Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
in Maya's Words
On Vertical Film Approach/Method.. in other words, how she goes about/considers the constructing of her work.
"an investigation of a situation, in that it probes the ramifications of the movement, and is concerned with its qualities and its depth, so that you have poetry concerned, in a sense, not with what is occurring but with what it feels like or what it means. A poem, to my mind, creates visible or auditory form for something that is invisible, which is the feeling or the emotion or the metaphysical content of the statement. Now, it may also include action, but its attack is what I would call the vertical attack, and this may be a little bit clearer if you will contrast it to what I would call the horizontal attack, to drama which is concerned with the development, let's say, within a very small situation from feeling to feeling." -Maya Deren
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Top Secret Screening! Tell All Your Friends!
This Sunday, Feb 22, 9:45 pm. We will be viewing some of Maya Deren's short films and Divine Horsemen. The host has requested that folks dress in black and white (if you want to) to get in the spirit. Hope you see you ALL there.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Riefenstahl with a conscience?
In the 1993 documentary "The Wonderful Terrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl" Leni Riefenstahl talks about her first film "The Blue Light":
"I played a girl who was kind of a witch. As if it were a premonition of my own life. Junta was loved and hated. It's been the same for me, I have been loved and hated. Just as Junta lost her ideal through the shattering of the crystal, in the same way I lost my ideal at the end of that terrible war. To that extent that film was a premonition of my own destiny."
"The crystal is the symbolic theme of "The Blue Crystal"...Symbolic of the ideals that are dreampt of but are never attained"
What is the ideal that Riefenstahl is speaking of? Her personal artistic ideal or the German, at her time nazi, ideal that she is forever tied to? She and the documentary leave it at that, an uncertain statement. If it is her personal, artistic ideal then why does she lose it at the end of "that terrible war". Possibly, because of her inexorable connection to the nazi ideal that was partially created by her, if we accept that nazism was essentially an aesthetic movement. The defeat of the nazi party was then the death of her ideal...but maybe more accurately, the defeat of the German Romantic aesthetic that she worked in the tradition of and that maybe she regarded the nazis as worthy partners to carry on...and by their shameful defeat she saw the end of that aesthetic ideal that she loved because it could never be worked in again without accusation of nazi association. for this reason alone she would be understandably pissed at the nazis...maybe for their bad ideas (many of which she claims to have shared, "...except for the racial ideas of course." she says) but primarily for losing the war...The "evil" association is regrettable to me too as someone who is a fan of Romantic work from Nietzsche to Mary Shelley to Jack London to The Cramps to Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler. Romanticism has it's mistakes if were concerned with talking about socially responsible (radical) artwork, with it's focus on the heroic individual amongst, to quote Nietzsche, "the herd-like masses" "the rabble". The romantic hero always has to defeat the judgment of society to achieve their pure, noble, individual aims...fine, but where does that leave the rest of society? It's the same problem existing in far right libertarianism and individualist manarchism. (the american brand of anarchism, that has so much in common with far right conservatives as to be indistinguishable sometimes, small government, no rules, etc... See Jo Freeman's "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" for a 70's feminist context to this idea: http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/structurelessness.htm) But Romanticism has it's awesome possibilities too...Maya Deren's Modernist take on it for example...that can't be discounted merely because they are stylistically, seductive and therefore persuasive. We have to trust the intelligence of the audience (the masses) enough to make their own judgments regarding the ideas within the work. If we don't trust that judgment what is the alternative? re-education camps, Only using hollywood style propaganda techniques with posters designed by Shepard Fairey? In other words are we socialists (in the most radical sense of the word)or not? And is it possible to be a feminist without being a socialist that wishes to emancipate all women not just the elect individuals who adapt to the male power structure enough to make it!? (i.e. survive)
Riefenstahl made it and survived but did she care about other women who didn't climb the heights and the ranks on their Ayn Randian journey? And if not is she a feminist or just a strong women who bought into the male power structure to benefit herself and others that would follow her example?
"I played a girl who was kind of a witch. As if it were a premonition of my own life. Junta was loved and hated. It's been the same for me, I have been loved and hated. Just as Junta lost her ideal through the shattering of the crystal, in the same way I lost my ideal at the end of that terrible war. To that extent that film was a premonition of my own destiny."
