[lbo-talk] Re: How to Deconstruct Almost Anything

BklynMagus magcomm at ix.netcom.com
Fri Dec 22 16:20:18 PST 2006



> I discussed some film from a sociological perspective, doing what
sociologists do when they view a film. e.g., looking at the film White Castle to see how the film represents working class as cluttered and dirty as opposed to upper middle class as clean, spartan, organized.

Which is sometimes the only way to enjoy a film. There are some films I watch which I realize have little or no formal interest, but are interesting sociological snapshots of the time during which they were made.


> I can't really explain this well b/c I lost this portion of the archives, but
he contrasted the way I looked at the film with the way another fellah on this list examined his favortie genre, horror films. I don't know if I ever understood Trail but what was markedly different from the way I looked at a film and the way this other guy did was that it was clear he loved the film and the genre more generally.


>Does that make sense?

Yes. I love certain genres and watch them often. In addition to the sociological interest a genre film might have, there is the additional my interest in how its fits into its genre tradition and its relationship to it: does it critique the tradition, support it, subvert it, declare it dead, etc., etc.

For example, Joseph L. Mankiewicz made the first amnesia noir SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT (1946) with John Hodiak and Nancy Guild (available on dvd). He deploys the Fox house style in such a way that the film also has elements of daytime noir. From a sociological viewpoint, what is interesting is that the Nancy Guild character is not your standard issue femme fatale -- she is actual not a villainous female who needs to be eliminated, but the one who saves the day (in his second film you can already see the changes Mankiewicz will ring on female representation in late 40's Hollywood cinema).

Mankiewicz will also incorporate elements of noir in many of his future films, both giving them an edge they would not necessarily possess and extending noir critiques of masculinity, aggression and ambition to genres not known for such investigations. Mankiewicz loves voiceover (a staple of the time), but I can think of only three movies of the period which feature female voiceover (500 points in Queer Jeopardy! for the titles).


> I'm not sure, but it seems that these are two different enterprises.

For me, in great films they are intertwined enterprises. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it is sublime.

Brian

PS: For those with an interest in noir, the may appreciate the following article on possible the greatest noir of them all: Robert Aldrich's KISS ME DEADLY (1955) (also available on dvd in a restored version). Another 500 points for knowing what the great whatzit actually is.

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr0600/rc1fr10m.htm



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list