Magical Realism
Paul
About six years ago, I took a contemporary literature class which I
found to be quite enlightening. The topic that the Harvard educated
professor chose was "Magical Realism." I, being a product of St. Louis
inner-city schooling thought that the woman was a bit "touched in the
head" as my beloved homeboys would put it. She had this thing about
hating digital watches and could only think of time in circular terms. I
don't know about her perception of space.
Anyway, she taught about Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Milan Kundera, Peter
Suskind, and Carlos Fuentes, to name a few. The only familar name in the
bunch was Franz Kafka.
Since I've begun this advocation, I've tried to incorporate elements of
magical realism into my visual exposition, but it seems hard to do
without jarring the suspension of disbelief. I'm a big fan of David
Lynch, and his daughter, who seem to be a masters of it.
Does anyone have any tips in how to make seamless scene to scene
transitions, while incorporating elements of magical realism?
Paul
"Listen: Billy Pilgram became unstuck in time." - KVJ
Tuvyah
Win1soon@webtv (Paul) wrote:
>>Does anyone have any tips in how to make seamless scene to scene
transitions, while incorporating elements of magical realism?<<
Watch re-runs of "Northern Exposure". I'm not kidding. It truly is a
magic-realist show. For instance, the episode in which people dream each
other's dreams; or the episode in which one of Maggie's dead boyfriends
returns as a dog (maybe); or the episode in which Adam becomes a journalist
and uncovers a story of trees screaming in pain.
--Smilin' Ted
------------------------------------------------------------------
"This isn't funny. Please allow me to explain why."
-Brad Aisa
Graham101
My God. TWO Lurking Guy Posts...
Win1soon@webtv (Paul) wrote:
>>Does anyone have any tips in how to make seamless scene to scene
transitions, while incorporating elements of magical realism?<<
tuv...@aol.com (Tuvyah) replied:
>
>Watch re-runs of "Northern Exposure". I'm not kidding. It truly is a
>magic-realist show. For instance, the episode in which people dream each
>other's dreams; or the episode in which one of Maggie's dead boyfriends
>returns as a dog (maybe); or the episode in which Adam becomes a journalist
>and uncovers a story of trees screaming in pain.
The Lurking Guy (i'mnot really@thisaddress) adds:
As much as I'm a fan of Smilin' Ted's posts (hey, newbies - pay attention
to the guy), I'm afraid I might have to differ with Ted on this occasion.
Even though I hate using any term that'll pigeon-hole an author's written
work into a predetermined genre, the term "Magical Realism" once had a
valid use .
Problem is, "Magical Realism" has been misused for so long, nobody
remembers what that original use was... for example:
Northern Exposure's scripts (when they worked) offered up a wonderful mix
of fantasy and quirkiness; Magical Realism, however, is more than a simple
interpolation of fantasy into an otherwise "normal" situation (heck, that's
just a fantasy writer's tool) or for that matter, a dream-sequence placed
into the narrative. MR is "classified" (ugh) as a separate genre, due to
the author's use of an altered perspective; that is, (now here's the
important difference) how the author manipulates the ENTIRE narrative,
revealing how a character - or for that matter, the author - perceives the
world around them. This perception could be a correct perception, or it
could come of madness; the perception, however, was not just confined to a
single incident within the narrative.
Then the term got bastardized by academics and critics, desperate to
group and/or describe many Latin American writers and their distinct style
- in particular, the imagery these masterful writers would use.
And that's where the confusion comes from. It's not the imagery - it's
the method of narrative, y'all.
As such, it's damned hard to find many films that will fit that
pigeon-hole. "El Norte" ( by Greg Nava) is one film that features some of
the imagery present in many Latin American MR novels; it does not, however,
qualify as MR in its narrative.. "Leolo" by Jean-Claude Lauzon isn't Latin
MR, but it comes pretty close to MR narrative.
A final note. The term "Magical Realism" is now meaningless to many
novelists - except as a marketing term. My current writing partner ( he's
won the World Fantasy Assocation award a number of times) jokes about
marketing his finished manuscripts to publishers.
He'll send his agent a " fantasy" manuscript.
His agent will then send the same manuscript to different publishers.
Genre publishers receive the "fantasy" manuscript.
But the upscale publishers are always sent a work of "magical-realist
literature,"
Guess which publisher pays better...
And which publisher's books gets better reviews...
Lurking Mode is on.
kirk
p.s. Hello and howdy to Nick, Genia, Rich, CRants, Ted, Derek, Peter - and
the rest of you good people. Sorry I haven't returned any email in over
three months - I STILL haven't found a decent provider.
And using AOL... welllll... Nick, Genia Ted - you have my respect. AOL's
interface is driving me nuts.
----
Hard Work and No Pay Make No Jack at all. - The Firesign Theatre
E.H. Harriman
In article <19970903054...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
grah...@aol.com (Graham101) wrote:
> Uh oh... could this be a Lurking Guy post?
