Got the reviewers’ comments back on the proposal, and generally quite happy and inspired by what one in particular had to say. More focus certainly is necessary, but I knew that even as I finished writing the proposal; I just wasn’t sure what would most interest people. Now it seems I can cut the 1971 chapter, which is a huge relief, because I wasn’t much enjoying researching it or planning it. Some of the books and articles the reviewer recommended are also useful, though the emphasis on Camera Politica made me think that book would be more closely aligned with my goals than it turns out it is (the library had a copy, and I picked it up yesterday). It is useful, and I’m definitely glad to know about it, but it’s weakened by doctrinaire marxism and generally predictable, often heavy-handed readings of the films. This is actually one of the things that inspires me to want to do this work — the majority of what I’ve read about 1980s popular movies is okay, sometimes insightful, but generally too easy. A lot of that work, especially from the late-80s and early-90s, does the necessary groundwork, but at this point we should be able to take a more nuanced and complex view of the 1980s.
I was also excited that the reviewer seemed really interested in the application to ‘80s films of Damasio’s ideas and Deleuze’s approach. These were both late additions for me, things I discovered as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about, so not as well developed in the proposal as they should have been, but that also happened because though they are things that excite me, they are also things I have very little background in, so am quite afraid I will misinterpret and make a fool of myself with. But one of the basic mantras I need going forward is, clearly: “More Damasio! More Deleuze!”
To help focus, I want, then, two main strands of the book—
- Conjunction of films and paramilitary, far-right ideology
- Emotional aesthetics in the politics and films
With those two goals in mind, I think I can fashion a new outline.
No comments:
Post a Comment