Films/DVD Asylum

People are people,whatever their socioeconomic status

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ArdRi

(A)

In Reply to: "Persona:" Freud made a posted by tinear on November 14, 2006 at 07:33:41:

Rich, self-absorbed snobs need love no less than those dirty hobos you pass downtown.

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Of course you're right. But the poor cannot go to a private island - tinear 08:52:09 11/14/06 (6)
with a private nurse and survive.
The flashes of shocking international violence also seemed to be out of place: we didn't see anything that would lead one to believe there was a connection, whether deep sympathy had unhinged her.
Anyhow, the "evidence" pointed to self-absorption. I guess if you feel that's a fascinating topic... I don't.
If Bergman was trying to show how worthless her life was in the midst of so much REAL human suffering (the burning monks were protesting American foreign activities) it still raises the question of why bother to put so much effort into such a selfish, worthless woman?
- Re: Of course you're right. But the poor cannot go to a private island - Rod H. 16:15:02 11/14/06 (0)
  Bergman was comfortable filming on Faro, and most of his 60s films were done there. This is reason enough for it to be set there IMO. In other films he depicted people much less fortunate financially who were living on this same island.
  Rod
- Have you never met a self-absorbed person of a "lower" class? - Victor Khomenko 09:52:44 11/14/06 (3)
  Funny... the setting is just the setting, it is what inside the two personas that matters, and their feelings are not particular to their classes, they are common to the class called mankind.
  When you go ga-ga over a film showing the life of the poor and disprivileged... you never comment that their emotions, pains, suffering, joy, love, etc are unque that that underclass and therefore has no bearing on how you, presumably a middle class guy, live.
  Emotional and physical sufferings stip people of their class. Audrey and Jackie suffered before their death just like a coctail waitress does, and the fact they came from upper class does not make their pain any less palpable.
  - Re: Have you never met a self-absorbed person of a "lower" class? - Gee LP 19:24:57 11/17/06 (2)
    I must agree with Victor on this, tin...
    As a teacher of low-income students in Shreveport, Louisiana (how low? One asked if I were rich because, after all, I "came to school in clean pants every day!"), I find that they can be just as self-absorbed as the women in "Persona", hell, just as self-absorbed as me. Class and wealth should not be used as an indicator of a person's worth.
    Besides, I can sit through a lot of rich neurotic self-absorbtion for that monologue! At least we agree there!
    - Victor seized on "self-absorption," not I. The point is that only the rich - tinear 04:35:03 11/20/06 (1)
      can lead a life in which that is the consuming, defining paradigm: the poor would end up on a street, in a cardboard container. Financial survival is a cruel master but it does keep one grounded.
      I don't know why people seem to feel wealth creates no "space" from others: it does. The lives of the rich are quite different and it's not just the possessions: not to worry about one's next meal, rent check, etc. is a MAJOR impactor on life. The greatest one, actually, since survival is our strongest instinct.
      One needn't be a card-carrying Commie to point out differences in economic class, ours is an extremely class rigid society.
      Anyhow, a poor person's descent into a mental illness which paralyzed her would have a hell of a lot more drama. Go to a private island, have a 24-hr. a day governess for whom you harbor unspoken lusts: hardly the stuff of riveting drama, URGENCY, eh?
      If that's a serious problem, let Bibi Andersson know that I'd gladly have suffered it!
      - Re: Victor seized on "self-absorption," not I. The point is that only the rich - Rod H. 08:44:14 11/20/06 (0)
        
        In Reply to: Victor seized on "self-absorption," not I. The point is that only the rich posted by tinear on November 20, 2006 at 04:35:03:
        
        It doesn't make the film bad, just not the film you seem to want to make.
        Check out "The Passion of Anna" to see a few characters in less than wealthy circumstances, and psychological distress, living on the same island.
        Rod
- As a cautionary tale.Without letting yourself - ArdRi 09:29:30 11/14/06 (0)
  care to feel others suffering the comfort that flows to all who hurt can not reach you if you are unavailable to bring it to another.Hiding in fantasy,pretending you are what you need to be keeps one from truly becoming whole.Maybe as an actress,the character represents this artificial construct where she thought since her material world was filled with abundance she had become complete,that the giving as an actress was enough.Nothing real though, she keeps her true self isolated, maybe from arrogance,pride etc but its enough to isolate her,creating a living Hell which naturally crushes the of itself, small human psyche.Perhaps this is part of the reason Angelina Jolie likes to put herself , in a more overt way from what i see,into the throng of humanity.Maybe she sees the need to stay in touch with humanity in a real sense when such a large part of her life is spent pretending to be someone and something other than herself to keep from being truly isolated which is of course enough of a Hell to drive one mad.Then again maybe it was a boring,pretentious tedium.

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