With the talk of Truffaut's _The 400 Blows_ on the list, it occurred to me that there is a certain scene in Truffaut's film _Jules and Jim_, aruably his best and arguably the best film ever made, that would fit the band. First, someone mentioned that this talk of French New Wave was "retro" and not appropriate in association with this "modern" band. Movements and ideas carry across time, to be "reborn". The French New Wave is perceived as a rebirth of aesthetics and filmmaking, a fresh approach to the staid movies that it was a reaction against. It shows an innocence to a dreadful world; young Antoine Doinel is living a rough life that never resorts to self-pity, only to possibility of where the next day will lead. It was something beginning, a piecing together of parts of history in a scrapbook, to be used, or discarded, at will. Belle and Sebastian can be considered the French New Wave's artistic heirs because the band is also reconstructing history into their own fashion, for their own purposes. Instead of using tradition as a stopping point, Belle and Sebastian take tradition and use it as a means--to avoid, to play with the notion of, to better. The songs are often about horrible subjects, yet with a bright unending-day quality; any fey innocence in the songs is merely masking the ills of living. _Breathless_: a movie with rough editing, mostly dialogue--those are not the ways movies were supposed to be made. (It may not be so shocking now, because those techniques have already been appropriated into the film canon). Belle and Sebastian: a band of eight members, released three singles after two albums, no interviews--those are not the ways bands proceed. Belle and Sebastian play the game by their own rules. It often seems that we do not even play by their rules; we are merely observing. I am not writing that this is a French New Wave band; I am writing that there are more similarities than seen with a casual glance. Time is a feeble boundary. This is about possibilities. In _Jules and Jim_, Jules, Jim, and Catherine go to the seashore on a whim. On a hillside Catherine offers that the three should "search for the last traces of civilsation". They wander--finding cans, wrappers, pieces of china--personal treasures: each and every one. In the moments of the day that I lose myself into myself, I imagine Belle and Sebastian on a similar hill, finding what has been left behind from the world, and what they will do with the pieces. This too is about possibilities. Living and loving Matthew ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------
So happy to hear someone talk about my favorite film in the world. I actually spent a great portion of last semester comparing the triangulation of desire in _Jules et Jim_ to the that of the Shakespearian sonnets. And if you've ever taken a Shakespeare class as obnoxious as the one I took (complete with 13 other English majors who could see intelligent things like "Well, in the sonnets, Shakespeare uses the word "The" 500 times, but "a" and "an" are only used 497 times. I wonder what that means."), you may well undestand such a possibility. On another scholarly pursuit, I thought about the females characters in B&S songs, and how they portray (Something else I had to work on last semester for another class. If you're bored, please skip this paragraph) the Virgin/Whore dichotomy. They are sexual yet innocent. Promiscuous yet virginal. I'm thinking of Judy, who "did it with a boy when she was young" yet escapes the dreariness of daily life by writing about her own dreams, as she is only happy when sleeping. And also Lisa, who takes up pornography as a "fun" hobby. Sorry if this is boring. Oh, I had completely forgotten to mention something. Last week, when drunk, my best friend M***y (a boy) slept on the couch that rests between my roomate M*****a's (a girl) and my beds. In my own drunken state, though sleeping, I was painfully aware that M***y was present, as I talk in my sleep sometimes and feel uncomfortable about doing so when he is near. So, I fell into a debauched and restless sleep, and dreamed that I was leaning over to say something to M***y on the couch. When I looked down, however, he was not there... BUT THE SONG SNAKE WAS!!! (Actually, it was just a snake, but I like to imagine it was the song snake.) Needless to say, I was petrified. It was worse than the Incredible Hulk nightmares I had when I was a kid. But when i thought about the possibility of said snake being a muse for B&S, I felt relieved. Or maybe I just think of M***y as a phallus. Whatever. XOXOXO, Kristen >
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----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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