One Post to Rule Them All . . .

I'll be blunt . . . my blogging practices have been more or less shameful this quarter. With that said, let me say that I honestly wish to redeem myself with the following post.

Simply put, film is an incredibly potent medium. It's ability to move people is unparalleled. The rhythm of music, the starkness of the visual image, the layered story-telling of the written word - they all combine in a vibrant amalgamation that is cinema.

I have always been drawn to film, even from a very young age. It has been a part of how I define myself for so long now that can't imagine life without it: both inexplicably and undeniably I am a product of the films I've seen, the celluloid stories I've been told. Certain characters that I've come to know very well - George Bailey, Jean-Dominique Bauby and Benjamin Braddock, to name a few - have been assimilated into my collective unconscious. These personalities reside in the way I hold myself: the language I use, the texture of the sentiments I espouse, the very perceptions I hold of myself are more often than not the residual effect of endless hours of film exposure. I've finally reached a point in my life where I can admit that I am inextricably linked to the films I love.

There is a beautiful (if not a bit histrionic) passage in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights that does justice to the point I'm trying to convey. Catherine, the novel's female protagonist, comes to the following conclusion concerning her lover, Heathcliff: "If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be . . . He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being." Although that may be somewhat of an intense parallel to draw concerning my relationship with film, it is worth mentioning that I feel more at home with certain films than I ever could with people. They speak to a level of my psyche that I don't completely understand as of yet - a realm rooted in reason, but so easily swayed by emotion; that can be appreciative of technique, yet revel in all that can be conveyed by feeling. I see film - and through film, I see myself. Perhaps it's more personal than the love one could hope to share with another human being. And I'm sure at this point you must be thinking that I've either lost my mind or that I'm simply writing to fill space with florid metaphors and analogies, but that simply isn't the case. I am actually that passionate about cinema, at often times feeling my life has finally become a film of its own.

I'll try to keep this discourse brief. I am a very different person because of film. It has changed the way I tell stories. It has continually altered my beliefs. And, above all things, it has allowed me to better appreciate myself and other people. There is no doubt in my mind that my future will allow me to celebrate all it is that film can achieve.

On an unrelated note, considering that this is my final blog entry, I'd just like to state that Art of Film has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Mr. Daszenski, you are a deeply gifted teacher and an insightful human being, and this class was wonderful - no doubt one of the highlights of my time spent in high school.

And I suppose that's all there really is for me to say. So, I'll just leave you with a series of images set to Radiohead's "The Tourist." Interpret as you will.




It barks at no one else but me
Like it's seen a ghost.
I guess it seen the sparks a-flowing
No one else would know.

Hey man slow down, slow down
Idiot, slow down, slow down.

Sometimes I get overcharged
That's when you see sparks.
You ask me where the hell I'm going
At a thousand feet per second.

Hey man slow down, slow down
Idiot slow down, slow down.

Hey man slow down, slow down
Idiot slow down, slow down.