Ed Wood wrote nothing but bad books. And in the neighborhood
of a hundred or so of them.
----- Original Message ---- From: Channing <
filmtroll@sbcglobal.net> To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 12,
2007 8:21:23 PM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Chandler vs.
Altman
> Losey, Polanski, Bergman, Fassbinder, Coen,
Fellini, Roeg, Huston,
Welles,
> Weir
> -- all of them have tremendous
> artistic distinction, all control their projects to
a very large
> extent (certain exceptions of studio interference
easily noted), and
> I would therefore advance the thesis that none of
them ever made
> a "bad" film. We need everything they
did.
That's a pretty good theory you got there. If only Uwe
Boll
and Ed Wood had an indisputable theory that "proved"
that
they never made a bad film... Sorry, just kidding.
I'm afraid we're at the turning point of an "auteur theory"
discussion
that will only end in stalemate. There's no denying those are
truly
great filmmakers, but there is no way any artist's work is
above
criticism, especially in a pop-culture medium. To dismiss
weak films
doesn't diminish the value of the great ones. What if the
director
was having an off-day? What if the budget didn't allow for
the
author's true vision? What if the actor was drunk and gave a
lousy
performance? There are too many variables that go into
filmmaking.
In a medium like film that requires hundreds of people
working
together, it's difficult to declare the whole project the
work of one
single man (there are no women on your best director's list.)
That's
dismissing the creative input of other contributors;
cinematographers,
screenwriters, editors, composers, producers... etc.
To bring this back to crime literature, it's much easier to
declare
the entire body of work as belonging to a singular vision in
writing.
In that case, Ed Wood never wrote a bad book,
either.
----------
--Chan
<!--
#ygrp-mkp{ border:1px solid
#d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:14px 0px;padding:0px
14px;}
#ygrp-mkp hr{ border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}
#ygrp-mkp #hd{
color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:bold;line-height:122%;margin:10px
0px;}
#ygrp-mkp #ads{ margin-bottom:10px;}
#ygrp-mkp .ad{ padding:0 0;}
#ygrp-mkp .ad a{ color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}
-->
<!--
#ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc{ font-family:Arial;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc #hd{ margin:10px
0px;font-weight:bold;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc .ad{ margin-bottom:10px;padding:0
0;}
-->
<!--
#ygrp-mlmsg {font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica,
clean, sans-serif;}
#ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;}
#ygrp-mlmsg select, input, textarea {font:99% arial,
helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}
#ygrp-mlmsg pre, code {font:115% monospace;}
#ygrp-mlmsg * {line-height:1.22em;}
#ygrp-text{ font-family:Georgia;
}
#ygrp-text p{ margin:0 0 1em 0;}
#ygrp-tpmsgs{ font-family:Arial; clear:both;}
#ygrp-vitnav{
padding-top:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;margin:0;}
#ygrp-vitnav a{ padding:0 1px;}
#ygrp-actbar{ clear:both;margin:25px
0;white-space:nowrap;color:#666;text-align:right;}
#ygrp-actbar .left{ float:left;white-space:nowrap;}
.bld{font-weight:bold;}
#ygrp-grft{ font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;padding:15px
0;}
#ygrp-ft{ font-family:verdana;font-size:77%;border-top:1px
solid #666; padding:5px 0;
}
#ygrp-mlmsg #logo{ padding-bottom:10px;}
#ygrp-vital{
background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:2px 0 8px
8px;}
#ygrp-vital #vithd{
font-size:77%;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;}
#ygrp-vital ul{ padding:0;margin:2px 0;}
#ygrp-vital ul li{ list-style-type:none;clear:both;border:1px
solid #e0ecee;
}
#ygrp-vital ul li .ct{
font-weight:bold;color:#ff7900;float:right;width:2em;text-align:right;padding-right:.5em;}
#ygrp-vital ul li .cat{ font-weight:bold;}
#ygrp-vital a{ text-decoration:none;}
#ygrp-vital a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;}
#ygrp-sponsor #hd{ color:#999;font-size:77%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov{ padding:6px
13px;background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov ul{ padding:0 0 0 8px;margin:0;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov li{ list-style-type:square;padding:6px
0;font-size:77%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov li a{
text-decoration:none;font-size:130%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #nc{
background-color:#eee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0
8px;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad{ padding:8px 0;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad #hd1{
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold;color:#628c2a;font-size:100%;line-height:122%;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad a{ text-decoration:none;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad p{ margin:0;} o{font-size:0;}
.MsoNormal{ margin:0 0 0 0;}
#ygrp-text tt{ font-size:120%;} blockquote{margin:0 0 0
4px;}
.replbq{margin:4;}
-->
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo
Mobile. Try it now.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 12 Nov 2007 EST