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Re: American Tragedy? Indeed...

204.183.80.149

Posted by Victor Khomenko on May 21, 2001 at 13:02:16

In Reply to: Re: American Tragedy? Indeed... posted by Dmitry on May 21, 2001 at 10:32:57:

***Victor, you have missed or misinterpreted the point of my first post to caa.
I didn't equate American Beauty with the American Tragedy in any way, but merely stated that its title was a pun of many titles containing the name of our beautiful(!) country...

Yes, I understand.

***In my opinion American Beauty is far from being as weak a film as you repeatedly call it. How exactly did it offend you? Do tell, I am really curious.

This is not all that easy to explain. There are things that we feel immediately, but it takes long time to explain clearly.

Perhaps here I shall borrow from Nabokov. In his lectures on Russian literature he tried once to explain to the American students the meaning of the word "poshlost'". There is no equivalent word in English, and it is a VERY important word, as I am sure you know (although due to your rather short term in Russia you perhaps have not had enough chance to trully absorb it - I am guessing here...). That word has many flavors, and the most pedestrian translation would be perhaps just "poor taste", but it is much more than that, of course.

Anyway, Nabokov struggles with that definition for at least a couple of hours. And he too mentions that it is easier to feel than to relate certain things. Needless to say, I am no Nabokov.

So in the nutshell the film is "poshlyi". Very...

I started watching it actually expecting to love it, because so many good words have been spent on it in the press and by some people whom I actually respect. But very quickly my reaction started being that of severe irritation. It is the same irritation at being taken for a fool that I experience when looking at certain artist's work, the ones done by throwing paint from a balcony on the canvas. We all know the name of that highly respected "artist".

In almost every film there will be scenes where you cringe and say to yourself: "I wish that one was not there!" In this one it was scene after scene that left that sensation in me. All the while being done very professionally. Perhaps the most irritating scene was the one where the hero undresses the young girl. I though it was absolutely tasteless, all the irony and satyre of that film not helping it at all. As you know, I am not a prude.

It is that kind of unique "poshlost'" that I think only exists in certain American films of the later years (decades?). At least I don't recall seeing it in any other country's films - but of course my exposure to those is perhaps restricted. In that respect it is, as I said before, VERY American. Unfortunately so.

PS Those lectures are fantastic, and to me they go hand-in-hand with Chukovsky's "Art of Translation".

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The Cable Cooker

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