Standing on the shore of Quiddity I cast out my nexus to catch quicksilver dreams that will supply me wih glimpses of other realities.
Understanding that there are other realities, other possibilities, other journeys, other methods, is the path of wisdom. Learning how to engage with them is the essence of Art in all its manifestations.
The possibility for true peace is only ever possible when differences learn to co-exist. No need to assimilate, conform or convert. Crusades are for the insecure; instead we will create an environment in which people will be encouraged to continuously become what they would be.
Peace and love,
Michael
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Seed Magazine: Michel Gondry and Robert Stickgold discuss dreams, filmmaking and the scientific method
Michel Gondry and Robert Stickgold discuss dreams, filmmaking and the scientific method
Saturday, January 02, 2010
James Rose: The Dreaming and The Dreamt -- A Lexicon of Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves
The Dreaming and The Dreamt: A Lexicon of Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves
by James Rose
Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies
Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves (1984) is a film immersed in the symbolism of fairy tale narratives and imagery. Based upon three short stories from Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, the film functions as a revisionist text which blends Gothic motifs with Carter’s own interpretations of classic fairy tales. For Carter, the original version(s) of Little Red Riding Hood operated as a structured agenda to warn young girls of the dangers of sexual maturity and implicates for them a passive family and societal role. By rewriting this and other traditional tales from a feminist perspective, both subtle and blatant inversions took place within Carter’s stories: her versions of Little Red Riding Hood positively attack the wolf with a combination of hunting knife and sexual awareness, slaking his desire to eat her with sex. Jordan wrote the script for The Company of Wolves in collaboration with Carter, and as such, the film creates a symbolic world where the transition from child to adult - from girl to woman - is both a beautiful and dangerous moment, one to be both celebrated and feared. So layered and intertwined are these symbols that the most productive way to critically analyse them is to format them into a lexicon, giving definition to the representations and allowing for meaning to build up and repeat, as they do in the film, in between the layers of narrative and the viewer’s mind.
Because there are two representations of the same character within the film, the text defines each persona through the terms the Dreaming Rosaleen and the Dreamt Rosaleen: the Dreaming Rosaleen is the protagonist who exists in the film’s representation of the real world, whilst the Dreamt Rosaleen is her fictional, dreamt alter ego.
To Read the Lexicon
by James Rose
Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies
Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves (1984) is a film immersed in the symbolism of fairy tale narratives and imagery. Based upon three short stories from Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, the film functions as a revisionist text which blends Gothic motifs with Carter’s own interpretations of classic fairy tales. For Carter, the original version(s) of Little Red Riding Hood operated as a structured agenda to warn young girls of the dangers of sexual maturity and implicates for them a passive family and societal role. By rewriting this and other traditional tales from a feminist perspective, both subtle and blatant inversions took place within Carter’s stories: her versions of Little Red Riding Hood positively attack the wolf with a combination of hunting knife and sexual awareness, slaking his desire to eat her with sex. Jordan wrote the script for The Company of Wolves in collaboration with Carter, and as such, the film creates a symbolic world where the transition from child to adult - from girl to woman - is both a beautiful and dangerous moment, one to be both celebrated and feared. So layered and intertwined are these symbols that the most productive way to critically analyse them is to format them into a lexicon, giving definition to the representations and allowing for meaning to build up and repeat, as they do in the film, in between the layers of narrative and the viewer’s mind.
Because there are two representations of the same character within the film, the text defines each persona through the terms the Dreaming Rosaleen and the Dreamt Rosaleen: the Dreaming Rosaleen is the protagonist who exists in the film’s representation of the real world, whilst the Dreamt Rosaleen is her fictional, dreamt alter ego.
To Read the Lexicon
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Film Studies: Dreams, Memory and Chaos
(Migrating some things from my film studies course--please feel free to provide comments about more films or articles/essays/bibliographies that fit this category)
Dreams, Memory and Chaos
General Readings:
Eig, Jonathan. “A Beautiful Mind(Fuck): Hollywood Structures of Identity.” Jump Cut 46 (Summer 2003)
Gaggi, Silvio. “Navigating Chaos.” New Punk Cinema. Ed. Nicholas Rombes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005: 113-125.