>
> >Win1soon@webtv (Paul) wrote:
> >
> >>>Does anyone have any tips in how to make seamless scene to scene
> >transitions, while incorporating elements of magical realism?<<
>
>
Ummm... get a good visual f/x editor.
This sort of transition really isn't the writers' job.
Chris Owen
On Tue, 2 Sep 1997 11:08:17 -0500, Win1...@webtv.net (Paul) wrote:
>Since I've begun this advocation, I've tried to incorporate elements of
>magical realism into my visual exposition, but it seems hard to do
>without jarring the suspension of disbelief. I'm a big fan of David
>Lynch, and his daughter, who seem to be a masters of it.
I'm digging back into my memory for the Latin America course I did
three years ago here...
The point of "magical realism" as far as I can remember, is to use
fantasy as a way of critiquing issues in the real world - the Latin
American colonial experience, disease brought by the explorers,
poverty and so on. The narrative itself makes little attempt to be
"real", or to make any attempt to make sense within the normal
constraints of narrative. Therefore "suspension of disbelief" within
"classic" magical realism isn't an issue. Reality is the toy of the
author, and they can warp and twist it as much as they want to make
the point.
Like Graham mentioned in another follow-up, its not just about
transitions or visual exposition. The whole narrative is orchestrated
round idea. Flashbacks, dream sequences, coversations with dead
people are all the sort of the things that turn in "magical realism".
One movies that I think has a small element of magical realism is the
Macedonian film "Before the Rain". It consists of three linked
stories, shown in non-chronological order (a little like "Pulp
Fiction"). The stories are simple enough - but when you get to the
end of the movie you realize that there is no possible way the scenes
could fit together as shown. Magical realism is there, but the
element is small because it is only obvious looking back
retrospectively from the end of the movie.
>Paul
Chris
--
Chris Owen christop...@vuw.ac.nz
NZScript http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/5088/
--
Joseph Abbott
On Thu, 04 Sep 1997 19:19:56 GMT, christop...@vuw.ac.nz (Chris
Owen) wrote:
>On Tue, 2 Sep 1997 11:08:17 -0500, Win1...@webtv.net (Paul) wrote:
>>Since I've begun this advocation, I've tried to incorporate elements of
>>magical realism into my visual exposition, but it seems hard to do
>>without jarring the suspension of disbelief. I'm a big fan of David
>>Lynch, and his daughter, who seem to be a masters of it.
[snip]
>The point of "magical realism" as far as I can remember, is to use
>fantasy as a way of critiquing issues in the real world - the Latin
>American colonial experience, disease brought by the explorers,
>poverty and so on. The narrative itself makes little attempt to be
>"real", or to make any attempt to make sense within the normal
>constraints of narrative. Therefore "suspension of disbelief" within
>"classic" magical realism isn't an issue. Reality is the toy of the
>author, and they can warp and twist it as much as they want to make
>the point.
I think a good example of magic realism in recent film is Red. It is
full of coincidences and there are hints that the old judge is not
really human, but rather something else that makes these coincidences
happen and helps the man and the woman meet finally at the end.
But I think even in magic realism it is important to be believable in
the unreal world you create.
However, i wouldnt call David Lynch a magic realist, i think he is
more of a surrealist.
Joseph Abbott
95% of all species on Earth have yet to be
described and classified.104 go extinct every day.
<http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/3312/>
Brevity
jabbott@{remove}lynx.bc.ca (Joseph Abbott) wrote:
>I think a good example of magic realism in recent film is Red. It is
>full of coincidences and there are hints that the old judge is not
>really human, but rather something else that makes these coincidences
>happen and helps the man and the woman meet finally at the end.
>But I think even in magic realism it is important to be believable in
>the unreal world you create.
>However, i wouldnt call David Lynch a magic realist, i think he is
>more of a surrealist.
Dennis Potter, the late English teleplay and screenwriter was a master
of mixing the realistic with the magical, as well as horror and
comedy. The American film version of his "Pennies from Heaven" is an
easily accessible example, however the six part BBC miniseries is far
better. His last two miniseries, "Karaoke" and "Frozen Lazarus," were
recently shown on Bravo.
There are books of his teleplays.
-Brevity (remove the x to reply via email)
Chris Owen
>But I think even in magic realism it is important to be believable in
>the unreal world you create.
>However, i wouldnt call David Lynch a magic realist, i think he is
>more of a surrealist.
Haven't seen "Red" so I can't comment. However I think your last two
comments are on the mark. "Magical realism" does have its own
internal logic, even if that logic goes against everything we expect
in a narrative. Whereas "surrealism" has no logic at all.
I think there's a strong element of Latin American nationalist spirit
underlying the origins of "magical realism" - a desire to create a
literary form that was uniquely their own, and owed nothing to the
colonial heritage. Actually maybe not a complete rejection of the
colonial heritage - but a subversion of it. The narrative in Western
tradition is essentially linear in nature; the rules of the real
world usually apply, and there is usually a clear division between
what is real, and what is dream or fantasy. "Magical realism" is
usually non-linear (I'm generalising broadly - feel free to
contradict) and it is often almost impossible to tell what is real and
what is not.
