A couple of days ago I rewatched the 1931 James Whale version of Frankenstein. Some of it has dated as have a lot of early horror films but one technique I enjoy thoroughly that I don't see much in modern films is the truly silent space; letting an image completely speak for itself. I am almost completely convinced that this was not a wholly stylistic move but one dictated by the limitations of sound technology of the day. My friend Gabriel and I agreed one day that music can change the mood of a scene completely. Yeah, and now I realize how powerful it is when you take the sound away, you feel the hold of a another psychological reality, more so when it is only done for a few seconds.
A well-done aspect of the movie is to make Frankenstein's monster sympathetic while also showing him as a brute force that, if he was to live, would continue to kill. That all the male characters (well maybe not Dr. Frankenstein's best friend who is trying to steal Frankenstein's fiancee with bad acting) are severely flawed, yet heroic at the same time. I say all the male characters because the female lead spends the whole move trying to figure out why her fiancee has gone insane. That she sticks with him even after she is assaulted by the menacing creation on her wedding day is pretty heroic in and of itself.
An interesting tidbit I had forgotten is that Dr. Frankenstein's hunchback assistant is not called Igor but Fritz. Ygor only shows up, apparently, in "Son of Frankenstein." (1939)
A bit more from yesterday's anti anti-faith rant:
This is from Randall Styers' Making Magic(2004). It just reiterates some of what I was saying yesterday:
And one more thing...in an interview with Shambhala Sun, Harris ridicules the irrational faith of a Buddhist who believes his or her roshi was actually born in a lotus. Fine. Who has that harmed? Our president on the other hand believed or wanted to believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Who has that action harmed? Oh, about tens of thousands of dead Iraqis and a couple thousand Americans, that's all.
LINKS:
With gas in Phoenix now $3.10 a gallon down the street from me, here's a link to finding the cheapest gas in your area.
I love re-cut trailers. This version of Sleepless in Seattle is one of the best I've seen in a while.
Speaking of Washington state, this article from the Longview Daily News up there has a cool summary of Bigfoot history.
A few days ago I posted a link to the new, more progressive drug laws in Mexico. Well, it's good to see that the U.S. doesn't stop these days to be backward thinking about our own politics we make sure other countries remain backwards too. And they listen.
Here's the video for the "rock" version of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera." You can totally see why they wanted Freddie Mercury to do the film version. It looks and sounds almost right out of a Queen video. Good cheezy fun. Some cool images.
A well-done aspect of the movie is to make Frankenstein's monster sympathetic while also showing him as a brute force that, if he was to live, would continue to kill. That all the male characters (well maybe not Dr. Frankenstein's best friend who is trying to steal Frankenstein's fiancee with bad acting) are severely flawed, yet heroic at the same time. I say all the male characters because the female lead spends the whole move trying to figure out why her fiancee has gone insane. That she sticks with him even after she is assaulted by the menacing creation on her wedding day is pretty heroic in and of itself.
An interesting tidbit I had forgotten is that Dr. Frankenstein's hunchback assistant is not called Igor but Fritz. Ygor only shows up, apparently, in "Son of Frankenstein." (1939)
A bit more from yesterday's anti anti-faith rant:
This is from Randall Styers' Making Magic(2004). It just reiterates some of what I was saying yesterday:
Max Weber has shown, a disenchanted world is more effectively subject to exploitation by capitalism and rationalized modern science. For good or ill, religious institutions remain one of the few social forces capable of challenging the unbridled power of the nation-state and the alienation and commodification of capitalist economic structures. As the sacred evaporates into a dematerialized fog, all objects, locations, and identities are rendered equally subject to the regimentation of the market.
And one more thing...in an interview with Shambhala Sun, Harris ridicules the irrational faith of a Buddhist who believes his or her roshi was actually born in a lotus. Fine. Who has that harmed? Our president on the other hand believed or wanted to believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Who has that action harmed? Oh, about tens of thousands of dead Iraqis and a couple thousand Americans, that's all.
LINKS:
With gas in Phoenix now $3.10 a gallon down the street from me, here's a link to finding the cheapest gas in your area.
I love re-cut trailers. This version of Sleepless in Seattle is one of the best I've seen in a while.
Speaking of Washington state, this article from the Longview Daily News up there has a cool summary of Bigfoot history.
A few days ago I posted a link to the new, more progressive drug laws in Mexico. Well, it's good to see that the U.S. doesn't stop these days to be backward thinking about our own politics we make sure other countries remain backwards too. And they listen.
Here's the video for the "rock" version of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera." You can totally see why they wanted Freddie Mercury to do the film version. It looks and sounds almost right out of a Queen video. Good cheezy fun. Some cool images.
posted by kidsid @ 12:32 AM
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