Isaacs, Bruce. "Non-Linear Narrative." New Punk Cinema Ed. Nicholas Rombes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005: 126-138.
Plate, S. Brent. “Filmmaking, Mythmaking, Culturemaking.” Representing Religion in World Cinema. Ed. S. Brent Plate. NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003: 1-15.
Readings of Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Dr. (France/USA: David Lynch, 2001)
Cain, Maximillian Le. “In Dreams: A Review of Mulholland Drive.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Ebert, Roger. “Review of Mulholland Drive.” Chicago Sun Times (October 12, 2001)
Falsetto, Mario. “There is No Band at Club Silencio: Thoughts on David Lynch and Mulholland Drive.” Synoptique 6 (Dec 6, 2004)
Frazer, Bryant. “Fast Friends: Mulholland Drive.” (2001)
Gessler, Nicholas. “Mulholland Drive: An Independent Analysis.” (September 29, 2002)
Koresky, Michael. “Altered Beast: Tropical Malady Meets Mulholland Drive.” Reverse Shot (Summer 2005)
Macaulay, Scott. “The Dream Factory.” Filmmaker Magazine (Fall 2001)
McGinn, Colin. "Dreams on Film."; "Reviewing the Dream Theory."; "How To Make a Dream." The Power of Movies: How Screen and Mind Interact NY: Pantheon Books, 2005": 100-157; 158-177; and 178-191. {For those that want to investigate more the theory of film and dreams.--the book is in our library.}
Ostherr, Kirsten and Arash Abizadeh. “Amnesia, Obsession, Cinematic U-Turns: On Mulholland Drive.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Rapfogel, Jared. “David Lynch.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Ruch, Allen B. “’No Hay Banda’: A Long, Strange Trip Down David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.” The Modern Word (April 23, 2002)
Sinnerbrink, Robert. “Cinematic Ideas: David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.” Film Philosophy 9.34 (July 2005)
Thill, Scott. “The Not-So-Straight Story: It’s Just Lynch Being Lynch. And That’s a Good Thing.” Bright Lights Film Journal 34 (October 2001)
Wyman, Bill, Max Garrone and Andy Klein. “Everything You Wanted to Know About Mulholland Drive.” Salon (October 23, 2001)
Zacharek, Stephanie. “David Lynch’s Latest Tour de Force.” Salon (October 12, 2001)
More Films:
Being John Malkovich (USA: Spike Jonze, 1999)
A completely unique story announced Spike Jonze (director) and Charlie Kaufman (screenwriter) as bold filmmakers. It is great to walk away from a film that you enjoyed and were provoked by and to think, I have never seen anything like this.... A great film.
The Big Lebowski (USA/UK: The Coen Brothers, 1998: 117 mins)
"The dude abides." A classic by the Coen Bros, that while not as mystifying as some of these films, still explores along the same lines who and what we are... has developed a cult following that has led to an annual conference/party in Louisville bowling alleys.
Blade Runner (USA/Hong Kong: Ridley Scott, 1982/1991)
Landmark, visionary science fiction film that at its essence is about what it means to be human. Hugely influential in the field of science fiction and has roots in the tradition of film noir. I would also consider it to be a profound (drawing from the root questions of its source author Philip K. Dick) meditation on human consciousness. Through the struggle of the rebel androids we are reminded of human hubris in believing that only they are self-reflectively conscious (a preposterous and arrogant assumption).
The Company Of Wolves (United Kingdom: Neil Jordan, 1984)
Neil Jordan's cinematic adaptation of Angela Carter's feminist reworking of traditional patriarchal fairy tales in the werewolf stories in the collection The Bloody Chamber (1979: "The Company of Wolves", "Wolf-Alice" and "The Werewolf") is structured through the symbolic dreams of a young girl. Rich, vivid, surreal film.
