Writing this fantasy trilogy, I've had a lot of time to think very consciously about the presentation of violence in general, and the pornographic aspect that gravitates to such presentations. In the trilogy I self-published I was unmerciful with the violence, but less conscious about it as well.
My "epiphany," as it were, was in a D&D game. The DM had posed a secret challenge to me to "kill" an enemy so violently that it made the other players squirm. Well, don't ever dare me because my automatic response is to escalate. Needless to say, I won the challenge (a couple of them were turning white). But it got me to thinking about the violence in the game and how it is glossed over as "fun." *THAT* is what horrified me.
If I ever see these things published, I'd like to see a reviewer compare me to Cormac McCarthy (speaking of which), only "Blood Meridian" rather than "The Road." If the violence is not shocking, is not horrifying, then you are cheating.
You've sealed the deal for me; no way will I watch "Blonde."
Gares, you would hate it. H-A-T-E it. If you watched it at all, it would be ironic hate-watching. I usually shy away from tearing into books or movies--on Amazon, for instance, if I leave a book review, it is always for a book I loved, not one I hated. But this godawful thing just stepped on my last nerve. The presumption alone.
Know what movie you might like? DRIVE MY CAR. Japanese with subtitles. One of the best movies I've seen this year.
I haven’t watched BLONDE yet, but I will. Have you seen INSIGNIFICANCE? It came out in 1985 and was directed by Nicolas Roeg. Here’s the synopsis: “One summer night in New York in 1953, a senator (Tony Curtis), a starlet (Theresa Russell) and her baseball-star husband (Gary Busey) end up in the hotel room of a physics professor (Michael Emil). They discuss sex, power, politics, physics, the atom bomb and their troubled childhoods. The characters are clearly based on Joseph McCarthy, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Albert Einstein, and these icons are used to explore the history of postwar America, as well as its uncertain future.”
OK, so whatever desire I may once have had to see BLONDE flew out yon window with "when we see the interior walls of Monroe’s vagina while yet another abortion is performed." I don't know how that could be done artistically, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be around for it.
(You want to put that camera WHERE???)
Ana de Armas may be a fabulously attractive woman, but I still don't need to see the inside of her vagina. Nope. Uh-uh. Not going there. 😳
I had already decided to give Blonde a pass. Decision stands after reading your review. Now that I am older, and even when I was not as old as I am now, I keep the male gaze of which I am so capable of shining on some object of attraction, attractive women mostly, under conscientious care. The primitive desire lurks always, and it is only an educated (by life) civility and self-awareness that keeps it in check.
Writing this fantasy trilogy, I've had a lot of time to think very consciously about the presentation of violence in general, and the pornographic aspect that gravitates to such presentations. In the trilogy I self-published I was unmerciful with the violence, but less conscious about it as well.
My "epiphany," as it were, was in a D&D game. The DM had posed a secret challenge to me to "kill" an enemy so violently that it made the other players squirm. Well, don't ever dare me because my automatic response is to escalate. Needless to say, I won the challenge (a couple of them were turning white). But it got me to thinking about the violence in the game and how it is glossed over as "fun." *THAT* is what horrified me.
If I ever see these things published, I'd like to see a reviewer compare me to Cormac McCarthy (speaking of which), only "Blood Meridian" rather than "The Road." If the violence is not shocking, is not horrifying, then you are cheating.
You've sealed the deal for me; no way will I watch "Blonde."
Gares, you would hate it. H-A-T-E it. If you watched it at all, it would be ironic hate-watching. I usually shy away from tearing into books or movies--on Amazon, for instance, if I leave a book review, it is always for a book I loved, not one I hated. But this godawful thing just stepped on my last nerve. The presumption alone.
Know what movie you might like? DRIVE MY CAR. Japanese with subtitles. One of the best movies I've seen this year.
I haven’t watched BLONDE yet, but I will. Have you seen INSIGNIFICANCE? It came out in 1985 and was directed by Nicolas Roeg. Here’s the synopsis: “One summer night in New York in 1953, a senator (Tony Curtis), a starlet (Theresa Russell) and her baseball-star husband (Gary Busey) end up in the hotel room of a physics professor (Michael Emil). They discuss sex, power, politics, physics, the atom bomb and their troubled childhoods. The characters are clearly based on Joseph McCarthy, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Albert Einstein, and these icons are used to explore the history of postwar America, as well as its uncertain future.”
OK, so whatever desire I may once have had to see BLONDE flew out yon window with "when we see the interior walls of Monroe’s vagina while yet another abortion is performed." I don't know how that could be done artistically, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be around for it.
(You want to put that camera WHERE???)
Ana de Armas may be a fabulously attractive woman, but I still don't need to see the inside of her vagina. Nope. Uh-uh. Not going there. 😳
I had already decided to give Blonde a pass. Decision stands after reading your review. Now that I am older, and even when I was not as old as I am now, I keep the male gaze of which I am so capable of shining on some object of attraction, attractive women mostly, under conscientious care. The primitive desire lurks always, and it is only an educated (by life) civility and self-awareness that keeps it in check.