Film Conversations: Recent Episodes
Dennis Claxton, RC Roberts, Dwayne Monroe
The standard measure of the quality and importance of a movie, or, to be grand, ‘film’, is enjoyment.
This is certainly one measure, but not the only one. There are layers to be considered: movies as a capitalist enterprise, as a propaganda form, as art, as a fleeting means of escape from the psychological and material pressures imposed by a collapsing world, as a peek into how the past - or, people in the past with access to money, technical capability and script writing skill thought of their world - and many other things I’m surely neglecting.
We’ll talk about these things, avoiding the tendency of men to waste time with formless chatter. There’s no time for that; the world is burning. There’ll be structure, agendas, talking points and laughing no doubt.
So not grim, but, well, how should I put this: also not a clown car of opinion.
Hello everyone, this is Dwayne Monroe, one of the hosts, alongside RC Charles Roberts and Dennis Claxton, of the Film Conversations podcast. In today’s episode, we are very happy to welcome Mary Wild to the show to talk about Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo. On her Twitter page (I refuse to call that platform, X) Mary describes herself as a Freudian cinephile and feminine jouissance maximalist, which is both a marvelous phrase and fantastic declaration. Mary is the creator of the Projections lecture series at the Freud Museum, London, co-host of the Projections Podcast, contributor to Evolution pod and the host of her own podcast on Freud, film and related topics. I’m happy to say I was a guest on Mary’s podcast a few months ago to talk about how AI is treated as a topic in film.
A note about this episode… We originally recorded an episode with Mary on August 6. Unfortunately, there was a technical problem that caused the loss of the entire recording. Very kindly, Mary agreed to come on again to re-record. We’re very glad and grateful that she did not only because it gives us a chance to talk with Mary about Vertigo but also, because it gives us a chance to more fully explore her Freudian approach to the film.
There will be links to all the references in the show notes. This was a great conversation which we looked forward to for some time; Vertigo is a brilliant film that rewards rewatching and Mary is a brilliant person to walk us through it. I hope you enjoy.
Links
Mary Wild Podcast
https://www.patreon.com/marywild
Freud Museum London
https://www.freud.org.uk
Projection Series at the Freud Museum
https://www.freud.org.uk/tag/projections/
Projections Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/2O5n4yhnRGpreyTS7tDfLm
Evolution of Horror Podcast
https://www.evolutionofhorror.com
In today's episode, my co-hosts and I will be talking about the work of Douglas Sirk, one of the great film directors of the 20th century. In the course of gathering notes for this episode and this introduction, I found an intriguing bio of Sirk, posted at the 'Senses of Cinema' website (link in show notes). I'll just read the first few paragraphs to set the stage.
"Douglas Sirk was one of the 20th century cinema’s great ironists. And perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of the films he made in Europe and America is the way they are able to create a gulf between how his characters see themselves and our view of them.
Sirk’s characters grapple with the same problems that have always afflicted men and women and parents and children, to do with love, death and social circumstance. In some cases, they do so in a world of melodrama – as in films as various as Schlussakkord (1936), La Habanera (1937), There’s Always Tomorrow (1955) and Imitation of Life (1958). In others, it’s a world of colour and music – as in the trio of comedy-musicals he made during the 1950s, Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1951), Meet Me at the Fair (1952) and Take Me to Town (1952), part of a series he had planned about small town America. In others, it’s the excitement of mystery, romance or adventure – in films such as Lured (1946), Taza, Son of Cochise (1953, shot in 3-D) and Captain Lightfoot (1954).
But Sirk adds another layer to the shape of the films and to his characters’ struggles within them. All around, but beyond the reach of their vision, are forces which define the parameters of their lives. These are evident at the most basic level, in the way that the plots almost always hinge on problems for which the only solution becomes a convenient miracle, a deus ex machina."
We will talk about Sirk's work and life broadly and more specifically, we will use his 1956 melodrama masterpiece, 'Written on the Wind' as the focus of our discussion. I hope you enjoy it.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Sirk
Interview with Sirk (1978)
https://www.filmcomment.com/article/sirkumstantial-evidence/
Sense of Cinema Bio: https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/great-directors/sirk/
Douglas Sirk Remembers (in German)
https://youtu.be/a0YfrQMoJIw
In today’s episode we speak with Dr. Isabel Millar, Author of The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence (published in 2021 - which I highly recommend). Dr. Millar is Associate Researcher at Newcastle University Department of Philosophy and both Fellow and Faculty at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies, Institute of Psychoanalysis.
She is currently working on her next book Patipolitics for Bloomsbury Philosophy.
Today’s film is Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland and released in 2014. The film is ably discussed in The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence from a Lacanian perspective, an appropriate toolkit.