Dead Man (USA/Germany/Japan: Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Johnny Depp plays the lead character in this acid-western dipped in the American (and European) Myth of the West filtered (or juxtaposed) through Native-American counter mythos.
Donnie Darko (USA: Richard Kelley, 2001: director’s cut)
Ignored when originally released in the theaters this film picked-up an audience through rentals and was later re-released with a new director's cut. Jake Gyllenhal and a stellar cast (one of my favorite on-screen families) plumb some philosophical/scientific concepts, while exposing a range of social hypocrisies.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (USA: Michel Gondry, 2004: 108 mins)
As always Charlie Kaufman writes about memory and identity. Great production design, the stunning Kate Winslet accompanying Jim Carrey in a tale of lost love and memories. What would you do to forget the pain of a lost love. Is it better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all?
Human Nature (France/USA: Michel Gondry, 2001: 91 mins)
Rowdy/Bawdy comedy that delves into and around some deep human/identity issues.
I Heart Huckabees (USA/Germany: David O. Russell, 2004: 106 mins)
One of my all-time favorite philosophical comedies with a great cast and intelligent writing. One of the few films that I went and watched a second time while it was in the theaters.
Jacob’s Ladder (USA: Adrian Lyne, 1990: 115 mins)
After-effects of war on the returned, damaged soldier. What is reality? What isn't? Who can you trust?
Kontrol (Hungary: Nimrod Antal, 2003)
Filmed entirely in the Budapest underground railway system. What could have been a typical workplace comedy, slowly builds through absurd events and surreal atmosphere into something much more complex. Alternating between slapstick, mystery and romance, but never falling into simplicity.
Lost Highway (France/USA: David Lynch, 1997)
If you thought Mulholland Drive was confusing, try this earlier effort. I've seen it four times and each time I came up with a different interpretation.
Memento (USA: Christopher Nolan, 2000)
A man searching for his wife's murderer deals with daily memory loss--a bold, memorable film.
Pi (USA: Darren Aronofsky, 1998)
An amazing blend of science, philosophy, math, religion and conspiracy theories--set to a unique visual style. Aronofsky's (Requiem for a Dream) first feature film. A startling, mind-blowing original look into the mystifying patterns of life (as viewed by the skewed person who is recognizing them)--should be studied by all beginning filmmakers to give them an idea of how an excellent screenplay and unique visual style can overcome a low budget. Minimalistic, yet complex. On my DVD copy there is a featurette on the making of the film--check it out if you watch it, great depiction of collective filmmaking and the independent spirit (of course always much more uplifting when it turns out a film like this).
Pulse (Japan: Kiyoshi Kurasowa: 2001: 118 mins)
What effect does our increasing relationship to technology and media have on us? A dark, foreboding, haunting, mysterious film.
Run, Lola, Run (Germany: Tom Tykwer, 1998)
How do the smallest choices change the direction of our lives? Chaos theory inflected thriller.
Save the Green Planet (South Korea: Joon-Hwan Jang, 2003)
Like Being John Malkovich and Pi, unlike any film I have seen before--I can't give anything away and would like to hear what others have to say about it.
The Science of Sleep (France/Italy: Michel Gondry, 2006)
Told through the protagonist Stephane's creative dreams and distorted reality this is a creative film that explores the nature of love, friendship, and relationships.
The Usual Suspects (USA/Germany: Bryan Singer, 1995)
Nothing like a good mystery with a surprise ending--a favorite of many. A must for detective/mystery/crime buffs.
Videodrome (Canada: David Cronenberg, 1983)
I first saw this in the theater as a teen and it literally freaked me out! It repulsed me and attracted me at the same time. Despite its low budget, it is a stunning meditation on the power of media to influence our memories and inform our dreams. In an increasingly media(tized) reality this film is even more important today.
