On Saturday I decided to begin my own Fellini Fest despite my sleep, wake and work system being all awry and wanting to get on with converting slides to photographs via the scanner. I also wanted to see how Democrats, Republicans and ordinary citizens of the USA were approaching the anointing of Barrack Obama as the latest Moses, diverted by the miracle of the Hudson River and with one eye on whether Israel would have the sense to stop their assault on Hamas during the inauguration weekend and Russia realise that if the rest of Europe was to take them serious as oil producers and supplier they had to resolve their dispute with Ukraine and convince that there would be no more disruption of contracted supplies whoever was responsible and for whatever reason.
I was asked if I would like some DVD’s for Christmas and decided on Fellini rather than Bergman or Almodovar, choosing the neo realist La Strada, and boxed collection of La Dolce Vita, I Vitelloni, Giuliette Degli Spiriti and 8 and Half. I decided on Fellini rather than the brilliant psychological realism and spiritual explorations of Bergman or the anarchistic and raunchy humour of Almodovar, because in his later films Fellini explored the soul of the creative artist in the contemporary world of post World War Europe,
The truth about Federico Fellini’s Eight and a half is that it will only appeal to the film industry and to creatives. I cannot imagine the average Saturday night cinema audience sitting through more than a few minutes, or those now packing auditoriums to see Slumdog or Mama Mia, This observation is not intended as a criticism of the film or of the average audience who would not find Eight and Half engaging or entertaining.
At one level this is a film about a film with Marcello Mastroianni as the film director who declares I have nothing to say but I want to say it. In my case I always had something to say but failed to find a satisfying form of expression until 2002 and it was August 2003 before I commenced to work on 101.
The title 8 and a half reflects the quantity of film work by Fellini before 1963 when the work was created.
While the central actor in the film he tries to work out what the film is to be about and which actors he needs, he takes a break at a health clinic and reviews aspects of his life and relationships, in Fellini fashion, which is to surround himself with women, his intelligent and attractive wife and mother authority who knows him like a book and wishes for an honesty she can continue to love and live with, a married mistress who he wants to be fantasy lover, other, actresses and memories of women past. Being an intelligent and educated Italian, Catholic church figures also predominate his past and his present, and being the 1960’s he decides that the film framework should be science fiction and arranges for a set to created for a space launch using a full size Meccano like kitwork. There are a series of disconnected visual scenes of a Europe still struggling to break free from World War II and a few bouts of home truths about marital and adult sexual relationships, and some philosophising about religion and life generally.
As someone who finds it difficult to conclude a day without writing, I use word concepts to communicate images of life, whereas the film maker uses images to communicate word concepts, and as with all meaningful art, its value to anyone else arises from what they bring to the experience of what is written, said or shown. I believe what I am doing is art and it does not matter to me if no one else considers what I do as art or as art meaningful to them although it does matter to me if someone interacts and expresses a reaction..
The high point in Eight and a Half is when the central character, the Director, decides that he has nothing to say at that moment in a cinematic medium, and calls for the set to deconstructed within two days and the vast expenditure to be written off. However as a personality there is no sense that he has fundamentally changed and has not intention doing so. In fact his situation has improved because his wife and mistress appear to have established a relationship which offers the prospects of a ménage a trios. plus.
He has followed the advice of Paul McKenna that if you go to bed and do not fall asleep, get up do some exercise and until you feel ready to try and sleep again, and in general if you are not sleepy do not go to bed to try and sleep. His mistake was commence a film without knowing what he wanted to achieve.
I appreciate if you are a film maker having spent a large amount of other people’s money in pre production, a contracted performer, or with a commission with a set completion date there is a general obligation to meet the commitment and the professional should be able to do, but the outcome will necessarily be art.
The problem for most artists is not the artistic block. They are ready to perform but there is no one out there to sponsor and buy their work, so they have to do something else to provide for themselves and their families.
In a state communist society, the state decides on the importance of art in the lives of people, and controls the number of artists in training, the number who are paid to work as artists and what happens to their output and who is, and who is not, allowed to experience what they do or have done. Moreover it can set the framework in which work has to created and performed and punish those who refuse to act as required or whose work fails to measure up to state requirements, and similarly by control of the media it can control the number of professional critics and their response to any work allowed to be made public. From what I have experienced the art output actually reflects the totalitarian nature of the society.
