Posted on 03/05/2010 12:41:49 PM PST by EveningStar
...This has never been a children's story. There's even a little sadism embedded in Carroll's fantasy. It reminds me of uncles who tickle their nieces until they scream...
(Excerpt) Read more at rogerebert.suntimes.com ...
We’re talking about literary worth not general ideas or moral instruction. For your information, no one denies the King James Bible as a standard of English Prose and Nietzsche in the original German is one of the great aphorists.
who knew FreeRepublic had so many Lit. Majors...
And that's just my point. To some people the substance, meaning, and content outweigh whatever merits the prose may have. I would rather entrust my imagination to an author who will open me up to a worldview grounded in deep, Biblical truth than one who is communicating a bunch of self-indulgent, twisted nonsense.
I guess you don’t read much then. Anything from Greece or Rome or even the Bible. Those truths you speak so highly of come from the very stories and directions that the Bible contains and yet the stories themselves are not necessarily masterpieces ( oh some are by all means but not all).
At least I know that you protect yourself from anything that is perceived by you as eveil and bad.
As I recall folks used to burn books they didn’t agree with.
Don’t bother to respond. I will no longer attempt to discuss with you anything of substance. I would not want to try you brain
At least I know that you protect yourself from anything that is perceived by you as eveil and bad... As I recall folks used to burn books they didn’t agree with.
With all due respect, you are being intellectually dishonest. I have a right to my reading preferences and standards. This does not mean I believe others are not entitled to theirs.
I think it's vital for people to read modern writers such as Nietzsche to better analyze the amount of damage "thinkers" like him have wrought upon the human mind and soul, not to mention upon civilization as a whole.
Your implied accusation can be likened to the lies people spread about Palin, saying she banned books from her local library.
Goodness I don’t understand how this became a debate! All I initially said was that from what I know of the film and Tim Burton’s work in general: I assume the movie will be a visual masterpiece that lacks depth, and will not give us a reason to be emotionally invested. The reviewers who HAVE seen it are saying just that.
‘Twas brillig and the snidely tomes
Did Ebert and Siskel on the web.
All flimsy were the movie tropes
And the gnome wafts on Depp.
I wasn’t making the accusations the other poster is making but I will say that your take on Nietzsche is sort of a popular misconception. He was descrbing what he saw as the contemporary condition not advocating. He was also writing in parables so you can’t take everything literally. Not to mention the fact that a lot what people used to think was Nietzsche was actually his vile sister’s forgeries.
Agreed. Narina is a mildly imaginative if somewhat obvious allegory. Alice is a Masterpiece.
It was also the first book of the golden century (1860-1960) where books were written for children that weren't aimed at propaganderising the notion of conformity to the rules of society (whatever they were at the time - Goody two shoes and Heather's Two Mommies: this is what you should think, don't question).
There are two Alice books and they are quite different from one another. ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ is based on the logic of a game of cards so it emphasizes randomness and disorder which Alice has trouble deciphering. But ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is based on the logic of Chess, so it emphasizes an almost strait-jacket logic that Alice finds difficulty adhering to.
Edward Scissorhands has got to be one of my all time faves.
Kind of a Doctor Seuss meets Vincent Price sort of thing!
Burton is brilliant, the pastel houses all lined up, the satire is magnificent.
I prefer the Tom Petty Version. It was only three minutes long.
If you haven't seen it, you ought to see Big Fish. It's very visually trippy, but in a different way from Burton's usual, and it's mostly character-driven. Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney are both amazing in it. I found it much more emotionally engaging than Burton's usual. Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands, despite their weird trappings, are also very human stories (and, yes, the real Ed Wood was about that weird).
Ed Wood was much stranger. He also ended his life in porn and penury. The film was pretty santized.
I didn’t say he was a stand up guy just that the standards about this sort of thing were different back then. He certainly had his quirks. In any case that doesn’t diminish the work at this late date. If you exclude questionable people from the past then you’d have to throw out most of Western Culture.
I'm with you on that. As a child, I found it boring and depressing. This kind of outlandish story has never appealed to me. I don't have to be entertained by stories with impossible premises. The real world provides me with more than enough awesome and mysterious opportunities for adventure.
Yeah i agree you he had quirks whether he acted on any, we will never know..
I tried reading Alice and could not,that is why i bought the annotated version to help me understand it better,it did but still did not enjoy the book..
I did not post the link to denigrate Carroll’s work it was more of a talking point,maybe make you understand the author more...
The book was marketed as being for children, and it should not have been.
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