to fan a hidden fire that won't ever burn true
Taken separately, too, the elements of music are precious instruments in education. Rhythm develops attention, concentration, determination and the ability to condition oneself. Melody opens up the world of emotion. Dynamic variation and tone colour sharpen our hearing.
--- Kodaly and Bartok (1974: 130)
Discussing the importance of music as a safety valve in any society, (Merriam) writes: an important function of music ... is the opportunity it gives for a variety of emotional expression --- the release of otherwise unexpressible thoughts and ideas, the correlation of a wide variety of emotions and music, the opportunity to "let off steam" and perhaps to resolve social conflicts, the explosion of creativity itself, and the group expression of hostilities. (1964: 222)
Merriam and other ethnomusicologists often draw attention to the fact that it is possible to "get off with" singing offensive ideas which would be unacceptable if they were spoken. For instance, Blacking (1976: 50) shows how South African Venda music can be used as a safe, constructive mode of social communication: "You do not 'go to prison' if you say it in music."
Blacking, in How Musical Is Man? provides a different view ... when he says: "There is a difference between music that is occasional and music that enhances human consciousness, music that is simply for having and music that is being." (1976: 50)
--- all the above from Elllis, 1985.
Cos yep, I inadvertantly finished my research reading today. Well, the second last stage. It's a little startling, actually. I feel a bit like I've stepped sharply off a cliff and am hovering uncertainly in mid-air. But this is all exactly to plan. Read on the weekend, write on the two weekdays off, back to work on Wednesday.
Er. Yes.
I finished the book just in time to watch The Nutty Professor, the original, for the very first time on my own DVD player. Cos if I can't be with Jer, then Jer will just have to come to me.
And oh my god ... what an absolutely beautiful film. Truly, the perfect balance of everything. The colours were simply luscious, almost every shot wonderfully composed and effortless, the sets exactly proportioned, the characterisation and acting pitched just right. Sweet lord, that Stella Stevens was a gorgeous gorgeous thing, and divinely photographed too.
Really, by now you'd think I'd be completely unsurprised and unfazed by Jerry, wouldn't you? But the characterisation ... of both Julius and Buddy Love. It was wonderful how much time was devoted to the truth and well-meaning efforts of Julius with the building up of his muscles and his interaction with his students. I mean, it could have been totally shortcut and shorthanded. One scene of bumbling professor, one scene of professor drooling over gorgeous student, then bam professor discovers potion. It could have been totally shortcut like that.
But it wasn't. And sure, plenty of comedy potential in the exercise sequence but it touched me to see how wonderfully it unfurled with his conversations and his efforts to be good and better himself. Still a few lines I would have cut but that's just me being my usual impatient don't-treat-me-like-a-dumb-viewer self chafing a little at Sixties spoonfeeding.
And gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh Buddy Love! *shudders, convulses, has general fit of nnnghheeyyyurgh!*
I had decided to delay watching the film til tonight just to coincide with the Bondi event. But truth be told, I wasn't particularly keen to see it. Again, I thought I knew what it would be and I feared it would be as overblown and offputting as The Patsy. But then I watched that episode of Inside The Actors Studio and got all curious. I do not know how but somehow I have never seen any footage from this film. I DON'T KNOW HOW!
So I knew beforehand about the idea behind Buddy Love's characterisation and perhaps that did influence my reaction a fair bit. But still nnnghheeyyyurgh! Talk about "gaaaaaahhhh get awaaaayyyy from me" and "damnit, Jer, why do you have to look so hot in that GODAWFUL suit?! I hate every single bit of that suit, EVERY bit, Jer!"
But oh the touches of vulnerability and gah, it was totally that horrible thing of being horribly attracted to the bad boy. Plus physically, the eyebrows just kill me, man. That gorgeous shadowing and the way it delineates his nose into this perfect classic line which you can't really tell in that clip but it becomes really beautiful through the course of the film. And the cruel sensual curves of his mouth. And oh yes, the little touches of eyeliner. Guh.
I loved that she was equally repulsed and attracted to him. And she had a total zinger of a line when they're dancing which made me go "ooh, you're not just a blonde bimbo, I like you!" But christ, the way Jer plays the two characters bleeding together ... it's so careful and terrifying and god utterly heartbreaking. That speech at the microphone quite shattered my heart even as I was tracking that precise metamorphosis and oh, even the way he walks as Julius off into the wings. *sobs* It was effective enough that thank GOD we had the moment of Julius tripping when he gets off the chair and lurches into her arms cos man, I needed that laugh even though it came out more like a strangled sobby yelp. Oh Julius ... *blows nose noisily*
I did have the commentary subtitles turned on which is why it took me about twice as long to watch the film cos I kept getting so fascinated by the action I'd forget to read and then I'd wonder what Jerry had to say about the scene so I'd skip back just to read the text. As it was, I inadvertantly turned them off towards the end so I have no idea what he even said over the climax. D'oh. Just have to watch it again.
