Salvador Dalí as Fanartist

Jun 01, 2009 20:48

I visited my father-in-law a while back. He loves--absolutely loves--British murder mysteries on TV. They were, in fact, all we watched the entire time we were visiting him, because he as about eleventy billion episodes downloaded and burned on DVD. We were about to watch Sherlock Holmes, and were discussing different importations of Holmes into ( Read more... )

fandom meta, theory, writing meta

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notacrnflkgirl June 2 2009, 05:09:12 UTC
Maybe it's because it's late and I'm tired, but I find this fascinating:

"Interesting note: Dalí was able to get the Louvre to x-ray Millet's original, and there is a coffin-shaped box below the basket of potatoes."

What made Millet change his mind? What impact does this knowledge have on the work's reception and interpretation: Does it make it better? worse? Is a good-bad dichotomy the wrong frame for it? What if we didn't have X-rays and the first draft were therefore never discovered?

But besides my mind being totally blown, man, this whole entry really is great. Specific circumstances may change, but humans behave the same ways as always ( ... )

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amalnahurriyeh June 2 2009, 13:41:54 UTC
I'm fascinated by the change as well. It doesn't necessarily make the painting better or worse for me--though, I'm not very interested in it as it stands. What it does is make it more interesting, because it disrupts the easy notion of author/painter/creator=unequivocally right. It makes it clear that artists make *choices* and that multiple outcomes are possible. It's not that those layers were never there (Dalí saw that "something" was going on without the x-rays, even though I think his reading of the woman's body language is his own gynophobia and not supported by the work), but that now we get to see them in a way previously undiscovered. Seeing how the sausage is made and all that ( ... )

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notacrnflkgirl June 2 2009, 13:55:44 UTC
"It makes it clear that artists make *choices* and that multiple outcomes are possible."

That remaining faithful to the artist's vision does not necessarily mean discounting the less-popular theories.

"I struggle with being terribly binary all the time, myself."

Really? I wouldn't have guessed. Is it an ambivalence thing, by any chance?

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amyhit June 2 2009, 23:42:35 UTC
holy crap, you're right! *raucous bouts of fangirl flailing*

the rewriting of a moment in the series so it is all perfect language, langorous imagery.

ooooh, yes, that is a wonderful way to put it.

those first three renditions are almost chillingly fitting for your purpose, too-- the basket >> the emphasized barrenness of the second one >> the presence of the smaller figure in the third. now i'm wondering if theres a (good) way to incorporate classic visual art into fanfic, perhaps as something of a theme/indicator of theme. oh, the possibilities...

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j_s_cavalcante June 20 2009, 04:24:58 UTC
now i'm wondering if theres a (good) way to incorporate classic visual art into fanfic, perhaps as something of a theme/indicator of theme. oh, the possibilities...

I've been wondering the same thing and am working on that in Due South, anyway, in an AU series and also in a non-AU piece in which one of the characters goes undercover as an artist's model. Might be some time before the latter is done, and I haven't done the drawings in question yet. But, for instance, I will draw one of the characters as Michelangelo's David. Hey, it could work. :) Anyway, as an art student and a fan writer & artist, I agree there are many fascinating possibilities. :)

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sangria_lila June 3 2009, 14:09:58 UTC
For a second there, I thought you meant that the last painting was a Dali painting, and I wanted to say, dude! But that's more a Vasquez style.

I think this just really shows that fanfiction isn't something that should be snubbed. I'm sure there are many papers written about the subject already, but I honestly believe it helps the creative process, or at least prompts discouse. I know I wouldn't love this show half as much if it weren't for the great fic that helped me see my favorite characters in a new light. And to that end, all the different perspectives lead to your own unique perspective. So it may not be universal, but then again, I don't want universal perspectives, I want many different ones so that I can change and grow.

What I'm trying to say is, I agree and THIS IS SO COOL, and try and sound clever saying it.

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frey_at_last June 7 2009, 05:18:10 UTC
apologies for a run-by!

I assumed the peasants were praying (while working) in the Angelus because the Angelus was traditionally prayed at 6, noon, and 6 every day, no matter where you were. Not that it changes much about this great post. :)

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amelia_eve June 20 2009, 19:01:55 UTC
Thanks, that was what I was thinking of, too. And the light makes this look like the 6 pm prayer, nearing the end of the work day and appreciating the harvest. It's definitely sad, but I think it could be as much about just getting a very small basket of potatoes for your day's worth of work.

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memories_child June 10 2009, 17:48:48 UTC
I meant to reply to this ages ago and then life got in the way.

Firstly, I am so pleased that you referenced Dali's Archeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus. It is my favourite of his paintings, and when I read the introduction to your post I thought 'ah, yeah he did that with Archeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus'. So I made myself feel clever at the same time ;)

But there are a lot of good points in this. It's interesting to see the strategies fanfic writers using being compared to Dal's reimagining of other artists' works. There are a lot of similarities there, and they make perfect sense in either universe.

Dali and fanfic writers are doing the same thing.

"Because," I snarked, "if you write fanfiction for something more than a hundred years old, you can publish it."

Yes. It always interests me how fanfic that's a) over a hundred years old b) based on a classic book or c) not fangirls flailing on the web becomes somehow more than fanfic. I studied Wide Sargasso Sea for A Level English and the fact that it's a ( ... )

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