--- Reagan Ross <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Again, you make some great points here, particularly
> the "Tiffany" point
> and your last one, but I would argue that in terms
> of the former point
> there are, first, distinctions to made between
> trivial interests and more
> serious affective experiences taken to heart,
> though, secondly, I would say
> that at different stages in our lives something that
> might seem trivial to
> us now, at our more "intellectual" or mature stage,
> may have been something
> quite meaningful at an earlier stage of life, and
> accordingly, I think,
> should be still taken seriously.
Quite so, and I regretted not having any examples
outside the realm of teen pop for something inane that
"strikes a chord." But one has just dawned on me,
quite a favorite of a mature demographic- the media
empire of Oprah Winfrey.
Certainly a
> Godard or an Anger or many other more off-commercial
> directors are less
> compromising, more open, more complicated, and often
> more interesting in
> their critiques and attacks, and I love them for
> that, but I really
> question, and this gets back to that age old
> question, and one we have
> discussed here in various capacities, how effective
> they really are in
> changing minds, especially audiences that have only
> seen
> Hollywood/commercial films all of their lives. To
> pick on poor Godard a
> little longer, I have to say there is no comparison
> between students'
> response to the Godard films that I have screened,
> i.e. _Band of
> Outsiders_, _Breathless_, and _Weekend_ and their
> reponse to _American
> Beauty_. That is, I am not just talking about their
> enjoyment and
> enthusiasm of the films, of course _AB_ will win
> hands down for most
> undergraduates, but I am speaking to their _seeing_
> the terms of the
> discussion, the problems of capitalism in this case
> (though I use the
> Godard films as examples of alternative uses of form
> as well).
You may be right, and as a teacher you're in a much
better position than I am to judge- but American
Beauty was seen by millions and I can't see it
actually amounting to anything interesting. Godard on
the other hand, well I don't know a single person
(though I'm sure they are out there) who have seen
Godard's films and have not been altered in some way.
I've seen some swear off "stupid french shit" for
good, and others, including myself, have never thought
quite along the same lines again.
And I'm sure your class experience has been different,
just as every school and every class is varied.
Unfortunately I've sat through enough in-class
screenings in which I could barely hear the dialogue
through the groans to make me a skeptic. I'm glad
your experience has been more positive.
All in all, some very good points. I've enjoyed this
thread.
-Jim
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