Thus Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an anthology. Made haphazardly, it probably made itself, if not actually against the will of its authors and actors, then at least beyond their control. And this is the reason it works, in spite of aesthetic theories and theories of film making. […] Two cliches make us laugh. A hundred cliches move us. For we sense dimly that the cliches are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion. Just as the height of pain may encounter sensual pleasure, and the height of perversion border on mystical energy, so too the height of banality allows us to catch a glimpse of the sublime. Something has spoken in place of the director. If nothing else, it is a phenomenon worthy of awe.
– “Casablanca, or The Cliches Are Having a Ball” by Umberto Eco
From Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon, eds. (Boston: Bedford Books, 1994, pp. 260-264).
http://www.thinking-approach.org/download/eco_on_casablanca.pdf

Posted 4 months ago & Filed under musings, film,

Throwaway's Blog:

I am a latino californian who will spend the first half of 2010 bouncing nomadically between northern california, southern california, new york, and france. Contact me via email if you really must.

Artist's Statement:

Si lo que vemos es todo lo que existe, entonces el cuerpo ,la flor y las aves tropicales, serían la coronación de la vida y no lo son . Son sólo vehículos de las fuerzas que subyacen detrás de las formas ,de la fuerza interior que se conecta con algo intangible , superior o a veces inferior, demoníaca.

Todo ser humano es divino, o tiene esa capacidad en potencia ; esas fuerzas que tallan las formas , que desnudan la esencia en pos de la personalidad o le confieren carácter a una naturaleza silenciosa , son las que intento atrapar con mi cámara.

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