The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a story which leaves nothing to the imagination. It is a single dimension where nothing is insinuated or implied. This novel and its film counterpart are the answer to the shadows and newspapers of Piccadilly. The characters are as subtle as buildings. The psychological intrigues, hidden desires and ambiguities which are pivotal to other films, novels and artworks are made explicit in The Fountainhead. Everything in the work is physically represented.

The existence of the novel itself,as a precursor to the film, is physically present as a precursor in the film. The characters thoughts and feelings are stated plainly, be it through dialogue or an over dramatic staring at ones self in the mirror.

An attempt at subtlety may be seen in the scene where Dominique visits the quarry and first sees Rourke. I am a fan of euphemisms as much as the next former-catholic-schoolgirl, but seriously, suggestively drilling into stone doesn't leave much room for interpretation (of all the machinery he could be using?!).

The use of dialogue in this novel and the film is surprisingly refreshing. Very rarely do people explicitly state how they feel and what they think. This is because the characters in The Fountainhead are just that, characters and not people. They are not real, not layered, not morally and psychologically conflicted. They are the physical embodiment of an idea of a perspective.

Real Rebels?

The whole concept of a rebel architect was a little lost on me. I was unsure whether this was meant to be a serious issue. In the beginning f both the novel and the film, Rourke is expelled because he such a dangerous little architect. I could imagine the other architects being outraged that he refrained from using columns both inside or outside. And as their monocles fall into their glasses of champagne Rourke puts on a pair of aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket and rides off on a motorcycle.

This comical rebel reminded me of The Crying of Lot 49. A rogue postal service just doesn't seem that hardcore and yet they seem to think they are the message delivery mafia. Perhaps it is just the years of dramatic tales of good and evil and characters who are genuinely rebels which makes these institutions so funny.

Having no interest in progressive architecture (seriously, can you imagine how many people it will take to wash the windows on the new law school building?), I could not relate to the ideas of Howard Rourke. The coldness and flatness of his designs were matched only by the coldness and flatness of himself. They raised the issue of function over fashion as well as designer and audience. If Rourke wants to make his buildings without compromise then he and his ideas can live on the street for the rest of his life. Art is more eternal than anything functional. Function is temporal and is explicit and is not what people want. People want fantasy, not reality.

There are elements of The Fountainhead which did not annoy me. The explicit nature of the characters was a good thing. The unmediated honesty is a welcome change from other novels and films.

King Kong vs Wise Blood

The similar experience of the cinematic in both King Kong and Wise Blood is most significant given the juxtaposing themes and beliefs exemplar in these texts. The aesthetic and meaning in the two works are so different that the cinema experience becomes a uniting factor and this is the strongest perception of the cinema in these two texts.

In the beginning...

To start with the differences, these films are definitive opposites. King Kong is a story about an expedition whereas Wise Blood is about homecoming. The image of the wold in these works is subsequently very different. King Kong is a worldly film. This is not only seen in the juxtaposing of New York and Skull Island. It is apparent with every reference to other countries which are scattered over the globe. They are western and oriental, big and small. What is most important about these references is that they are fluent. Where Wise Blood is isolated to Southern American culture, a region synonymous with racial distinctions and judgment of neighboring cultures, King Kong is not judgmental but curious about foreign culture.

This is best shown in the scene where the characters first interact with the native population on the island. That the two groups communicate in the native is significant. When I went to Hong Kong with family, they seemed to believe anyone could understand English if it was spoken loud and slow enough. For this reason, I was surprised to see the respect that the Americans in King Kong had for other cultures. They seem to acknowledge the customs of the natives. The initiative to try film the ritual suggests curiosity and want to understand this.

In contrast, Wise Blood is focused on judgment. The characters believe they have knowledge and are not curious about others or the world. This is subsequent to the world experience they believe they have. Belief is an interesting concept in Wise Blood. The nature of religion is belief without knowledge. What faith is there in a church without Christ?

Human vs Divine...

As Wise Blood debates the nature of divinity, King Kong offers question on the nature of humanity. Apes behaving as humans, humans dressing and acting as apes. Humans, perhaps, are trying to capture these primitive instincts. It may suggest that humans are not so progressed from apes. In the film they are driven by desire and not controlled by reason. It exposes the animalistic in the human.

Alternatively, human is all there is for Wise Blood. The very title insinuates reason and knowledge. Furthermore, Blood is aesthetically human and, more importantly, mortal. The absence of ultimate divinity assumes a certain divinity in the human.

After reading/watching these works consecutively we are left with a definitive human experience, between the animalistic and the divine.

And now, the cinema...

The balance which is humanity is dramatized in the cinematic experience. It allows for creation of people through characters, the control of fate within the plot and it creates followers. It also provides for expression of unrestricted desires, as seen in Piccadilly. In the experience, film allows for escape from reason and can expose innate emotions, as seen in Wise Blood. The cinema construction and experience is what unites these two opposing films.

Musings on Manhatta

After watching Manhatta I was surprised at how similar that representation of New York is to the modern city. I was in New York over Christmas and some of the pictures which define the modern city were mirrored exactly in the definitive symphony, Manhatta.

There is a constant flow of people. The images of construction in the film are eerily prophetic of the modern identity as a major attraction is the World Trade Centre site. The symbol of trains is still indicative of cosmopolitan life in Manhattan. The global image of New York as a leading world city and a dynamic city is at odds with the persistent, static industry which defines the city.