I must say, this FTC Day rocked. Very hard. Totally enjoyed it, especially the themes of gender equality, especially especially the Rudolph Valentino angle. Always thought he was incredibly interesting–well, more the polarizing effect he had on the early filmgoing population before his early death.
However, my chosen subject of blog tonight (this evening?) relates to our discussion of book versus film, and how the strengths and weaknesses of each affect their overall storytelling capabilities. In particular, how the ability of a book to manipulate description, both in terms of how long it lasts in the overall narrative, and how it contributes to the reader’s mental image of the story progressing, compares to a film’s technique of using a single visual shot that takes a split second and leaves nothing to the imagination. Now, from here proceeds a complicated Annie train of thought. Try to follow along…
From that beginning, I meditated on the ability of the author of a book to vary the amount of description in a book (the amount of anything, actually) while a shot in a film, leaving nothing to the imagination, makes it hard for a director to control what an audience sees (I’m not talking about a director’s ability to control composition of scene, here, but actually what the audience sees: for instance, it’s hard to disguise the fact that a character is wearing a blue dress if a character is, in fact, wearing a blue dress). This thought then led me to consider the overall stylistic power of the author of a book, and the overall power of the author to be stylistic. Most of the books I read these days are contemporary novels with a memorable style and voice (Everything Is Illuminated is a great example). Authors like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, stand out not only because they are telling a great story but because the way in which they tell it is unique.
From here I jumped to the equivalent of this in the world of film. The question of authorship has always been a murky one for filmmakers. Is the author of a film the scriptwriter? The producer? The director? Is there no single author for a film, and what does this say about the world of film? And how does the dubious authorship of a film reflect upon that film’s style? These questions led me to consider the several stand-out directors that can truly be considered authors of their films: Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas…directors whose films are instantly recognizable. From this I make the shaky conclusion that style in filmmaking is a much more rare event than it is in literature.
Oh, and I looked up Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography. Totally brilliant.