In Reply to: Re: And yet another straw dog: is there a posted by jamesgarvin on May 31, 2005 at 15:42:26:
change the topic when cornered or is it purposeful?
The Mafia books you mention (I'll throw in Mario Puzo, as well) do not ascend to art, and to be fair, they don't attempt to. Scorscese DOES in Mean Streets with his emotional portrayal of the underlying friendship between the Keitel and the DeNiro characters...and then fails in subsequent films about the mob to so humanize them. We are left with a squalid, brutish vision of the world. There is no redeeming value in any character. None.
By focusing his lens so closely, Scorscese fails to place his subjects into context. An example: one can make a film about Nazi concentration camps w/out just showing the torture and killing. Films such as Schindler's List do so and rise to art.
Scorscese fascination with ugliness and thugishness lowers him into the sewer. He is so bereft of feeling he won't even look upward.
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Follow Ups
- You are one slippery guy. Do you unconsciously - tinear 06:19:02 06/01/05 (2)
- There does not NEED to be a redeeming value in a character! - RGA 15:11:27 06/14/05 (0)
- Re: You are one slippery guy. Do you unconsciously - jamesgarvin 06:35:37 06/01/05 (0)