Dreams, Memory and Chaos
General Readings:
Eig, Jonathan. “A Beautiful Mind(Fuck): Hollywood Structures of Identity.” Jump Cut 46 (Summer 2003)
Gaggi, Silvio. “Navigating Chaos.” New Punk Cinema. Ed. Nicholas Rombes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005: 113-125.
Isaacs, Bruce. "Non-Linear Narrative." New Punk Cinema Ed. Nicholas Rombes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005: 126-138.
Plate, S. Brent. “Filmmaking, Mythmaking, Culturemaking.” Representing Religion in World Cinema. Ed. S. Brent Plate. NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003: 1-15.
Readings of Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Dr. (France/USA: David Lynch, 2001)
Cain, Maximillian Le. “In Dreams: A Review of Mulholland Drive.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Ebert, Roger. “Review of Mulholland Drive.” Chicago Sun Times (October 12, 2001)
Falsetto, Mario. “There is No Band at Club Silencio: Thoughts on David Lynch and Mulholland Drive.” Synoptique 6 (Dec 6, 2004)
Frazer, Bryant. “Fast Friends: Mulholland Drive.” (2001)
Gessler, Nicholas. “Mulholland Drive: An Independent Analysis.” (September 29, 2002)
Koresky, Michael. “Altered Beast: Tropical Malady Meets Mulholland Drive.” Reverse Shot (Summer 2005)
Macaulay, Scott. “The Dream Factory.” Filmmaker Magazine (Fall 2001)
McGinn, Colin. "Dreams on Film."; "Reviewing the Dream Theory."; "How To Make a Dream." The Power of Movies: How Screen and Mind Interact NY: Pantheon Books, 2005": 100-157; 158-177; and 178-191. {For those that want to investigate more the theory of film and dreams.--the book is in our library.}
Ostherr, Kirsten and Arash Abizadeh. “Amnesia, Obsession, Cinematic U-Turns: On Mulholland Drive.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Rapfogel, Jared. “David Lynch.” Senses of Cinema 19 (March-April 2002)
Ruch, Allen B. “’No Hay Banda’: A Long, Strange Trip Down David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.” The Modern Word (April 23, 2002)
Sinnerbrink, Robert. “Cinematic Ideas: David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.” Film Philosophy 9.34 (July 2005)
Thill, Scott. “The Not-So-Straight Story: It’s Just Lynch Being Lynch. And That’s a Good Thing.” Bright Lights Film Journal 34 (October 2001)
Wyman, Bill, Max Garrone and Andy Klein. “Everything You Wanted to Know About Mulholland Drive.” Salon (October 23, 2001)
Zacharek, Stephanie. “David Lynch’s Latest Tour de Force.” Salon (October 12, 2001)
More Films:
Being John Malkovich (USA: Spike Jonze, 1999)
A completely unique story announced Spike Jonze (director) and Charlie Kaufman (screenwriter) as bold filmmakers. It is great to walk away from a film that you enjoyed and were provoked by and to think, I have never seen anything like this.... A great film.
The Big Lebowski (USA/UK: The Coen Brothers, 1998: 117 mins)
"The dude abides." A classic by the Coen Bros, that while not as mystifying as some of these films, still explores along the same lines who and what we are... has developed a cult following that has led to an annual conference/party in Louisville bowling alleys.
Blade Runner (USA/Hong Kong: Ridley Scott, 1982/1991)
Landmark, visionary science fiction film that at its essence is about what it means to be human. Hugely influential in the field of science fiction and has roots in the tradition of film noir. I would also consider it to be a profound (drawing from the root questions of its source author Philip K. Dick) meditation on human consciousness. Through the struggle of the rebel androids we are reminded of human hubris in believing that only they are self-reflectively conscious (a preposterous and arrogant assumption).
The Company Of Wolves (United Kingdom: Neil Jordan, 1984)
Neil Jordan's cinematic adaptation of Angela Carter's feminist reworking of traditional patriarchal fairy tales in the werewolf stories in the collection The Bloody Chamber (1979: "The Company of Wolves", "Wolf-Alice" and "The Werewolf") is structured through the symbolic dreams of a young girl. Rich, vivid, surreal film.