But oh god, it was wonderful. So totally deserved the hype and the accolades. And I'm kinda glad I've never seen it before so I could appreciate it first time off with proper adult awareness rather than a child's tunnel vision. *sighs*
The oddest thing, though? That scene by the car on the cliff? Is totally the same setting as a very crucial scene in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which made me go "Holy hell, yes, that was Jekyll and Hyde too, wasn't it?!" So, has anyone done an essay/book/investigation yet on Jerry Lewis' influence on Bollywood? See, I told you there was a ShahRukh connection. *lol*
Not to mention how very familiar the flashback to Julius as a baby was. I wonder if Michel Gondry deliberately did that in Eternal Sunshine ...
And yesterday I watched The Family Jewels which was vastly enjoyable and oh utterly adorable with the interaction between him as Willard and the little girl. Lovely blend of realism with a touch of twee. And all those characters were just marvellous to watch, they were so different in look and voice, every little detail, that all my fears of Jerry being a total wanker were completely routed because, damn, it was just fascinating how he disguised himself so thoroughly in each character. Plus that was a totally hysterical English accent, bwee hee hee!
I wonder if Eddie doing the same thing in the Nutty Professor remake was a nodback. Had to be. I wonder whose idea it was.
The night --- or was it hours? --- before that, I watched Rock a Bye Baby which was such a timid film that it made me realise just how used to gross-outs I've gotten used to in movies of that nature. No toilet humour of any kind, no baby nudity and subsequent missishness. It was all very clean and very correct and kinda made me go "awwww, there was so much comic potential there, whadhappened?!"
And I don't know why but about three times I totally expected Jer to react with a topple back faint and was bitterly disappointed when he didn't. But heh, the sleepless bit was hilarious, especially with the delayed scream. *giggles* Sometimes watching physical comedy makes me feel like a total sadist --- in a not-good way --- because I get so delighted when people get badly hurt.
Marilyn Maxwell was gorgeous, though, deliciously satirical but sincere when needed and so totally willing to make an ass out of herself. I thoroughly liked her for that and now am even more determined to track down the Martin/Lewis films with her.
What intrigued me was the whole gender subtext. I mean, yes, superficially it seems to be the usual "men are just as good mothers as women" message but I don't know, there were some interesting nuances of male characterisation going on there which makes my burgeoning theory about Jer's particular brand of masculinity all the stronger. At the very least, it was very much about the immense tenderness a man can show as a father that he wouldn't reveal in other circumstances, the immense softness of a father's love. I liked that so much. It made me go all squooshy. And then that last line of male virility made me go "oh hello! Getting in one last hurrah, are we?!"
Hrmm. There's something going on there, man, and I'm still trying to figure it out.
But the odd missishness of the movie was so strange cos it totally contradicted the actual events. I mean, she effectively had those kids out of wedlock, outlandish situation be damned, then abandoned them and had this almost diabolical plan to reclaim them. All that morality was pretty damned suspect, man!
I do wonder how Preston Sturges would have directed it. Or Ernst Lubitsch. Hrm. Don't even talk to me about Billy Wilder. I watched Kiss Me, Stupid the other week cos I wanted to see Dean on his own --- he was awesome ... *beams* --- and am still traumatised and nauseated by the morality there. Eeeyyuurrgghh! And that was the future Mrs Jack Lemmon too! *shudders* I mean, yes, there's complete amorality in The Apartment too but it's done with so much more realism and nobility and redemption. This was farce? Well, I never did like farce. Gah.
Still, all flaws aside, god I loved the sweetness of Rock a Bye Baby. Jerry's character was just so lovely and so tender. That song he sings on the bank made me melt into a great big puddle and I knew that kid looked a little too familiar! There was an almost minimum of comic shenanigans, almost felt like there was one sequence at the start and one sequence at the end and maybe a milder one in the middle.
But for the most part it was just sweet and quietly wicked to see the interactions between him and the deliciously stalkery Connie Stevens and the crazy people in the town, especially that hysterically awesome neighbour.
Loved the opening title sequence, especially with the dodgy spotlight and the backstage scenery. But it was a little upsetting to watch Jer sing an Italian lullaby with someone who wasn't Dino. *sobs*
And yes, I've watched enough Colgate Comedy Hour sketches by now to recognise them when they pop up in developed or altered form in Jerry's movies. Ha. *she says darkly* So far, the only one I adore in movie form is the typewriter sketch. The rest just make me glower a little. Oh, and the conducting the orchestra one developed from the glee club sketch, of course. :p That's just too awesome in either form to resent.