In the film Eight and a Half a media person asks the central character the question How do you reconcile Catholicism with Marxism to which no answer is given but where the answer should have been, what a silly question because there is no conflict as both are hierarchical authoritarian totalities with in practice the same methods and objectives! Those with the power in the present can enjoy life to the maximum while those doing the work will get their reward as a concept, with in one the concept of an after life, a heaven, and in the other a better society for future generations. Today the same question when posed to the Muslim fundamentalist merits the same answer.
In the ideal unrestrained and anarchical free capitalist society anyone can be an artist whether they train or not, but there is no attempt to match the number in training, or seeking sponsorship with the need for artists within the society. Those who are poor, sick and starving sometimes leave behind work which future generations may consider to be great art but many with greatness potential will be forced to do something else and their work remain uncreated. Those in society with great wealth can determine what art is considered fashionable or good, regardless of what critics say, by the price which they are willing to pay for the art and their willingness to make the art available, and to whom, friends and family, those willing to pay or through charitable sponsorship.
In the utopian socialist model the people collectively decide the importance of art in their lives, the number of artists they need and then ensure through training provision and sponsorship there is a constant flow of functioning artists and that their output is available for anyone in the community who wishes to share in their experience. The role of the state is that of a coordinator and facilitator. There will always be more artists produced than immediate need because some will die accidentally or naturally before their time or decide they want to do something else or what they produce does not meet the immediate needs and inclinations of people. The society provides opportunity for those who want to change and do something else, and enable those who started doing something else to become artists. The system is organic and changes according to collective preferences. There is no control or censorship over what is produced and what is available to experience.
In the UK we have attempted a compromise between the utopian socialist model and the unfettered capitalist. Anyone can be an artist but only a proportion will be able to earn a living and continue to do so throughout their lives. The state decides on the available finance to assist in the number of those being trained through its further and adult education system and then leaves individual educational and specialist institutions to determine numbers and directions. It also has an influence on the number able to earn a living through their work by using national and regional agencies to distribute patronage through commissions, through exhibition support and purchasing completed works for the nation. It is the private collector rather than the state which determines the market price for contemporary work and for historical art work although the recent tension between the Role of the State sponsored Tate and Saatchi has been productive, preventing either from becoming a dictator. The state through Parliamentary Law and the Judiciary through the rule of Law set and develop the framework in which completed art work can be distributed and performed. The internet and inexpensive travel has made art international.
Individual artists will still have their blocks, will want to do something different or come into art work creation after other activities but the scope and opportunity has reached the borders of utopia. If you want, and are prepared to pay the individual price, you can do. Yes you can.
Amongst the continuing alarming news of economic meltdown and banking failure, there has been the miracle of the Hudson River. Understandably the priority of the airline and civil authorities is to determine the cause of the near disaster, and the action that may be necessary as a consequence. It is right that the Pilots and crew concentrate on responding to their official enquiries and that any public statement is made within their obligations as continuing employees. Meanwhile it right that the escape is celebrated, those involved are able to recover and those who prevented any loss of life are honoured in time.
My sympathies are with Israel and the people of Gaza. The United Nations, and the rest of the Arab World must deal with Hamas otherwise Israel is fully justified in taking action to do so. When reporting the number of woman and children killed in Gaza over the past three weeks the international media should also list the number of women and children who have died because of starvation, preventable disease, armed conflicts, individual acts of violence and preventable accidents in general. I would be amazed if the total is less than 100000. The Good Samaritan is not selective.
Russia is said to have reach agreement with the Ukraine. The rest of us is right to remains distrustful and sceptical and urgently look for alternatives.
Someone in the Middle East is willing to pay over £100 million to bring a Brazilian playing football in Italy to Manchester. Manchester City will become the greatest city in the world to watch football and become hated by the rest of the world as a consequence. There is a moral in that.
