Confessions of St. Augustine (A 21st Century Outsider)

Confessions of St. Augustine (A 21st Century Outsider)

Remember The Outsiders? And that famous question? Who was the casting director for that one?… Let’s see, you had Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane – all of whom were essentially unknown at that time. A close second – Magnificent Seven – they weren’t all unknown – but it certainly launched the careers for most of them: Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn… American Graffiti – again, all of whom were all unknown, other than Ron Howard’s portrayal of Opie: Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Quinlan, Bo Hopkins, and the rest who went on to TV Fame – Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Suzanne Somers, etc…

Okay – with me so far? Now, think back to the greats. Did the movies make the actors? Or the actors make the movies? Obviously both -but to follow this whole line of thinking going back through the last posts – how much was influenced by the times? Or? – how much influenced the times?

For example, Brando and Gable could in no way be switched (e.g. – Mutiny on the Bounty). And yet weren’t both a product of their times? Or again, did they create their times? The Wild One for instance or Waterfront or Streetcar – which was originally Blanche’s play – not Stanley’s. Although everyone thought Mitchell wrote Rhett for Gable – that wasn’t the case either. It’s only that all of America couldn’t see any other actor playing that part. So think of all those movies and ask yourself – not only could nobody else play those parts – but perhaps the most important question of all is did the art (and the actors) produce the times? Or were they (the art and the actors) a product of the times? Was Gone with the Wind really about the Civil War? Or America’s dilemma and consequential challenge during the Great Depression? Was Catch-22 really about World War II? Or Vietnam? Even though it was written in 1961. In Confessions of Zeno, the novel ends with the image of someone creating what in terms of those days was a bomb that would blow up the world (1922).

Although that question will always persist – the link between the two: the art (and the actors) and its effect on all of us. After War and Peace (a novel more than 1,200 pages) Tolstoy then goes on for another 150 Pages explaining why Napoleon didn’t change the times – but rather was a product of the times (the old determinism versus existentialism argument – in Christian-Judaic terms it’d be free-will versus predestination). Because then one has to ask – what and who created those times? The individual or the masses? And yet who are the masses but a collection of individuals – all of whom are of varying degrees of influence. Question is who has the best forum? And which forum has the most influence? The politician? The military leader? etc., etc. – or the person who influences the minds of all them? The hidden persuaders: such as the philosophers and the ideologue? Or the people who best express those ideologies? Because in all cases, it really comes down to who can take their point of view beyond the mere clinical and transcend it to a living experience – something only the artist can do.

“You want answers?”

“I want the truth!”

And of course, we all know the answer to that one and who said it and in what movie. The same guy who said, “Now that Brando’s gone, the rest of us get to move up a notch.” (although I would disagree – he is the one actor who wouldn’t need to move up a notch and although it’s true he could never have been a Stanley, a Terry, or a Vito – neither could Brando have been a McMurphy, a Jake, or a Joker).

Anyway, one last example: Freud’s Electra Complex was based on the inordinate amount of statistics based on his case studies where women accused their fathers of sexual abuse. Freud’s conclusion: they couldn’t have all been true because there were far too many; therefore, it must be the other way around – they only wished their father had! What an injustice to all those women out there! – not only them – but for generations to come! “You want the truth?” – “You can’t handle the truth!” and so from Freud on, generations of women have been victimized by the “father” of modern psychology because he couldn’t “handle the truth” either. And yet Tess of the d’ubervilles (see LVI [56]) written in1891 had more effect on me than all the statistics out there. I was ready to lead the charge in the “Me Too Movement” and I’m only a man.

“Only” – see, what I mean? Already I’m ashamed of my sex. Only art can achieve that.

Tess, the ultimate victim, after being victimized, says to her mother: “how could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago. Why didn’t you tell me there was danger in men-folk? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to fend hands against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance o’ learning in that way and you did not help me!”

So? – read the book? And if not the book, see the movie. Best: A&E version. Second: BBC version and as far as Polansky’s – even though it won three Academy Awards and France’s Cesar Award for best picture – don’t bother – it’s too watered down (which if you knew Polansky’s background with little girls, you’d understand why).