Re: interior monologue

From: gyoungblood (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Aug 15 2006 - 16:14:21 PDT


An excellent point. These are all great observations and examples, and I
thank you all again. I just thought of a marvelous example that doesn't
qualify because it's not a monologue -- the interior dialog between the
lovers in "L 'Age d'Or." At a time when people were falling all over
themselves to do lip sync, Bunuel devised two brilliant innovations in
nonsynchronous sound -- that scene, and the associative merging of
cowbell/barking dog that unites the lovers in acoustic space earlier in the
film.

----- Original Message -----
From: "JASON MIDDLETON" <email suppressed>
To: <email suppressed>
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: [FRAMEWORKS] interior monologue

> Another thing perhaps worth noting is the construction in documentary
> film of moments that suggest an interior monologue. When a subject's
> dialogue recorded in one scene or in an interview is matched with images
> of him/her in a different scene silently going about some
> business--driving, cooking, etc.--the editing creates the impression of
> giving us access to the subject's thoughts. One sees this technique in
> some portrait documentaries from the 60s and 70s, like Kernochan and
> Smith's film Marjoe, and it's used in An American Family. Nowadays, you
> see it all the time, in films like American Movie.
>
> Jason Middleton
> Department of English/Film and Media Studies Program
> University of Rochester
>
> On Aug 15, 2006, at 5:17 PM, Ken Bawcom wrote:
>
>> I do understand the distinction you are making, but I think at times it
>> can be a close call. In Kurosawa's "Dersu Uzala," it's definitely
>> voice-over narration, but in "Ikiru," I'd call it a genuine interior
>> monologue. As you noted, film noir (I'm a big fan) is rife with both
>> sides of the line. I would argue that films such as "Dark Passage," and
>> "Lady In The Lake," where we don't even see the protagonist, but see
>> through their eyes, are meant to be true interior monologue, and I
>> accept them as such. There are at least a couple of noir films where the
>> protagonist has lost their memory, and we get what I would call a true
>> interior monologue. Sorry, their names elude me at the moment! It's been
>> so long since I saw it that I can't be sure, but I think of Richard
>> Lester's film "The Bed Sitting Room" as having interior monologue.
>>
>> Ken B.
>>
>>
>> Quoting gyoungblood <email suppressed>:
>>
>>> I'm looking for examples in narrative cinema of real interior
>>> monologues, as opposed to voice-over narration disguised as an interior
>>> monologue, as in "Sunset Boulevard." A real interior monologue is
>>> first-person present-tense speech in which the protagonist talks to him
>>> or herself, not to the spectator. In other words, subjective rather
>>> than objective speech. For example, the protagonist might be lost and
>>> we hear him or her say "Where am I?" Or they are drunk and say, "Wow, I
>>> drank too much!" I saw a great one recently in an Anthony Mann noir (I
>>> think), where a single monologue goes from objective to subjective and
>>> back to objective. But I can't remember the title. I don't want to
>>> restrict this to story movies. Experimental examples would be great as
>>> long as the monologue is actually spoken. I have already thought of
>>> Kuchar.
>>>
>>>
>>> Gene Youngblood
>>> Department of Moving Image Arts
>>> The College of Santa Fe
>>> 1600 St. Michael's Drive
>>> Santa Fe, NM. 87505 USA
>>> Vox: +1.505.473.6406
>>> Fax: +1.505.473.6403
>>> Office: email suppressed
>>> Home: email suppressed
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Those who would give up essential liberty
>> to purchase a little temporary safety
>> deserve neither liberty, nor safety."
>> Benjamin Franklin 1775
>>
>> "I know that the hypnotized never lie... Do ya?"
>> Pete Townshend 1971
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.