A lot of people are going to make a lotta lotta money from the anointing of Barrack Obama on Tuesday. Unfortunately I will be on a coach travelling to London and miss the inauguration speech which hopefully will set the tone of the place of the USA in the world over the next four to eight years. Watching Fox and CNN has been fascinating. Fox News is about to have nervous breakdown. Do Republicans hold Wakes?
I was asked if I would like some DVD’s for Christmas and decided on Fellini rather than Bergman or Almodovar, choosing the neo realist La Strada, and boxed collection of La Dolce Vita, I Vitelloni, Giuliette Degli Spiriti and 8 and Half. I decided on Fellini rather than the brilliant psychological realism and spiritual explorations of Bergman or the anarchistic and raunchy humour of Almodovar, because in his later films Fellini explored the soul of the creative artist in the contemporary world of post World War Europe,
The truth about Federico Fellini’s Eight and a half is that it will only appeal to the film industry and to creatives. I cannot imagine the average Saturday night cinema audience sitting through more than a few minutes, or those now packing auditoriums to see Slumdog or Mama Mia, This observation is not intended as a criticism of the film or of the average audience who would not find Eight and Half engaging or entertaining.
At one level this is a film about a film with Marcello Mastroianni as the film director who declares I have nothing to say but I want to say it. In my case I always had something to say but failed to find a satisfying form of expression until 2002 and it was August 2003 before I commenced to work on 101.
The title 8 and a half reflects the quantity of film work by Fellini before 1963 when the work was created.
While the central actor in the film he tries to work out what the film is to be about and which actors he needs, he takes a break at a health clinic and reviews aspects of his life and relationships, in Fellini fashion, which is to surround himself with women, his intelligent and attractive wife and mother authority who knows him like a book and wishes for an honesty she can continue to love and live with, a married mistress who he wants to be fantasy lover, other, actresses and memories of women past. Being an intelligent and educated Italian, Catholic church figures also predominate his past and his present, and being the 1960’s he decides that the film framework should be science fiction and arranges for a set to created for a space launch using a full size Meccano like kitwork. There are a series of disconnected visual scenes of a Europe still struggling to break free from World War II and a few bouts of home truths about marital and adult sexual relationships, and some philosophising about religion and life generally.
As someone who finds it difficult to conclude a day without writing, I use word concepts to communicate images of life, whereas the film maker uses images to communicate word concepts, and as with all meaningful art, its value to anyone else arises from what they bring to the experience of what is written, said or shown. I believe what I am doing is art and it does not matter to me if no one else considers what I do as art or as art meaningful to them although it does matter to me if someone interacts and expresses a reaction..
The high point in Eight and a Half is when the central character, the Director, decides that he has nothing to say at that moment in a cinematic medium, and calls for the set to deconstructed within two days and the vast expenditure to be written off. However as a personality there is no sense that he has fundamentally changed and has not intention doing so. In fact his situation has improved because his wife and mistress appear to have established a relationship which offers the prospects of a ménage a trios. plus.
He has followed the advice of Paul McKenna that if you go to bed and do not fall asleep, get up do some exercise and until you feel ready to try and sleep again, and in general if you are not sleepy do not go to bed to try and sleep. His mistake was commence a film without knowing what he wanted to achieve.
I appreciate if you are a film maker having spent a large amount of other people’s money in pre production, a contracted performer, or with a commission with a set completion date there is a general obligation to meet the commitment and the professional should be able to do, but the outcome will necessarily be art.
The problem for most artists is not the artistic block. They are ready to perform but there is no one out there to sponsor and buy their work, so they have to do something else to provide for themselves and their families.
In a state communist society, the state decides on the importance of art in the lives of people, and controls the number of artists in training, the number who are paid to work as artists and what happens to their output and who is, and who is not, allowed to experience what they do or have done. Moreover it can set the framework in which work has to created and performed and punish those who refuse to act as required or whose work fails to measure up to state requirements, and similarly by control of the media it can control the number of professional critics and their response to any work allowed to be made public. From what I have experienced the art output actually reflects the totalitarian nature of the society.