I’ll use the synopsis Isabel provides in Chapter 5, titled What Can I Know? Artificial Enjoyment - from page 138 of her book:
"Ex Machina depicts the attempt of a young, male computer genius Caleb, to evaluate the potential “self-consciousness” of Ava, an embodied Artificial Intelligence, via the fabled Turing Test. Hidden away in a secret bunker in the woods, Caleb is watched over by tech Svengali Nathan, the creator of a series of female AIs who appear—physically at least—uncannily human. Over the course of several days, Caleb meets and talks with Ava and tries to discern what is really going on behind the perfectly beautiful silicone face. Very soon Caleb’s Turing Test turns into a love affair, as Ava implores him to help her escape captivity from her life of subservience at the whims of Nathan. By the end of the film Ava tricks Caleb into believing she wants him, kills Nathan and leaves Caleb for dead. She escapes the concrete bunker alone and, for the first time, steps outside into the lush green natural world."
We were very happy that Isabel granted us a bit of her time to discuss this film and the way it illustrates some of the themes of her book. Check out the show notes for links and references; we hope you enjoy.
Links The book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-67981-1
The film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Machina_(film)
Dr. MIllar’s homepage: https://www.isabelmillar.com
Dialogue between Dr. Millar and Mary Wild on Wild’s podcast (requires a patreon subscription): https://www.patreon.com/posts/56533141
In today’s episode, we speak with Dr. Robert Beshara Assistant Professor of Psychology and Humanities at Northern New Mexico College. He is also the founder of CriticalPsychology.org and a musician and composer. The music you hear in the background is istimtaa from Robert's excellent album, Horny Cricket (link in the show notes) For more information and Dr. Beshara's work, please visit www.robertbeshara.com
Today’s movie is The Killing, directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1956. I will read the Wikipedia synopsis for you now…
“The Killing is a 1956 American film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick and produced by James B. Harris. It was written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson and based on Lionel White's novel Clean Break. It stars Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, and Vince Edwards, and features Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Jay C. Flippen and Timothy Carey.
Johnny Clay is a veteran criminal planning one last heist before settling down and marrying Fay. He plans to steal $2 million from the money-counting room of a racetrack during a featured race. Johnny assembles a team consisting of a corrupt cop, a betting window teller to gain access to the backroom, a sharpshooter to shoot the favorite horse during the race to distract the crowd and keep the winnings from being paid out, a wrestler to provide another distraction by provoking a fight at the track bar, and a track bartender.”
It’s a fantastic film and Robert is an insightful and fun person to talk to so I hope you enjoy.
Resources Wiki entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(film)
Jim Thompson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(writer)
Robert Beshara’s album, ‘Horny Cricket’ (we’ll feature music from this album during the show): https://hornycricket.bandcamp.com/album/istimt
American Film Institute Entry: https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51890
Roger Ebert Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-killing-1956
Original Trailer: https://youtu.be/m9wMEDJuGnE
Sterling Hayden Interview: http://www.geraldpeary.com/interviews/ghi/
Making ‘The Killing’: An Auteur and His Writer:
https://vaguevisages.com/2023/03/24/the-killing-essay-stanley-kubrick-movie-film/
On Feb 22, 2023, Compact Magazine published an article by Slavoj Zizek titled, Wokeness is Here to Stay. In this article, Zizek makes several claims about the existence of woke and trans lobbies, exercising, somehow, power over a variety of public and private organizations and institutions. Unsurprisingly, this was controversial in left circles generally and among people who admire Zizek’s body of work and, let’s be honest, persona.
In the days and weeks following the article’s release there was a rush of activity - podcasts, essays and so on - either condemning or supporting Zizek (mostly supporting). The supportive responses used an interesting tactic encouraging people to, essentially, ignore the phrases Zizek clearly used, such as woke lobby to look deeper at the supposed Lacanian meanings behind it all.
For RC Charles Roberts and yours truly, this smelled of obfuscation and bad faith in a Sartrean sense. Both of us have enjoyed, and in various ways, learned from Zizek’s work on ideology, particularly as applied to film (which is one of the reasons Film Conversations seemed a good place to talk about this), so there was no tossing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. However, Zizek’s arguments, flimsy and offensive as they are, deserved an unequivocal response. So we each wrote an essay, analyzing and responding to Zizek’s Compact Magazine piece. Charles’ is entitled Living the Dream: On Slavoj Zizek and Wokeness and mine is Just One More Thing: Slavoj Zizek on Wokeness. We take very different approaches which, in the conversation you’re about to hear, we’ll discuss. I hope you enjoy it.
