6.26.2014

3 slightly connected things, one big theme.

This entry will be all over the place. I'm sorry about it, but there's nothing I can do. I've already written 2 other drafts trying to focus it and I can't. I cannot. If you have something important to do, go do that now and come back when you have more time.




HOW I KNEW FROZEN WOULD DRIVE US ALL INSANE:

I took Miss M to see this when it was first released. I remember sitting in the darkened theater with her, and (have you seen this movie?) you know the part where Elsa's giving in to her icy nature, singing LET IT GO? Yes, I looked over at Melissa and saw her sitting up ramrod straight at the edge of her seat, a fevered look about her, and she was mouthing the words and imitating Elsa's movements. At the part where Elsa loosens her hair and sticks a long leg from her coldly sensual ice princess gown? I knew this was going to be unstoppable.

Oh dear, I thought. Oh dear, oh dear. This is going to get SO expensive. Dammit, Disney! You are diabolical. Diabolical!

And here we are, months later. I've spent god knows how many dollars on Elsa and Ana dolls, said NO to spending god knows how many dollars on other merchandise, and I've had to listen to the songs from FROZEN 10 billion times, in all the different languages of this planet. And the parodies! Oh god, the parodies. All incredibly inappropriate for a 5 year old to watch, and it's exhausting to police.

CREATIVE TRUST:

I'm working on the story/script for friend Angie's and my TV show idea. The show is actually all Angie's idea; I was asked to write it because she knew I could write. I'm not sure Angie knew I couldn't write scripts, and I didn't tell her because I figured: I write all the time, how hard can that be?

Friends, it's hard. For this fiction writer, at least. I sat down a couple of weeks ago to begin the script and got as far as the title page. The End. My brain doesn't work in script format, not so far at least. So I started writing it as a story. Angie liked what I did, but suggested my dialogue parts worked great in story format but were a tad heavy for television, given its time constraints.

Then she got worried she offended me.

No, no! I live for criticism! Particularly if it comes from someone invested in you and/or your project, and you trust them. And as long as the person isn't, you know, Voldemort or Satan, they're probably just trying to be helpful. Is what I told Angie.

Creative trust is paramount to good story building and telling, I find. Sharing what you've written with people who are part of your tribe can only make you better, I say. I find this to be very true of teaching, as well. When collaboration is truly collaborative...my lord, what a magical thing it is. The problem is that some people's idea of the word "collaborative" actually means: do everything I say to do and act like I'm the most brilliant thinker ever. Usually these people are in charge and/or holding the purse strings, and so everybody does it. And then they wonder why their stuff is so crap. Because that. was. not. collaboration. yo. (sigh)

So I'm plodding on with the tv script as story and then will cut/slash dialogue and whatever else to fit television. Or what if we just did a movie script? I know at least 50 people who'd pay to sit in a theater to see that. (This would not be a good movie; 50 people would make for terrible, terrible Return On Investment.) (Although, I do think Shia Lebouf would make a most excellent crazy-teacher-from-across-the-hall.)

#notarealfilmcritic

I saw BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR the other night. I streamed it on Netflix, which is a 21st century tech term I think sounds obscene: streaming. (Hey! Do you know how to find your porn name? Take the name of your childhood pet and the name of the street you grew up on and combine them. My name would be Sassy Streamland. See? Completely obscene.)

There's a lot of controversy around this film. First, the sex scene is one of the longest in cinematic history. Second, the things the director apparently did to get the most from his actors is now being criticized by said actors. They won a Palm d'Or award for the movie, and they were all lovely and friends with each other then, but since the actresses have said critical things about the director and his retorts back made one of them cry. And neither wants to work with him again.

That goes back to creative trust, I think. You have to be gentle with artists' hearts. But in a firm kind of way. It's a fine line, a balance.

At any rate, I liked it. It was a very long film, 3 hours I think. And if you don't like having to read English subtitles (this is a French movie) you won't enjoy this. I like the sound of French--it's sounds a little gutteral but in a really smooth kind of way, I don't know if that makes sense. I do think having to read subtitles is a lot like having to look at footnotes while reading Shakespeare, but I find it far preferable to dubbed over voices. They never do it right.

I don't actually think the long sex scene will necessarily freak you out, unless you've been raised by the Amish and the Pilgrims, and your grandpa is Pat Robertson. And maybe Anne Coulter is your aunt. I didn't find the sex in the movie to be all that titillating (or maybe I just wasn't in the mood that night), and it does add to the story--which is about a young girl who's struggling to figure herself out. In literature talk, we call that a bildungsroman (a coming of age story), and I liked that this one was focused on a female...so many coming of age stories in movies center on boys.

You know what freaked me out? The food/eating scenes. THAT'S what I'd have taken the director to task for: Holy masticated noodles, this put me off spaghetti for several days. Don't even get me started on the gyro eating scene. (shudder)

Okay, that's it. I'm done. Do you see how those 3 things are connected? Creative trust is important in art, and Disney uses art to steal billions of dollars from innocent parents. That's the theme of this blog post. I apologize if I interrupted a meeting or you were cleaning something intricate or trying to watch an important news story. It was just stuff I've had in my brain and I needed to share it.

Have a great day!


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