Relaxation Days... Don't forget to cut yourself some slack.
With Spring break in full swing for the Spring 2020 semester at OTIS, I decided to cut myself a little slack and do something I hadn't done in many years, a tradition I had developed back in my first years as an undergrad 10 years ago, in where I'd marathon a string of old movies to take my mind off of things.
I still remember being introduced to that magical world of the early to mid twentieth century as a millennial, absorbed by the artistic quality, time and attention, and overall care taken to presenting a motion picture product to the masses. Around the time of watching what instantly became my new favorite film (and still is) "On the Waterfront." I realized that up until that point I didn't even know what movies were, or what kind of experience they could be. And thus was an early crucial step in my journey to discovering the human race, and finding my own personal way of identifying with it.
Movies today are not really works of art, so much as they are 2 hour commercials for current actors they are trying to promote. They just videotape these cute people saying cute lines and hope that their cuteness will carry over into the next film they do. There's no art to the execution any more.
Sitting on that lone couch in that leisure room at the Cal State University Channel Islands student hub, just off campus, with titles I'd checked out from the library or Blockbuster (yes, that was still a thing when I was in college) I'd felt as though I'd journeyed down into the catacombs of an ancient city below our own, with a torch lighting the way as I ventured through ancient ruins of a marvelous civilization that none had yet discovered, and thus putting our modern day society into perspective.
So out of nowhere, on a whim, I decided I wanted to take a break from the OTIS workload, the stresses of creating and promoting, and give myself another marathon to take my mind off of things; those assignments, those teachers, those peers, that curriculum, ugh...
Her acting feels familiar to me, and reminds me of the impulse that drives the things I make, to the point where I feel like she's performing just for me, or at least, for guys like me, to make sure we stay motivated and don't give up.
I saw "Anastasia", and gushed over her as the royalty she is to me. I would have been okay just being a servant in her house.
I saw "Joan of Arc", and loved her even in the medieval clothes, bobbed haircut get up. (A particular line from the final scene where she is burned at the stake, that "All the men involved in her punishment, trial and sentence, who executed her, will only be remembered BECAUSE of their involvement with her." or something to that effect. Like, even if they had the upper hand right here and now, she will have the upper hand for eternity.)
Then there was "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" where she escorts some Chinese refugee children through the wilderness while on the run from Japanese soldiers during the WWII era. Very dramatic.
And there was the film "Indiscreet" with good ol' Cary Grant as the love interest. That sort of thing is very much what you'd call a "chick flick," which I'm not normally into, but since it was HER, and not some other actress, I was able to maintain focus.
Then of course, just yesterday, I saw "Gaslight." Which is every bit the classic it deserves to be. I was out and about today, running errands and doing things, thinking about it still, like: "Woah, that movie was just its own kind of experience. It didn't have a genre or category, and the script didn't have any predictable, overused tropes that gave it away. It had also been a while since I'd seen Joseph Cotten in a film as well. His laid back coolness and not too over-indulged delivery is always a delight.
This is one of the mental exercises I'm performing that I discovered I needed while at Pratt. Something in your life that reminds you of who you are, and what drives you, as you spend your days getting mixed in with strangers from all over, like in the workplace, or social circles, or graduate school. Ingrid Bergman represents something that truly makes me feel a sense of destiny in this world, and I don't care how corny it sounds, I'm sticking with it, so there.
I still remember being introduced to that magical world of the early to mid twentieth century as a millennial, absorbed by the artistic quality, time and attention, and overall care taken to presenting a motion picture product to the masses. Around the time of watching what instantly became my new favorite film (and still is) "On the Waterfront." I realized that up until that point I didn't even know what movies were, or what kind of experience they could be. And thus was an early crucial step in my journey to discovering the human race, and finding my own personal way of identifying with it.
Movies today are not really works of art, so much as they are 2 hour commercials for current actors they are trying to promote. They just videotape these cute people saying cute lines and hope that their cuteness will carry over into the next film they do. There's no art to the execution any more.
Sitting on that lone couch in that leisure room at the Cal State University Channel Islands student hub, just off campus, with titles I'd checked out from the library or Blockbuster (yes, that was still a thing when I was in college) I'd felt as though I'd journeyed down into the catacombs of an ancient city below our own, with a torch lighting the way as I ventured through ancient ruins of a marvelous civilization that none had yet discovered, and thus putting our modern day society into perspective.
So out of nowhere, on a whim, I decided I wanted to take a break from the OTIS workload, the stresses of creating and promoting, and give myself another marathon to take my mind off of things; those assignments, those teachers, those peers, that curriculum, ugh...
So I decided to check out a series of Ingrid Bergman movies, to calm myself down. I've never been one for celebrity crushes, as that is mostly a girl thing, but if I were to break the rules, it would definitely be for her. Wow.
It's not just that she's beautiful, or a great actress, I actually have that cheesy fanboy feeling of knowing that we were meant to find each other. (That's right, guys can have that feeling too, so there.)Her acting feels familiar to me, and reminds me of the impulse that drives the things I make, to the point where I feel like she's performing just for me, or at least, for guys like me, to make sure we stay motivated and don't give up.
I saw "Anastasia", and gushed over her as the royalty she is to me. I would have been okay just being a servant in her house.
I saw "Joan of Arc", and loved her even in the medieval clothes, bobbed haircut get up. (A particular line from the final scene where she is burned at the stake, that "All the men involved in her punishment, trial and sentence, who executed her, will only be remembered BECAUSE of their involvement with her." or something to that effect. Like, even if they had the upper hand right here and now, she will have the upper hand for eternity.)
Then there was "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" where she escorts some Chinese refugee children through the wilderness while on the run from Japanese soldiers during the WWII era. Very dramatic.
Then of course, just yesterday, I saw "Gaslight." Which is every bit the classic it deserves to be. I was out and about today, running errands and doing things, thinking about it still, like: "Woah, that movie was just its own kind of experience. It didn't have a genre or category, and the script didn't have any predictable, overused tropes that gave it away. It had also been a while since I'd seen Joseph Cotten in a film as well. His laid back coolness and not too over-indulged delivery is always a delight.
This is one of the mental exercises I'm performing that I discovered I needed while at Pratt. Something in your life that reminds you of who you are, and what drives you, as you spend your days getting mixed in with strangers from all over, like in the workplace, or social circles, or graduate school. Ingrid Bergman represents something that truly makes me feel a sense of destiny in this world, and I don't care how corny it sounds, I'm sticking with it, so there.