"The crystal is the symbolic theme of "The Blue Crystal"...Symbolic of the ideals that are dreampt of but are never attained"
What is the ideal that Riefenstahl is speaking of? Her personal artistic ideal or the German, at her time nazi, ideal that she is forever tied to? She and the documentary leave it at that, an uncertain statement. If it is her personal, artistic ideal then why does she lose it at the end of "that terrible war". Possibly, because of her inexorable connection to the nazi ideal that was partially created by her, if we accept that nazism was essentially an aesthetic movement. The defeat of the nazi party was then the death of her ideal...but maybe more accurately, the defeat of the German Romantic aesthetic that she worked in the tradition of and that maybe she regarded the nazis as worthy partners to carry on...and by their shameful defeat she saw the end of that aesthetic ideal that she loved because it could never be worked in again without accusation of nazi association. for this reason alone she would be understandably pissed at the nazis...maybe for their bad ideas (many of which she claims to have shared, "...except for the racial ideas of course." she says) but primarily for losing the war...The "evil" association is regrettable to me too as someone who is a fan of Romantic work from Nietzsche to Mary Shelley to Jack London to The Cramps to Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler. Romanticism has it's mistakes if were concerned with talking about socially responsible (radical) artwork, with it's focus on the heroic individual amongst, to quote Nietzsche, "the herd-like masses" "the rabble". The romantic hero always has to defeat the judgment of society to achieve their pure, noble, individual aims...fine, but where does that leave the rest of society? It's the same problem existing in far right libertarianism and individualist manarchism. (the american brand of anarchism, that has so much in common with far right conservatives as to be indistinguishable sometimes, small government, no rules, etc... See Jo Freeman's "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" for a 70's feminist context to this idea: http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/structurelessness.htm) But Romanticism has it's awesome possibilities too...Maya Deren's Modernist take on it for example...that can't be discounted merely because they are stylistically, seductive and therefore persuasive. We have to trust the intelligence of the audience (the masses) enough to make their own judgments regarding the ideas within the work. If we don't trust that judgment what is the alternative? re-education camps, Only using hollywood style propaganda techniques with posters designed by Shepard Fairey? In other words are we socialists (in the most radical sense of the word)or not? And is it possible to be a feminist without being a socialist that wishes to emancipate all women not just the elect individuals who adapt to the male power structure enough to make it!? (i.e. survive)
Riefenstahl made it and survived but did she care about other women who didn't climb the heights and the ranks on their Ayn Randian journey? And if not is she a feminist or just a strong women who bought into the male power structure to benefit herself and others that would follow her example?
Coming up!.
We will be watching Maya Deren's Divine Horseman, and a few of her shorts in the next coming week. Stay tuned for times/places.
Also I have managed to track down a copy of Leontine Sagan's Maedchen in Uniform which I am extremely delighted about it. Here are some wiki notes I pulled about the film because they are relevant to what I am trying to do now, 78 years after the creation of her film.
"The film was groundbreaking in a number of ways: firstly for its all-female cast; secondly for its sympathetic portrayal of lesbian pedagogical eros and homoeroticism revolving around the passionate love of a fourteen-year-old (Thiele) for her teacher (Dorothea Wieck); and thirdly for its co-operative and profit-sharing financial arrangements."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leontine_Sagan
HEY IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THESE FILM MAKERS ARE YET, DO YOUR READING! PLEASE BE ON PAGE 92 BY MARCH 15TH! This is a resonable request.
And last but not least, I have become fully aware of the gravity of Leni Riefenstahl's relationship to the Nazi Party and realize how fucked up it is/she was and am no longer blinded by the warm romantic glow of Das Blaue Licht. It got me all fuzzy, but I've come down enough to have a reality check. Cool.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My current thoughts on "The Blue Light" by Leni Riefenstahl
Plot Spoilers. You are forewarned.
* The Female protagonist Junta, is played by Leni whom wrote and also directed this film. Impressive.
* Junta is a social outcast that relates more to the marvels of nature than to other humans. The film is set in a small Italian villa nestled at the base of an enormous, spectacular waterfall, above which is a cave that glows blue every full moon. Young men from the villa parish as they try and reach the blue light. The local towns folk blame Junta for the unfortunate events and ostracize her. Then a German sap comes to town and befriends Junta. He, without her consent, follows her up the vertical cliff, and enters the cave where the blue light glows. To Junta's dismay the German ruins everything. He leads the town folk to the stones of the blue glowing cave and the cave is soon destroyed, literally raped of every precious stone.
*The men that die in the film are following Junta to get up to the blue light, so is she also part of what they are after? Since they all give her googly eyes when she is in town, it makes me think so. Whatever it is, the men are scaling the mountain on their own accord yet Junta is blamed for the negative outcomes of their ventures. I've rarely see films that depicts this notion, a whole village of people wrongly accusing a women who is innocent. To me it provides commentary on band wagon mentality, a tool of Fascism.
* The Blue Light comes from a cave that has a vaginal shaped opening. It holds Junta and she seems safest/most content there.
* I think it's has anti-capitalist/pro-environmental themes, as well as sympathy for loner mountain woman.
* For a majority of the film there is no dialogue. I was impressed with Leni's ability to tell such a story visually.
* the moon plays a major role in this film. I find that historically interesting.
* the music was cheesy, would have been better with Thomas de Hartmann playing Gurdjeff on harmonium.
* Joaquin said Leni invented the chemical make up on the film stock for this film that emulates night. It's spectacular. Apparently this chemical method is still in use.
* I can't think of a more beautiful film shot in 1932.
* Leni is one of the finest rock climbers I have ever seen. If you are into rock climbing this is a must see.
* Leni hung out with Hitler and worked for the third Reich. If I were in her shoes would I have left my immense privilege to live outside of the regime? YES. I mean this, but I am also not faced with her situation. Neither are you. I believe that most people would not trade there power in for fairness and truth. If they did, we would not have our history or this mess we are currently in. That doesn't mean Leni's choices are okay with me, there is no excuse for Leni working with/for the thrid reich, but I also don't judge her enough to turn my back on her work. I believe she was a privileged person that danced with evil and that she was more passionate about film making then anything else.
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