A few more thoughts as I eat my lunch :-) Please have mercy as I have not seen the film as many times as I ought to have, and am therefore talking through my hat (aka business as usual).
1. actual!Bruce vs. film!Bruce in the acid scene
It is the scarecrow part that I find problematic, b/c that is undoubtedly meant to represent the bizarre and fantastical world of someone under the influence. But did film!Bruce put those images together somehow, or is that actual!Bruce? I am disappointed if it is actual!Bruce, since that works outside the whole mockumentary project. :-(
I would like to believe (although I don't know that I do believe it) that somehow it is still film!Bruce's manipulation, because the film crew throughout has been filming the band with a kind of Schadenfreude-filled exultation; Joe killing himself is the icing on the cake for film!Bruce. If film!Bruce did manipulate those images, then possibly, as you suggest, he is making the whole acid scene about himself as a participant.
Hmm, would this mean that the whole film is about film!Bruce getting the story of a lifetime? I would have to rewatch it more carefully if I wanted to support that view. How much does film!Bruce manipulate other events? He is the one who told Joe that Billy was leaving, for instance, setting into motion that chain of events. Would Billy have told Joe himself, more kindly? Of course, one could take the opposite view, that the band is exploiting the film crew (e.g., Billy was counting on the film crew telling Joe the bad news about his leaving.)
Oww, now brain hurts.
2. Dionysian!Bucky
I'm probably reading too much into it from a classical POV, but it is hard not to see The Bacchae here from that angle. Which means that someone is being punished for taking the god in vain. Bucky is a powerful figure in the story; he is almost godlike in reputation, and in person, he also exudes a strong influence. Next to Bucky, Joe appears much weaker.
...and I think I should stop now and just rewatch the damn movie!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regna
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-19 08:08 pm (UTC)1. actual!Bruce vs. film!Bruce in the acid scene
It is the scarecrow part that I find problematic, b/c that is undoubtedly meant to represent the bizarre and fantastical world of someone under the influence. But did film!Bruce put those images together somehow, or is that actual!Bruce? I am disappointed if it is actual!Bruce, since that works outside the whole mockumentary project. :-(
I would like to believe (although I don't know that I do believe it) that somehow it is still film!Bruce's manipulation, because the film crew throughout has been filming the band with a kind of Schadenfreude-filled exultation; Joe killing himself is the icing on the cake for film!Bruce. If film!Bruce did manipulate those images, then possibly, as you suggest, he is making the whole acid scene about himself as a participant.
Hmm, would this mean that the whole film is about film!Bruce getting the story of a lifetime? I would have to rewatch it more carefully if I wanted to support that view. How much does film!Bruce manipulate other events? He is the one who told Joe that Billy was leaving, for instance, setting into motion that chain of events. Would Billy have told Joe himself, more kindly? Of course, one could take the opposite view, that the band is exploiting the film crew (e.g., Billy was counting on the film crew telling Joe the bad news about his leaving.)
Oww, now brain hurts.
2. Dionysian!Bucky
I'm probably reading too much into it from a classical POV, but it is hard not to see The Bacchae here from that angle. Which means that someone is being punished for taking the god in vain. Bucky is a powerful figure in the story; he is almost godlike in reputation, and in person, he also exudes a strong influence. Next to Bucky, Joe appears much weaker.
...and I think I should stop now and just rewatch the damn movie!