tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post857180635372200970..comments2024-01-24T14:39:44.820-06:00Comments on Darkmatters: Theatre of the Absurd part 2Darkmattershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15410415900992364189noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-39854021362747823212008-07-24T23:08:00.000-05:002008-07-24T23:08:00.000-05:00LOL!!! Ok, well, I guess I gotta take what I can g...LOL!!! Ok, well, I guess I gotta take what I can get!Darkmattershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15410415900992364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-52513819701642182592008-07-24T20:37:00.000-05:002008-07-24T20:37:00.000-05:00I like your explination better! All I can pay you ...I like your explination better! All I can pay you with now is love and good vibes, however I will be the first to buy your book your DVD and subsribe to your newsletter with pure coin of the relm!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-6492780572937767512008-07-23T23:32:00.000-05:002008-07-23T23:32:00.000-05:00Oh, and I'll be sending a bill soon.... this educt...Oh, and I'll be sending a bill soon.... this eduction ain't free, ya know!!! ;)Darkmattershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15410415900992364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-63059065158119928492008-07-23T23:31:00.000-05:002008-07-23T23:31:00.000-05:00Wow, very well spake, Melvyn Erville! Careful thou...Wow, very well spake, Melvyn Erville! <BR/><BR/>Careful though insulting Nick like that!!! Hope he doesn't see it! ;)<BR/><BR/>Actually I've consulted a number of said rats after their testing, and they all concur that 'classical' mythology and narrative storytelling, as well as the corresponding 'classical' styles of realist painting and sculpture etc are bulwarks - constructions of wishful fantasy devised to placate and soothe our frazzled souls after confrontations with the absurd. And since these confrontations are pretty frequent, our forebears (and our hind-bares as well) needed lots of placation! <BR/><BR/>I think in early primitive culture absurdism is fully acknowledged - what with all the sacrificial activity and muttering to the tree spirits and all. It was our arrogant move toward rationality (the removal of mystery from life) that left no room for the irrational and forced the absurd to break through in the ranks of the avant garde artists. <BR/>Bless their little souls - they always seem to provide just what it is we need and aren't getting! <BR/><BR/>Now in some ways absurdism is widespread - but mostly in a sort of cynical funny/nasty way that fails to really touch the soul. THAT'S what's missing these days. <BR/><BR/>I'll bet the Quays are fully aware of Theatre of the Absurd. Svankmajer - possibly not, though he's obviously intimately familiar with the absurd itself.Darkmattershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15410415900992364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-25286558989363664242008-07-22T20:02:00.000-05:002008-07-22T20:02:00.000-05:00I seem to be getting quite the education here, how...I seem to be getting quite the education here, how dare you! But this is the reason why I find the stop-motion puppet film to be such a perfect medium for me. You see I was a sickly and isolated child ****** (*= tears) and when I was confronted with another unbearable episode, my little friends would come and distract me with tales of daring doo, pratfalls, and delightful misunderstandings. When we grow up obliviously the unbearable episodes don’t stop, they just have to be handled differently or we get locked-up. You could gripe endlessly to whoever will listen but unless you have a dog (cats don’t listen) then you’ll be back to the imaginary friends all too quickly. The answer may be to gripe in a fascinating way that can also be cathartic to your audience (Beckett), or using that grate alleviator: Humor (Monty Python). I think maybe we have yardstick trouble, paradigm problems, we’ve been told life should be this and this, that is logic, and yet nothing matches that and that in our lives, this is absurdity. And so my conclusion on the matter, having studied all possible references and being perfect in wisdom and eloquence, is that all theater is absurd if it is effective. In my opinion (not humble) puppet films are one of the best ways of doing this due perhaps to the nostalgia of playing with toys, but also because both toys and dreams have been linked (recent studies on rats have shown) to learning to navigate the world. And also for the reasons Nick mentions (he has the advantage of being sane). Thanks for painstakingly posting all this information, now take a brake and get back to painstakingly making set pieces for your movie (it’s really looking awesome by the way!)…Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-21383274452602145052008-07-21T23:00:00.000-05:002008-07-21T23:00:00.000-05:00Ah yes... Krapp's Last Tape. I had forgotten about...Ah yes... Krapp's Last Tape. I had forgotten about that one... I did see the beginning of it on YouTube (2 versions, one with John Hurt) and it looks good. I think it was one of Beckett's first. I have more Beckett on the way from Netflix.... hopefully I'll like it more. I've only seen disc 4 so far.Darkmattershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15410415900992364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25910439.post-36047661602118499092008-07-21T22:41:00.000-05:002008-07-21T22:41:00.000-05:00I saw Krapp's Last Tape directed by Beckett himsel...I saw Krapp's Last Tape directed by Beckett himself in London, way back in 1980, and I'm trying to remember if it was Dark, or Comic... both I think. I certainly laughed more than I do watching this film of Play, and they have some similarities.<BR/> <BR/>I think we stopmotion animators also carry on the commedia dell arte/puppet theatre/silent film tradition. A puppet is probably the ultimate mask, altering not just the performer's face but the whole body, and imposing a layer of artifice on time itself.<BR/>If you get the chance, see a theatre production by French company Philippe Genty, who does it all on stage without words. It's partly puppet theatre, partly mime, and is cousin to the paintings of Magritte and the film Balance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com