monsters

I'm taking a comparative literature class about monsters. Basically we read stuff and then discuss what makes a monster, people's perceptions of monsters, etc.

Today we watched Nosferatu, based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Its a silent film, the only dialogue being written on the screen in still frames. Made me think of something I read once:

Head Photographer: The lead actress wants you to know she doesn't like her lines.
Director: I don't care! This is a silent film! She's gonna say those lines!

Anyway... random bits of not-humor.

From an acting perspective, it was very interesting. Melodramatic. Makes me wish the theater department would make us watch stuff like that so that we know what they're talking about when it comes to the history of theater.

The subject matter brought me back to... sophomore year? When Kevin took that seminar on Dracula and I proofread his 30 page paper. Fascinating.

The effect the movie had on me was interesting. It reminded me of the samurai class I took last year. In the samurai class, there was an old black and white movie that we watched... that had very little blood and guts, but some how made me almost lose my lunch. I think filmmakers were better back then. This movie today too... if I had watched it late at night with Anissa/Steve/Sam/Andrew/James/anyone else, I'd probably have my face buried in someone's armpit. I couldn't finish watching War of the Worlds, because I'm not good with horror/scary films. Nosferatu is so much creepier, yet it was filmed in such a way that the viewer is sort of roped in. You can't leave, you MUST watch it to the end. War of the Worlds is so flashy I think, with fancy mechanics and what-not, that the rope-you-in element is lost, and I was given the opportunity to leave before the end and took it. Nosferatu is a horror movie in that it really controls you and keeps you in your seat.

Which makes me think of something that's been simmering in my mind lately. On Thursday, Barb had us doing jujitsu stuff blindfolded. Stimes, throws, hand techniques, grappling. It was really interesting. I somehow felt more focused when the element of sight was taken away. I think sometimes using all my senses at once can be decieving. So taking sight away, focuses me more on just sound and touch. It would be difficult to do this, but I'd be interesting in finding out how jujitsu works without some of the other senses. Like maybe have my eyesight, but lose the sense of sound. Or seeing and hearing myself do the art, without feeling my body. That would be the hardest to figure out how to simulate that.

But anyway... this all ties into Nosferatu because it is, in a sense, the same principle. You take away the elements of sound effects, spoken dialogue, and even color, and the remaining parts of the film become so much more meaningful. You focus more on other things, and you see what is really important in the making of a riveting film. I sort of get this from jujitsu, but its about the least effort possible. If you can make a riveting film without using sound, digital enhancement, fancy flashy explosions, etc... then you shouldn't. Because all that is just excess trappings and hodgepodge.

Just like how in some cases, being able to see what you're doing in jujitsu can be excess trappings and hodgepodge. Of course, not in all cases. But for me... there are some things that I now would prefer to do without relying so heavily on eyesight.

I wonder what else that applies to in life? Hmmm... several things come to mind.

Thanks for following my random thoughts going all over the place.