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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 11h

Let’s Get Lost

(I don’t have Chet Baker’s voice)

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 14h

Diane Keaton in Woody Allen’s mockumentary, The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971).

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 15h

Another example:
Frenesi's father, a blacklisted Hollywood film technician during the McCarthy-era, is named Hubbell, a nod to the character played by Robert Redford in The Way We Were.

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 16h

Here is a greater description of the "amulet" and how it came to be passed along —

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 17h

Gotta *dig

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 18h

His quote of saying the work “doesn’t read the room” comes across as sighs from someone who has the tremendous privilege of experiencing what’s happening from some other room most of us wouldn’t be allowed in.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 18h

Right? I mean, weren’t the values of family, community, solidarity, & cooperation in the face of unchecked aggression & power once fully appreciated by individuals, regardless of political affiliation? Or are they now just “musty relics” for those with hard-ons for displays of Authoritarianism?

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 19h

I definitely agree that Anderson makes strong use of the inherent weaknesses and failures of the French 75, especially as they are contrasted with the anarchic, adhocracy of Sensei’s network, a juxtaposition Ellis conveniently ignored or else remained utterly ignorant of.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 19h

Gotta did the stinging criticism and multiple use of “musty” from an author/critic who no one under 40 knows, and for those over 40 was last professionally and culturally relevant over 20 years ago. I’ll go out on a limb and say OBAA will have greater shelf life than, say, The Canyons.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 21h

The “trust device” from Pynchon’s Vineland—

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 22h

I really like his I Vitelloni (1953) and La Strada (1954), which retain elements of neorealism. Both, I believe, heavily impacted Scorsese, the former influencing Mean Streets, the latter, Raging Bull.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 1d

While watching Rome, Open City and Paisan a few years back, I was rather surprised to learn that Fellini was a screenwriter for both.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 1d

One of the pleasures of reading Pynchon is getting his movie references.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 1d

Fluid, spontaneous, and decentralized

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 1d

Having young children at this moment in America has never made me feel as vulnerable as I do now.

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 2d

The two films, and more specifically my intense and immediate identification with their protagonists, that perceptibly altered pathways in my life.

Charlie Cappa in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973).

Freddie Quell in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master (2012).

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 2d

“Any day now
I will hear you say
’Goodbye, my love’
And you'll be on your way
Then my wild beautiful bird
You will have flown, oh
Any day now
I'll be all alone, oh …”

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 2d

“Any Day Now”

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

Frenesi's post-partum struggles in Pynchon's Vineland:

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for the recommendation. I, also, am very interested in seeing The Spirit of the Beehive someday.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

Right on. I know Baum's Oz Stories were tremendously popular though I am unfamiliar with them.

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

Again, for me, a fascinating discussion around these competing visions of resistance, would be Charlene/Willa’s resolution in the film.

The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

cooperation, and love.

3/end

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

Anderson begins with the failures and disintegration of the French 75, an armed militant movement, yet moves to what I think is prime Pynchon territory with he and del Toro's wonderful creation of Sensei and his network, the epitome of a Resistance's greatest strengths: community, solidarity,

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The Civilian @tajiisawol.bsky.social · 3d

For me, as a reader of Pynchon's Vineland, an interesting comparison to plumb alongside Anderson's One Battle After Another would be around Violence as a constructive means of confrontation against Authoritarian Power. The introduction of a gun into Vineland's radical movement decimates it.

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