Dead Man (USA/Germany/Japan: Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Johnny Depp plays the lead character in this acid-western dipped in the American (and European) Myth of the West filtered (or juxtaposed) through Native-American counter mythos.
Donnie Darko (USA: Richard Kelley, 2001: director’s cut)
Ignored when originally released in the theaters this film picked-up an audience through rentals and was later re-released with a new director's cut. Jake Gyllenhal and a stellar cast (one of my favorite on-screen families) plumb some philosophical/scientific concepts, while exposing a range of social hypocrisies.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (USA: Michel Gondry, 2004: 108 mins)
As always Charlie Kaufman writes about memory and identity. Great production design, the stunning Kate Winslet accompanying Jim Carrey in a tale of lost love and memories. What would you do to forget the pain of a lost love. Is it better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all?
Human Nature (France/USA: Michel Gondry, 2001: 91 mins)
Rowdy/Bawdy comedy that delves into and around some deep human/identity issues.
I Heart Huckabees (USA/Germany: David O. Russell, 2004: 106 mins)
One of my all-time favorite philosophical comedies with a great cast and intelligent writing. One of the few films that I went and watched a second time while it was in the theaters.
Jacob’s Ladder (USA: Adrian Lyne, 1990: 115 mins)
After-effects of war on the returned, damaged soldier. What is reality? What isn't? Who can you trust?
Kontrol (Hungary: Nimrod Antal, 2003)
Filmed entirely in the Budapest underground railway system. What could have been a typical workplace comedy, slowly builds through absurd events and surreal atmosphere into something much more complex. Alternating between slapstick, mystery and romance, but never falling into simplicity.
Lost Highway (France/USA: David Lynch, 1997)
If you thought Mulholland Drive was confusing, try this earlier effort. I've seen it four times and each time I came up with a different interpretation.
Memento (USA: Christopher Nolan, 2000)
A man searching for his wife's murderer deals with daily memory loss--a bold, memorable film.
Pi (USA: Darren Aronofsky, 1998)
An amazing blend of science, philosophy, math, religion and conspiracy theories--set to a unique visual style. Aronofsky's (Requiem for a Dream) first feature film. A startling, mind-blowing original look into the mystifying patterns of life (as viewed by the skewed person who is recognizing them)--should be studied by all beginning filmmakers to give them an idea of how an excellent screenplay and unique visual style can overcome a low budget. Minimalistic, yet complex. On my DVD copy there is a featurette on the making of the film--check it out if you watch it, great depiction of collective filmmaking and the independent spirit (of course always much more uplifting when it turns out a film like this).
Pulse (Japan: Kiyoshi Kurasowa: 2001: 118 mins)
What effect does our increasing relationship to technology and media have on us? A dark, foreboding, haunting, mysterious film.
Run, Lola, Run (Germany: Tom Tykwer, 1998)
How do the smallest choices change the direction of our lives? Chaos theory inflected thriller.
Save the Green Planet (South Korea: Joon-Hwan Jang, 2003)
Like Being John Malkovich and Pi, unlike any film I have seen before--I can't give anything away and would like to hear what others have to say about it.
The Science of Sleep (France/Italy: Michel Gondry, 2006)
Told through the protagonist Stephane's creative dreams and distorted reality this is a creative film that explores the nature of love, friendship, and relationships.
The Usual Suspects (USA/Germany: Bryan Singer, 1995)
Nothing like a good mystery with a surprise ending--a favorite of many. A must for detective/mystery/crime buffs.
Videodrome (Canada: David Cronenberg, 1983)
I first saw this in the theater as a teen and it literally freaked me out! It repulsed me and attracted me at the same time. Despite its low budget, it is a stunning meditation on the power of media to influence our memories and inform our dreams. In an increasingly media(tized) reality this film is even more important today.
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