Comments on: THE EYEBALL, The Rumpus DVD Column: Synecdoche, New York http://therumpus.net/2009/06/the-eyeball-synecdoche-new-york/ Books, Music, Movies, Art, Politics, Sex, Other Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:27:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jules http://therumpus.net/2009/06/the-eyeball-synecdoche-new-york/comment-page-1/#comment-15595 Jules Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:17:17 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=22883#comment-15595 Just an interesting thing I noticed on second watch - Ellen's lover/husband is a man called Eric. For me, that added a whole new dimension to the the reality of Olive's charge. Just an interesting thing I noticed on second watch – Ellen’s lover/husband is a man called Eric. For me, that added a whole new dimension to the the reality of Olive’s charge.

]]> By: Sean Carman http://therumpus.net/2009/06/the-eyeball-synecdoche-new-york/comment-page-1/#comment-4648 Sean Carman Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:15:33 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=22883#comment-4648 To me, the film seemed to be about the director's failure to understand the meaning of life through storytelling. In a way, it also seemed to be about the failure of storytelling, and theater, to capture the essence of the meaning of life (since we start with Death of a Salesman and end with a production that resembled Beckett in some ways, in the post-apocalyptic terrain and the extended monologue, although not in the scale of the production, obviously). The idea was not to criticize theater, or storytelling, obviously, but to say that life is essentially unknowable. No matter how hard we try, now matter how big a budget we have, or how much of a genius the artist is, we are limited in what we can say about it. The scene with the daughter could be read as expressing the confusion and essential unknow-ability (?) of existence, since, as you point out, it doesn't make any sense. When his daughter was little he was unaware his wife was having an affair with another woman right under his nose. Now, years later, neither he nor his daughter understand the ways in which they have wronged each other, or what they should be forgiving each other for. Maybe the idea that either of them owes the other any forgiveness is misplaced. I don't know. Maybe that's one to look at it. -- Sean To me, the film seemed to be about the director’s failure to understand the meaning of life through storytelling. In a way, it also seemed to be about the failure of storytelling, and theater, to capture the essence of the meaning of life (since we start with Death of a Salesman and end with a production that resembled Beckett in some ways, in the post-apocalyptic terrain and the extended monologue, although not in the scale of the production, obviously). The idea was not to criticize theater, or storytelling, obviously, but to say that life is essentially unknowable. No matter how hard we try, now matter how big a budget we have, or how much of a genius the artist is, we are limited in what we can say about it.

The scene with the daughter could be read as expressing the confusion and essential unknow-ability (?) of existence, since, as you point out, it doesn’t make any sense. When his daughter was little he was unaware his wife was having an affair with another woman right under his nose. Now, years later, neither he nor his daughter understand the ways in which they have wronged each other, or what they should be forgiving each other for. Maybe the idea that either of them owes the other any forgiveness is misplaced.

I don’t know. Maybe that’s one to look at it.

– Sean

]]> By: Jack Pendarvis http://therumpus.net/2009/06/the-eyeball-synecdoche-new-york/comment-page-1/#comment-4262 Jack Pendarvis Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:34:50 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=22883#comment-4262 This is just an interesting side note, maybe. Or maybe it is not! Orson Welles was ecstatic about the way Charlton Heston played that part. He played it just the way Welles asked him to. I believe Welles referred to it as one of his favorite performances in any of his movies. Read about it in the Welles book-length interview with Peter Bogdanovich. I actually got to talk to Heston once about that very movie, and he was the one who was dissatisfied with his performance, it turns out. He started listing all the things he wished he had done differently - all those decades later it was still on his mind. And he agreed with you! This is just an interesting side note, maybe. Or maybe it is not! Orson Welles was ecstatic about the way Charlton Heston played that part. He played it just the way Welles asked him to. I believe Welles referred to it as one of his favorite performances in any of his movies. Read about it in the Welles book-length interview with Peter Bogdanovich. I actually got to talk to Heston once about that very movie, and he was the one who was dissatisfied with his performance, it turns out. He started listing all the things he wished he had done differently – all those decades later it was still on his mind. And he agreed with you!

]]>