In the film Eight and a Half a media person asks the central character the question How do you reconcile Catholicism with Marxism to which no answer is given but where the answer should have been, what a silly question because there is no conflict as both are hierarchical authoritarian totalities with in practice the same methods and objectives! Those with the power in the present can enjoy life to the maximum while those doing the work will get their reward as a concept, with in one the concept of an after life, a heaven, and in the other a better society for future generations. Today the same question when posed to the Muslim fundamentalist merits the same answer.
In the ideal unrestrained and anarchical free capitalist society anyone can be an artist whether they train or not, but there is no attempt to match the number in training, or seeking sponsorship with the need for artists within the society. Those who are poor, sick and starving sometimes leave behind work which future generations may consider to be great art but many with greatness potential will be forced to do something else and their work remain uncreated. Those in society with great wealth can determine what art is considered fashionable or good, regardless of what critics say, by the price which they are willing to pay for the art and their willingness to make the art available, and to whom, friends and family, those willing to pay or through charitable sponsorship.
In the utopian socialist model the people collectively decide the importance of art in their lives, the number of artists they need and then ensure through training provision and sponsorship there is a constant flow of functioning artists and that their output is available for anyone in the community who wishes to share in their experience. The role of the state is that of a coordinator and facilitator. There will always be more artists produced than immediate need because some will die accidentally or naturally before their time or decide they want to do something else or what they produce does not meet the immediate needs and inclinations of people. The society provides opportunity for those who want to change and do something else, and enable those who started doing something else to become artists. The system is organic and changes according to collective preferences. There is no control or censorship over what is produced and what is available to experience.
In the UK we have attempted a compromise between the utopian socialist model and the unfettered capitalist. Anyone can be an artist but only a proportion will be able to earn a living and continue to do so throughout their lives. The state decides on the available finance to assist in the number of those being trained through its further and adult education system and then leaves individual educational and specialist institutions to determine numbers and directions. It also has an influence on the number able to earn a living through their work by using national and regional agencies to distribute patronage through commissions, through exhibition support and purchasing completed works for the nation. It is the private collector rather than the state which determines the market price for contemporary work and for historical art work although the recent tension between the Role of the State sponsored Tate and Saatchi has been productive, preventing either from becoming a dictator. The state through Parliamentary Law and the Judiciary through the rule of Law set and develop the framework in which completed art work can be distributed and performed. The internet and inexpensive travel has made art international.
Individual artists will still have their blocks, will want to do something different or come into art work creation after other activities but the scope and opportunity has reached the borders of utopia. If you want, and are prepared to pay the individual price, you can do. Yes you can.
Amongst the continuing alarming news of economic meltdown and banking failure, there has been the miracle of the Hudson River. Understandably the priority of the airline and civil authorities is to determine the cause of the near disaster, and the action that may be necessary as a consequence. It is right that the Pilots and crew concentrate on responding to their official enquiries and that any public statement is made within their obligations as continuing employees. Meanwhile it right that the escape is celebrated, those involved are able to recover and those who prevented any loss of life are honoured in time.
My sympathies are with Israel and the people of Gaza. The United Nations, and the rest of the Arab World must deal with Hamas otherwise Israel is fully justified in taking action to do so. When reporting the number of woman and children killed in Gaza over the past three weeks the international media should also list the number of women and children who have died because of starvation, preventable disease, armed conflicts, individual acts of violence and preventable accidents in general. I would be amazed if the total is less than 100000. The Good Samaritan is not selective.
Russia is said to have reach agreement with the Ukraine. The rest of us is right to remains distrustful and sceptical and urgently look for alternatives.
Someone in the Middle East is willing to pay over £100 million to bring a Brazilian playing football in Italy to Manchester. Manchester City will become the greatest city in the world to watch football and become hated by the rest of the world as a consequence. There is a moral in that.
A lot of people are going to make a lotta lotta money from the anointing of Barrack Obama on Tuesday. Unfortunately I will be on a coach travelling to London and miss the inauguration speech which hopefully will set the tone of the place of the USA in the world over the next four to eight years. Watching Fox and CNN has been fascinating. Fox News is about to have nervous breakdown. Do Republicans hold Wakes?
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