I wish I could hop in a time machine and go back to about 1945. Oh the things I could do to that boy ... *sigh*
--- Kodaly and Bartok (1974: 130)
Discussing the importance of music as a safety valve in any society, (Merriam) writes: an important function of music ... is the opportunity it gives for a variety of emotional expression --- the release of otherwise unexpressible thoughts and ideas, the correlation of a wide variety of emotions and music, the opportunity to "let off steam" and perhaps to resolve social conflicts, the explosion of creativity itself, and the group expression of hostilities. (1964: 222)
Merriam and other ethnomusicologists often draw attention to the fact that it is possible to "get off with" singing offensive ideas which would be unacceptable if they were spoken. For instance, Blacking (1976: 50) shows how South African Venda music can be used as a safe, constructive mode of social communication: "You do not 'go to prison' if you say it in music."
Blacking, in How Musical Is Man? provides a different view ... when he says: "There is a difference between music that is occasional and music that enhances human consciousness, music that is simply for having and music that is being." (1976: 50)
--- all the above from Elllis, 1985.
Cos yep, I inadvertantly finished my research reading today. Well, the second last stage. It's a little startling, actually. I feel a bit like I've stepped sharply off a cliff and am hovering uncertainly in mid-air. But this is all exactly to plan. Read on the weekend, write on the two weekdays off, back to work on Wednesday.
Er. Yes.
I finished the book just in time to watch The Nutty Professor, the original, for the very first time on my own DVD player. Cos if I can't be with Jer, then Jer will just have to come to me.
And oh my god ... what an absolutely beautiful film. Truly, the perfect balance of everything. The colours were simply luscious, almost every shot wonderfully composed and effortless, the sets exactly proportioned, the characterisation and acting pitched just right. Sweet lord, that Stella Stevens was a gorgeous gorgeous thing, and divinely photographed too.
Really, by now you'd think I'd be completely unsurprised and unfazed by Jerry, wouldn't you? But the characterisation ... of both Julius and Buddy Love. It was wonderful how much time was devoted to the truth and well-meaning efforts of Julius with the building up of his muscles and his interaction with his students. I mean, it could have been totally shortcut and shorthanded. One scene of bumbling professor, one scene of professor drooling over gorgeous student, then bam professor discovers potion. It could have been totally shortcut like that.
But it wasn't. And sure, plenty of comedy potential in the exercise sequence but it touched me to see how wonderfully it unfurled with his conversations and his efforts to be good and better himself. Still a few lines I would have cut but that's just me being my usual impatient don't-treat-me-like-a-dumb-viewer self chafing a little at Sixties spoonfeeding.
And gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh Buddy Love! *shudders, convulses, has general fit of nnnghheeyyyurgh!*
I had decided to delay watching the film til tonight just to coincide with the Bondi event. But truth be told, I wasn't particularly keen to see it. Again, I thought I knew what it would be and I feared it would be as overblown and offputting as The Patsy. But then I watched that episode of Inside The Actors Studio and got all curious. I do not know how but somehow I have never seen any footage from this film. I DON'T KNOW HOW!
So I knew beforehand about the idea behind Buddy Love's characterisation and perhaps that did influence my reaction a fair bit. But still nnnghheeyyyurgh! Talk about "gaaaaaahhhh get awaaaayyyy from me" and "damnit, Jer, why do you have to look so hot in that GODAWFUL suit?! I hate every single bit of that suit, EVERY bit, Jer!"
But oh the touches of vulnerability and gah, it was totally that horrible thing of being horribly attracted to the bad boy. Plus physically, the eyebrows just kill me, man. That gorgeous shadowing and the way it delineates his nose into this perfect classic line which you can't really tell in that clip but it becomes really beautiful through the course of the film. And the cruel sensual curves of his mouth. And oh yes, the little touches of eyeliner. Guh.
I loved that she was equally repulsed and attracted to him. And she had a total zinger of a line when they're dancing which made me go "ooh, you're not just a blonde bimbo, I like you!" But christ, the way Jer plays the two characters bleeding together ... it's so careful and terrifying and god utterly heartbreaking. That speech at the microphone quite shattered my heart even as I was tracking that precise metamorphosis and oh, even the way he walks as Julius off into the wings. *sobs* It was effective enough that thank GOD we had the moment of Julius tripping when he gets off the chair and lurches into her arms cos man, I needed that laugh even though it came out more like a strangled sobby yelp. Oh Julius ... *blows nose noisily*
I did have the commentary subtitles turned on which is why it took me about twice as long to watch the film cos I kept getting so fascinated by the action I'd forget to read and then I'd wonder what Jerry had to say about the scene so I'd skip back just to read the text. As it was, I inadvertantly turned them off towards the end so I have no idea what he even said over the climax. D'oh. Just have to watch it again.
