I think the winks, unless they are the touches of a real
master, tend to spoil the effect of the story. Also, there
should not be too many winks. In fact, I manage a hardboiled
or noir story quite well without any winks whatever. Jason
Starr doesn´t wink. Richard Stark doesn´t wink. Hammett
didn´t wink.
In film, the winks are even worse, in fact, they can be
destructive. After all, one has seen plenty of the real
article not to need any reminders. If the new article comes
up in quality to the real old article, the viewer
knows.
Perhaps we should just banish nostalgia, of which the wink is
a giveaway sign. What good is nostalgia? To have the entire
past ahead of one? If you will forgive the harsh
pronouncement, I think nostalgia is a sign of decadence. I
think history backs me up in this harsh pronouncement.
Best,
MrT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 09 Feb 2007 EST