Interesting thesis, Ken. A small point: I thought my list and the use of
ellipsis implied that there were many more examples of masks and many more types
of masks as well. Why did you read otherwise?
Also, I see that you are enumerating the mask and their use in Kubrick, but you
are doing so in terms of male identity. What are you doing for female identity?
If man recognizes himself professionally (in terms of masks (hats)) in Kubrick,
how does woman recognize herself? In _EWS_, does Alice mask herself in glasses
(profession), hair style, clothing, . . . . What's going on here? Is there a
need to see female identity as constructed differently from male identity in
Kubrick? That question, it seems, must be at the core of your thesis--how do you
see the issue?
Also, what of the relationship between the sexes in Kubrick? In the bar scene in
_CO_, the bodies of women are the furniture--Allen Jones sculptures or much
like them--while the more central piece of sculpture in the cat lady's house is
a phallus.
In _EWS_ the dead prostitute, her naked corpse against the stainless steel
shelf of the morgue vault, looks much like a Gustav Klimt model. In fact,
Klimt's paintings have all kinds of masks, and Klimt fits in perfectly with the
notion of _EWS_ as a story borrowed from Schnitzler: _fin-de-siecle_ Vienna
re-masked as recent history. . . .
By the way, does Slim Pickens's rocket ride in _DS_ remind you of Pop Art?
There's much more to be said on the use of art in Kubrick's films, but I'm
interested to hear what you have to say on all the issues.
Artifice--do you see it?
JMC
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