Lonely Albert
(07.07.2003 - 7:32 p.m.)
"Maybe a floor became truly a floor only in his mental reconstruction of it. The floor's nature was to some extent inarguable, of course; the wood definitely existed and had measurable properties. But there was a
second floor, the floor as mirrored in his head, and he worried that the beleaugered 'reality' that he championed was not the reality of an actual floor in an actual bedroom but the reality of a floor in his head which was idealised and no more worthy, therefore, than a silly fantasy.
The suspicion that everything was relative. That the 'real' and 'authentic' might not be simply doomed but fictive to begin with. That his feeling of righteousness, of uniquely championing the real, was just a feeling. These were the feelings that had lain in ambush in all those motel rooms. These were the deep terrors beneath the flimsy beds."
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen. Fourth Estate, 2001.
oOo oOo oOo
Here's an essay by Umberto Eco. It's about how to recognise a porn movie:
"I don't know if you've ever happened to see a pornographic movie. I
don't mean movies with some erotic content like "Last Tango in
Paris", for example, though even that, I realise, for many people
might be offensive. No, what I mean is genuine pornoflicks, whose
true and sole aim is to stimulate the spectator's desire, from
beginning to end, and in such a way that, while this desire is
stimulated by scenes of various and varied copulations, the rest of
the story counts for less than nothing.
Magistrates are often required to decide whether a film is purely
pornographic or whether it has artistic value. I am not one of those
who insist that artistic value excuses everything; sometimes true
works of art have been more dangerous, to faith, to behaviour, to
current opinion, than works of lesser value. But I believe that
consenting adults have the right to consume pornographic material, at
least for want of anything better. I recognise, however, that on
occasion a court must decide whether a film has been produced for the
purpose of expressing certain concepts or aesthetic ideals (even
through scenes that offend the accepted moral view), or whether it
was made for the sole purpose of arousing the spectator's instincts.
Well, there is a criterion for deciding whether a film is
pornographic or not, and it is based on the calculation of wasted
time. A great, universal film masterpiece, "Stagecoach", takes place
solely and entirely (except for the beginning, a few brief intervals
and the finale) on a stagecoach. But without this journey the film
would have no meaning. Antonioni's "L'avventura" is made up solely of
wasted time. People come and go, talk, get lost and are found,
without anything happening. This wasted time may or may not be
enjoyable, but it is exactly what the film is about.
A pornographic movie, in contrast, to justify the price of the ticket
or the purcahse of the cassette, tells us that certain people couple
sexually, men with women, men with men, women with women, women with
dogs or stallions (I might point out that there are no pornographic
films in which men couple with mares and bitches: why not?). And this
would still be alright: but it is full of wasted time.
If Gilbert, in order to rape Gilbertina, has to go from Lincoln
Center to Sheridan Square, the film shows you Gilbert, in his car
throughout the whole journey, stoplight by stoplight.
Pornographic movies are full of people who climb into cars, drive for
miles and miles, couples who waste incredible amounts of time signing
in at hotel desks, gentlemen who spend many minutes in elevators
before reaching their rooms, girls who sip various drinks and who
fiddle interminably with laces and blouses before confessing to each
other they prefer Sappho to Don Juan. To put it simply, crudely, in
porn movies, before you can see a healthy screw you have to put up
with a documentary that could be sponsored by the Traffic Bureau.
There are obvious reasons. A movie in which Gilbert did nothing but
rape Gilbertina, front, back, and sideways, would be intolerable.
Physically, for the actors, and economically, for the producer. And
it would also be, psychologically, intolerable for the spectator: for
the transgression to work, it must be played out against a background
of normality. To depict normality is one of the most difficult things
for any artist - whereas portraying deviation, crime, rape, torture,
is very easy.
Therefore the pornographic movie must present normality - essential
if the transgression is to have interest - in the way that every
spectator conceives it. Therefore, if Gilbert has to take the bus
from A to B, we will see Gilbert taking the bus and then the bus
proceeding from A to B.
This often irritates the spectators, because they think they would
like the unspeakable scenes to be continuous. But this is an illusion
on their part. They couldn't bear an entire hour and a half of
unspeakable scenes. So the passages of wasted time are essential.
I repeat. Go to a movie theatre. If, to go from A to B, the
characters take longer than you would like, then the film you are
seeing is pornographic."
From How to Travel with a Salmon and other essays.
So, by that definition
Matrix: Reloaded is a porn movie.
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