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February 1995, Week 1

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Subject:
From:
Shawn Levy <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 6 Feb 1995 15:05:53 CST
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>PBRamaeker writes [many ill-tempered things, including]:
 
>GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE! Over intellectualization of art tends to kill it.
>You want to discuss how much MTV has influenced present day socitey? fine,
>I'll discuss it all day, and even agree with you. But to start tearing apart
>a 3:00 chunk of tape, wondering if it's post-industrial etc. IMHO is
>right-out silly. If you think I'm an uneducated boor, fine, but whilst you
>proclaim your richeousness, I'm in some burned-out wharehouse in Brooklyn
>MAKING THE DAMN THINGS!....
 
>Ask the person who made it, THERE"S your analysis, and
>the ONLY one that counts. If someone came up to me and said "ohh..I see, you
>were influenced by the work of Sergi Eisenstein in that video you did" I
>would simply tell them to take a hike, because the influence I had when
>shooting that day was the miserable rate I was getting and how cold I was.....
 
>Do you see what I mean? The ONLY vision and analysis of what the
>artist/cinematographer "was trying to say" is what the artist/cinematographer
>SAYS it is..if you want to disagree with them, then have fun in your little
>world mumbling to yourself "he doesn't know what he means...he just doesn't
>know..."
 
There are three ways for an artist not to have his/her work interpreted in a
way other than the one in which he/she originally intended:
        1) Make them so utterly simplistic that only one meaning is possible
(lots of luck here);
        2) Refuse to release them to any audience whatever;
        3) Don't make 'em -- sell shoes or something else.
 
Frankly, NOTHING that actually affected the production matter's a whit once
the thing has been made public.  The critic/audience has absolutely liberty
to presume anything at all possible -- and ONLY THE CRITIC'S AUDIENCE can
judge the validity of the interpretation (the critic is, in this sense, just
like the artist).  The actual conditions of creation ARE MEANINGLESS once
the artwork has been released.  And if this is a pet peeve of yours, try
option #3 above.
 
Best,
     Shawn Levy       |   "In a far recess of summer
 [log in to unmask]  |    Monks are playing soccer."

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