Links:
Wokeness is Here to Stay by Slavoj Zizek
https://compactmag.com/article/wokeness-is-here-to-stay
Living the Dream: On Slavoj Zizek and Wokeness by R.C. Roberts
https://ferocia.substack.com/p/living-the-dream-on-slavoj-zizek
Just One More Thing: Slavoj Zizek on Wokeness by Dwayne Monroe
https://ferocia.substack.com/p/just-one-more-thing-slavoj-zizek
Slavoj Zizek Vs Will Self in Dangerous Ideas
https://youtu.be/CId1iOWQUuo
This is an audio version of a video I recorded with Robert Beshara, RC Roberts and Matthew Flisfeder about the original, 1982 release of the movie ‘Blade Runner’ on the occasion of the film’s 40th anniversary. This was recorded before the Film Conversations podcast took its present form but is very much within our wheelhouse. In the introduction, I make reference to the guests’ websites (which appeared on-screen) which you’ll find listed below.
During this conversation, we explore the film using a postmodern lens (Matt Flisfeder), from a literary point of view (RC Roberts), from the perspective of memory (Robert Beshara) and as a resurrection of the Film Noir (moi). It was a good time.
Dr. Robert Beshara
Author of works such as a translation of Fundamentalism and Secularization by Egyptian scholar Mourad Wahba, artist and composer whose most recent music effort is an album based Horny Cricket You can learn more about Robert’s work at his website and here’s the URL
https://sites.google.com/site/robertkbeshara/home
Matthew Flisfelder
Assoc Professor of Rhetoric and Communications at the Univ of Winnipeg, and author of, among other works Postmodern Theory and Blade Runner. Here's Matthew's website:
https://matthewflisfeder.com
RC Charles Roberts, Internet polemicist, a student of the traditions of Jean Paul Sarre, Wiford Bion, Gore Vidal and HL Mencken to name some of the people who sit at what Charles calls his 'writers table'. You can read Charles' work at his Substack Ferocia Animi and here's the link
https://ferocia.substack.com
In today’s episode, which is our second, my co-hosts and I - Dennis Claxton and RC Charles Roberts - talk about two films from what’s known as the atomic age genre of science fiction - Panic in Year Zero and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Atomic age, in this context, refers to that period following the use of atomic weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the US, when fear, hope and wonder about atomic energy and weapons were right on the surface of the culture, influencing film and the form of science fiction and disaster cinema movie goers saw from the 1950s through the 1960s. Panic in the Year Zero, released in 1962 and starring Ray Milland, tells the story of a Los Angeles family who, while on a weekend camping trip, witness the destruction of their city by an atomic weapon and find themselves in a world that’s unraveling.
The Incredible Shrinking Man, starring Grant Williams, and based on a book (The Shrinking Man by is a very different film; a man is exposed to a radioactive cloud while on a boating trip with his wife that causes him to begin shrinking, losing height and mass at the rate of about an inch a week. The film, in its way, explores themes of masculinity and even human existence. This was a great conversation but you may at times notice a bit of coughing and sneezing on the audi track. Both Charles and Dennis were a bit under the weather when we recorded and I became so engaged in the flow of our chat I forgot at times to mute. Even so, I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed recording it.
Notes
Panic in Year Zero
Wiki Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_in_Year_Zero!
Film: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21x586
The Incredible Shrinking Man Wiki Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Man
Film: https://archive.org/details/tism-1957
Decent Cannibals by RC Roberts
https://ferocia.substack.com/p/decent-cannibals-on-the-situation
Double Bind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind
Jean Paul Sartre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre
Sartre’s Concept of Bad Faith
https://youtu.be/UUXXmHkI-Ug
Jack Arnold on the Making of The Incredible Shrinking Man
https://youtu.be/6z4J89KF1AA
History of American International Pictures
https://youtu.be/okCZhEEqmD4
How Nuclear Weapons Changes How We Think
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwIcqNlUFQ
In this conversation, Dennis Claxton, RC Roberts and yours truly discuss the 1960, American film, “Inherit the Wind”. The film, based on a play of the same name and inspired by the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial of 1925, is, among other things, an allegory for the McCarthy era House Un American Activities Committee Hearings and their impact.
In this supplemental episode, I read RC Roberts' essay, 'Mere Opinion: A Review of Inherit the Wind' in which RC explores the films various themes, particularly, the emphasis on the freedom to think.
Here's an excerpt from the essay:
In my more irritable moods, when my misanthropy is at full mirth, I find myself living in a world that is devoid of thought. There are few things that escape this feeling; our politics, our schools, our media--if I went on with this list, I would be putting in more thought into this than the participants of any of those fields do. To paraphrase Schopenhauer, it seems that people would rather believe than think, and thus are inaccessible to reason, for they only respond to authority.
The full essay is available at RC Roberts' Substack, Ferocia Animi which is available here.
It was fun to read this excellent essay and I hope you enjoy!