Do you have any idea how boring painting doors and door jams can be? Let me tell you, very boring. I just spent the last few hours of my life painting doors. The bad news is I will never get those three hours back. The good news is I have taken in so much information the last few days that I was able to convert three tedious hours into brain “processing time”. I’m still overloaded, but I feel a little better.
Errol Morris…who is this guy and why haven’t I heard of him before this class? Beats me, but thanks to Dr. C I’ve had nothing but strange (yet fascinating) movies on the brain for a week now. I loved “Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control”. I want to watch it again very much, but to be honest I don’t know that I could handle it right now. Again, I really have too much I’m trying to process at the moment. From the moment the movie started and the music started to play I was entranced. The four men highlighted in this film are such fascinating people. I wonder how Morris has such an eye for finding these interesting people? I imagine Morris would be able to make anybody fascinating. I would like to have Morris come interview me for hours just to learn what he would see in me (if I wasn’t so scared of what a freak I would be. As much as I love him, I don’t want to be like the naked mole rat guy).
Going back somewhat to what we discussed for FTC – even if Kracaur is right and film is obligated to show reality, do we really want that? After watching Morris’s films, I say no. There is something very empowering about the way Morris layers meaning and provides his audience many different perplexities in which they can relate to as they need or see fit. That’s why I’m human and not just “here”. I can think. I don’t need an inanimate object to show me “reality”, I experience my own reality everyday. However, I can value another person’s creative ability to inspire me to think deeper that just was is in front of my face. Thinking about life and meaning, that’s why I’m human. Does an animal really care about if it dies, or does it just survive based on instinct? Even though I know I have a basic survival instinct, I live my life and make choices because I have the will to live. I have passions, family and God to live for. Those are the reasons I’m human. That is precisely why I love Morris and his ability to show images that aren’t just for thrills or for realism. If I had to sum Morris and his films up into one word, I would have to say – “Amazing”.
Here’s a link to a very interesting interview with Errol Morris about “Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control”. Geez, he really is interesting.
