I just finished watching the 1944 film "Laura." First off, let me say that I loved it and that it surprised me in ways. I'm lucky that I didn't know a lot about the plot going in, so I could enjoy the twists as they happened.
Which doesn't happen a lot for modern viewers of older, famous films. Take, for instance, the one guy in my first college film class who sat through "Citizen Kane" without knowing what "Rosebud" meant. This guy was a particular thorn in my side because, like many budding film wannabes, he was convinced that he's going to be the next Quentin Tarantino, but moreso because he believed that film technique and storytelling began and ended with Quentin Tarantino. Anyway, the end of "Citizen Kane" absolutely slayed him. He *cried* after. With all his hipster shaky-cam quick-cut aesthetic, he had no idea what was coming.
That was my only beef with "Laura." There are characters played by Vincent Frakking Price and Judith "Mrs. Danvers" Anderson, so you can pretty much anticipate that they're not going to turn out to be choirboys. Because, in 2010, even as I'm enjoying these actors' work I have to acknowledge that their "This is the Bad Guy! Right Here!" reputations had to start somewhere.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend about "Star Wars." For my entire life, I've known that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. There are probably peasants in rural Nepal who know that. So, when I watched the end of "The Empire Strikes Back" for the first time, did I miss out on something? Of course I did. For one thing, I didn't have to wait three years to find out what happened next. I just popped the next tape into the VCR.
It's fantastic for a 2010 film lover to have so much to play with. But it sucks when you think about what it must've felt like to experience a story originally, without all the cultural baggage that might go with it.
So, moral of the story... If you know what Rosebud means, and you're watching "Citizen Kane" with someone who doesn't, keep your mouth shut.
No comments:
Post a Comment