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Mar. 13th, 2009 10:36 pmI just watched _Double Indemnity_ - which I was going to current-reference with _Body Heat_ but ha! that film is so old that most people don't know of it and the scorching-hot performances of Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. Who, if anyone knows about them, knows about them as people who used to be well-known but not sure for what.
What I love about this genre is what I think of as the "moj sestra" moment.
From the time I was able to know what I liked, I loved old black and white horror films. In my early college years I took a class in horror films and looking back it was clear that the professor loved the films that were not about monsters per se but about the monsters that people feared they really were. A very catholic view of good and evil but a fascination with the evil, not casting it as good but recognizing it for for the power it held. This subject came up recently in the context of bullies and how they get away with what they do - it's the fear of there being no limits to how much you could be hurt, where the social boundaries and protections fall away. I think it's why gay men don't fight back when we get attacked - the attackers are working completely within their familiar comfort zone while we have no concept of how someone could do something like that so there is no limit that we can find in our gut of how far they will go. And if you're not used to fighting, it seems to just take a little hesitation to get you on the ground unable to get up and stop being kicked.
That wasn't my point, but it relates so I went there but I'm back now. The moj sestra moment. The ability of characters to see the shamefulness in each other. The inevitability of the corruption. The inability to escape fate.
Watch this clip from the 1942 film _The Cat People_. Shame. Animals know. Different from the woman he works with. Beautiful but strange. Especially 6:45 to 7:45, and right at 7:09. Moj sestra. She sees who you are, and that you are sisters. Try crossing yourself, it's not going to help, and the life you have built around you is a sham. The shame of what you are will never leave. My sister. You're like me.
Noir films like _Double Indemnity_ are the same, rotten characters talking about how rotten they are but still not completely rotten so they can be surprised at their emotions. The tease of being a normal person right before the check is presented in the form of a bullet to your heart.
The black & white photography in both these films is amazing but the prize really has to go to Cat People, with scenes like this incredible use of shadows and fear of what we can't see:
I think the flip side of this fascination with films that are all about the mechanisms of shame is my strong attraction to people who have none, who are strongly moral and ethical but seem to understand that what they choose to do in that context is absolutely OK. I am fortunate that they will have me.
What I love about this genre is what I think of as the "moj sestra" moment.
From the time I was able to know what I liked, I loved old black and white horror films. In my early college years I took a class in horror films and looking back it was clear that the professor loved the films that were not about monsters per se but about the monsters that people feared they really were. A very catholic view of good and evil but a fascination with the evil, not casting it as good but recognizing it for for the power it held. This subject came up recently in the context of bullies and how they get away with what they do - it's the fear of there being no limits to how much you could be hurt, where the social boundaries and protections fall away. I think it's why gay men don't fight back when we get attacked - the attackers are working completely within their familiar comfort zone while we have no concept of how someone could do something like that so there is no limit that we can find in our gut of how far they will go. And if you're not used to fighting, it seems to just take a little hesitation to get you on the ground unable to get up and stop being kicked.
That wasn't my point, but it relates so I went there but I'm back now. The moj sestra moment. The ability of characters to see the shamefulness in each other. The inevitability of the corruption. The inability to escape fate.
Watch this clip from the 1942 film _The Cat People_. Shame. Animals know. Different from the woman he works with. Beautiful but strange. Especially 6:45 to 7:45, and right at 7:09. Moj sestra. She sees who you are, and that you are sisters. Try crossing yourself, it's not going to help, and the life you have built around you is a sham. The shame of what you are will never leave. My sister. You're like me.
Noir films like _Double Indemnity_ are the same, rotten characters talking about how rotten they are but still not completely rotten so they can be surprised at their emotions. The tease of being a normal person right before the check is presented in the form of a bullet to your heart.
The black & white photography in both these films is amazing but the prize really has to go to Cat People, with scenes like this incredible use of shadows and fear of what we can't see:
I think the flip side of this fascination with films that are all about the mechanisms of shame is my strong attraction to people who have none, who are strongly moral and ethical but seem to understand that what they choose to do in that context is absolutely OK. I am fortunate that they will have me.
