Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 4/23/02 1:32 AM, "Rob Appleby" <rob@robertappleby.com> wrote: > Why not have a landscape be as dramatic as possible? > > Unless you book is called "The Banal Landscape." >>>> > > I recommend Hannah Arendt's "Ansel Adams in Yosemite: the Banality of > Melodrama"? Unfortunately all known copies were recycled into paper cups by > the Audubon Club Action Brigades. I would certainly be interested in a book called THE BANAL LANDSCAPE. My own landscapes merely aspire to banality. Drama in the photographic landscape is too often the equivalent of so-called 'passion' in rock and roll, a synonym for bluster. 'The Banality of Melodrama' is also a wonderful title and something that we screenwriters confront daily. Funnily enough the absolute *worst* melodrama is written by writers who should know much better -- often very gifted novelists making the transition to screenwriting. It is as if they are paralysed by fear of not being commercial enough and so produce stuff which is far *more* melodramatic than less talented but more experienced screenwriters would produce. I know two very good examples of this: one is detailed in William Goldman's ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, the other I can't talk about but inquiring minds might want to look up the writing credits for 1980s smash flop 'Saturn 3' for a hint. - -- John Brownlow http://www.pinkheadedbug.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html