But oh god, it was wonderful. So totally deserved the hype and the accolades. And I'm kinda glad I've never seen it before so I could appreciate it first time off with proper adult awareness rather than a child's tunnel vision. *sighs*
The oddest thing, though? That scene by the car on the cliff? Is totally the same setting as a very crucial scene in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which made me go "Holy hell, yes, that was Jekyll and Hyde too, wasn't it?!" So, has anyone done an essay/book/investigation yet on Jerry Lewis' influence on Bollywood? See, I told you there was a ShahRukh connection. *lol*
Not to mention how very familiar the flashback to Julius as a baby was. I wonder if Michel Gondry deliberately did that in Eternal Sunshine ...
And yesterday I watched The Family Jewels which was vastly enjoyable and oh utterly adorable with the interaction between him as Willard and the little girl. Lovely blend of realism with a touch of twee. And all those characters were just marvellous to watch, they were so different in look and voice, every little detail, that all my fears of Jerry being a total wanker were completely routed because, damn, it was just fascinating how he disguised himself so thoroughly in each character. Plus that was a totally hysterical English accent, bwee hee hee!
I wonder if Eddie doing the same thing in the Nutty Professor remake was a nodback. Had to be. I wonder whose idea it was.
The night --- or was it hours? --- before that, I watched Rock a Bye Baby which was such a timid film that it made me realise just how used to gross-outs I've gotten used to in movies of that nature. No toilet humour of any kind, no baby nudity and subsequent missishness. It was all very clean and very correct and kinda made me go "awwww, there was so much comic potential there, whadhappened?!"
And I don't know why but about three times I totally expected Jer to react with a topple back faint and was bitterly disappointed when he didn't. But heh, the sleepless bit was hilarious, especially with the delayed scream. *giggles* Sometimes watching physical comedy makes me feel like a total sadist --- in a not-good way --- because I get so delighted when people get badly hurt.
Marilyn Maxwell was gorgeous, though, deliciously satirical but sincere when needed and so totally willing to make an ass out of herself. I thoroughly liked her for that and now am even more determined to track down the Martin/Lewis films with her.
What intrigued me was the whole gender subtext. I mean, yes, superficially it seems to be the usual "men are just as good mothers as women" message but I don't know, there were some interesting nuances of male characterisation going on there which makes my burgeoning theory about Jer's particular brand of masculinity all the stronger. At the very least, it was very much about the immense tenderness a man can show as a father that he wouldn't reveal in other circumstances, the immense softness of a father's love. I liked that so much. It made me go all squooshy. And then that last line of male virility made me go "oh hello! Getting in one last hurrah, are we?!"
Hrmm. There's something going on there, man, and I'm still trying to figure it out.
But the odd missishness of the movie was so strange cos it totally contradicted the actual events. I mean, she effectively had those kids out of wedlock, outlandish situation be damned, then abandoned them and had this almost diabolical plan to reclaim them. All that morality was pretty damned suspect, man!
I do wonder how Preston Sturges would have directed it. Or Ernst Lubitsch. Hrm. Don't even talk to me about Billy Wilder. I watched Kiss Me, Stupid the other week cos I wanted to see Dean on his own --- he was awesome ... *beams* --- and am still traumatised and nauseated by the morality there. Eeeyyuurrgghh! And that was the future Mrs Jack Lemmon too! *shudders* I mean, yes, there's complete amorality in The Apartment too but it's done with so much more realism and nobility and redemption. This was farce? Well, I never did like farce. Gah.
Still, all flaws aside, god I loved the sweetness of Rock a Bye Baby. Jerry's character was just so lovely and so tender. That song he sings on the bank made me melt into a great big puddle and I knew that kid looked a little too familiar! There was an almost minimum of comic shenanigans, almost felt like there was one sequence at the start and one sequence at the end and maybe a milder one in the middle.
But for the most part it was just sweet and quietly wicked to see the interactions between him and the deliciously stalkery Connie Stevens and the crazy people in the town, especially that hysterically awesome neighbour.
Loved the opening title sequence, especially with the dodgy spotlight and the backstage scenery. But it was a little upsetting to watch Jer sing an Italian lullaby with someone who wasn't Dino. *sobs*
And yes, I've watched enough Colgate Comedy Hour sketches by now to recognise them when they pop up in developed or altered form in Jerry's movies. Ha. *she says darkly* So far, the only one I adore in movie form is the typewriter sketch. The rest just make me glower a little. Oh, and the conducting the orchestra one developed from the glee club sketch, of course. :p That's just too awesome in either form to resent.
I wish I could hop in a time machine and go back to about 1945. Oh the things I could do to that boy ... *sigh*