.
> In that case, I'd say the point on reflecting on such a character's
> plight would be to learn compassion for the homeless, and educate myself
> about truths that aren't widely publicized regarding homelessness.
I dunno, there's a place for "social message" movies, but if any film is
going to have any lasting value, it has to go deeper than that. _Les
Miserables_ is a story that lingers with us not because we find ourselves
living in a period of ideological revolution, but because it taps into
deeper themes concerning justice and mercy and so on. Of course, as the
story is re-told in various films, the re-tellings will be sensitive to
the ways in which the story resonates with the times in which the films
are made -- e.g., the 1930s version of _Les Miserables_ starring Fredric
March and Charles Laughton was made at the height of the Great Depression,
and that lends a powerful extra dimension to Valjean's speech in court
about being forced to steal because his family had no bread. But the
underlying themes were there years *before* the Great Depression, and the
film still works years *after* the Great Depression (indeed, I would say
it's still the best film adaptation of _Les Miserables ever made), and
that's because the story is ultimately about more than a bunch of French
people living in specific social circumstances two centuries ago.
--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/OtR/
References: