tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post1841211985857347737..comments2022-05-09T09:20:48.004-07:00Comments on Film of the Month Club: Historical Time and Absolute BeginnersChris Caglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11896423565458620046noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-70985479013067203642008-12-30T20:42:00.000-08:002008-12-30T20:42:00.000-08:00Excellent. Very apt and very helpful.Excellent. <BR/>Very apt and very helpful.StinkyLuluhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11765533714740641857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-10146172935768996072008-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:002008-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:00I think that Absolute Beginners isn't trying to re...I think that <I>Absolute Beginners</I> isn't trying to <I>re-enact</I> and era, he's trying to <I>recreate</I> the feeling of it. It's starting with some ideas and feelings and trying to find equivalents for them, using idioms contemporary to its audience or to its audience's perception of the late 1950s. So '50s movies--or rather, the kind of '50s movies that most people have seen, like musicals--become a reference point but so do, as Chris pointed out in his post, 1980s forms and fashions. <I>Benjamin Button</I> is like someone trying to recapture a feeling by building something--say, trying to recapture the spirit of bygone time by building a castle. <I>Absolute Beginners</I> starts with the feeling, trying to find the modern equivalent of a castle.Ignatiy Vishnevetskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07877465254612151095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-88948558169895870512008-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:002008-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:00Thanks, Ignatiy, for your helpful context regardin...Thanks, Ignatiy, for your helpful context regarding Fincher's approach to time. I'm still puzzling over <I>Benjamin Button</I> and am glad to be reminded of exactly what I so appreciated about <I>Zodiac</I> as I do.<BR/><BR/>How do you think Temple's approach to time fits within your idea of "simulation" vs "stimulation"?StinkyLuluhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11765533714740641857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-718363357363343340.post-72395133135828598692008-12-28T16:46:00.000-08:002008-12-28T16:46:00.000-08:00Fascinating stuff, Brian. I think the difference b...Fascinating stuff, Brian. <BR/><BR/>I think the difference between Temple's and Fincher's approach could be defined as the difference between <I>stimulation</I> and <I>simulation</I>. I think Fincher's first few films are attempts at <I>stimulation</I>--expression through expressiveness--that aren't always successful, but starting with <I>Panic Room</I>, they start moving towards <I>simulation</I>--the film as a scientific demonstration. Whereas before he was trying to make conclusions he'd already reached about emotional responses as interesting as possible, now he's interested in simulating a situation and using this re-enactment as the center of a movie. This is the core of <I>Zodiac</I>--analysis through artifice. <I>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</I> takes it one step further, creating a completely artificial scenario to try and demonstrate how people would react and feel in it. The film has been criticized for sidestepping political and social issues, but, like <I>Zodiac</I>, it's using an unusual social situation to explore emotional responses over a long period of time. It's like a wind tunnel or one of those scale models they use to test how earthquake-safe buildings are.Ignatiy Vishnevetskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07877465254612151095noreply@blogger.com