But as I mentioned earlier, including those elements doesn't
necessarily make a work "magical realism". I think some "X-Files"
episodes have been bordering on it, without actually crossing the
line. If there was one series that might try for "magical realism"
though that might be it.
>Joseph Abbott
Joseph Abbott
On Sun, 07 Sep 1997 19:34:46 GMT, christop...@vuw.ac.nz (Chris
Owen) wrote:
>Haven't seen "Red" so I can't comment.
Go rent it! Rent all 3; Blue, White and Red (in that order I think)
the writer/director is Krzysztof Kieslowski.
>However I think your last two
>comments are on the mark. "Magical realism" does have its own
>internal logic, even if that logic goes against everything we expect
>in a narrative. Whereas "surrealism" has no logic at all.
>
>I think there's a strong element of Latin American nationalist spirit
>underlying the origins of "magical realism" - a desire to create a
>literary form that was uniquely their own, and owed nothing to the
>colonial heritage. Actually maybe not a complete rejection of the
>colonial heritage - but a subversion of it. The narrative in Western
>tradition is essentially linear in nature; the rules of the real
>world usually apply, and there is usually a clear division between
>what is real, and what is dream or fantasy.
Yes.. except in John Travolta's "Scientology" films. ;)
> "Magical realism" is
>usually non-linear (I'm generalising broadly - feel free to
>contradict) and it is often almost impossible to tell what is real and
>what is not.
I dont think its as simple as being real or not real. Magic realism
is like an abstract painting of a flower. Flowers may not ever
actually look like that, but that doesnt mean flowers arent real. The
painting is describing a real thing in an abstract way. It doesnt look
like a photograph of a flower, but its still a flower. Thats what
magic realism does. Take for example luis Jorge Borges short story
"The Library". You may think that the library he describes doesnt
exists, but I know for a fact it does. The "Library" is real, we just
dont normally "see" it as being a library. Do you know what I mean?
>But as I mentioned earlier, including those elements doesn't
>necessarily make a work "magical realism". I think some "X-Files"
>episodes have been bordering on it, without actually crossing the
>line. If there was one series that might try for "magical realism"
>though that might be it.
I guess that would be a nice way of describing X-Files... I think
X-Files, and all things related to alien abductions, etc are closely
related to mythology. People want to believe in ghosts, goblins and
aliens.
But then mythology isnt that far from magic realism.
I dont like the X-files tho, because it pretends to be science when it
isnt. Science is "prove it and I'll believe it". X-Files is "If i
believe it, then its true".
Paul
Joseph
Thanks for the movie tip: "Red." I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a sucker
for French films with open endings.
Is it correct to say that the judge was not a human being?
I dunno. The question is the beauty of the story. My take on the story
was one of time manipulation, in that the old judge was the same person
as the young judge, he was just living in two time periods
simultaneously, with the younger version of himself oblivious to the
older, and in the end the older judge had chosen to relive his life as
the younger with a woman whom had passed his test of compassion with the
dog as the instrument of the test.
But I can see why this was a French film. I don't think American way of
thinking lends itself to unresolved conflicts.
In a broad way of thinking, there has to be a reason that the French
have never won a war in 400 years. And no, this is not a dig. It is a
primitive, off the cuff remark to explain a correlation between the
consciousness of the French culture and the manifestation of it in films
with unresolved conflicts.
It may be wrong to isolate the French on this, because the Scandinavian
writer Peter Hoeg (put a slash through the "o") wrote a wonderful novel
called "Smilla's Sense of Snow" in which the last words were "There will
be no resolution." Hollywood once again botched a beautiful story
because it failed to capture the elusive, haunting nature of life, which
is a conflict unresolved.
And witness the awful "Point of No Return" as an attempt by Hollywood to
tell the French tale (with an open ending) "La Femme Nakita."
So it seems to me that "magical realism" stories, like Garcia-Marquez's
"One Hundred Years of Solitude," which often have open endings and
unexplained synchonicity, fail to be grasped by the conscious of
Hollywood, whereas the French, with an apparent eye for what I like to
call "the big picture" have a defter touch with these abstract
expressions.
Therefore, I will shy away from any attempts to tell a fantastic story
with a stone face, as Garcia-Marquez said was the way of his
grandmother, and I will stick to the concrete road of the scientific
method.
John W Bottoms
Joseph Abbott <jabbott@{remove}lynx.bc.ca> wrote:
> I dont think its as simple as being real or not real. Magic realism
>is like an abstract painting of a flower. Flowers may not ever
>actually look like that, but that doesnt mean flowers arent real. The
>painting is describing a real thing in an abstract way. It doesnt look
>like a photograph of a flower, but its still a flower. Thats what
>magic realism does. Take for example luis Jorge Borges short story
Wow, spoke like a true gringo. I'm sure the Latins would say the
same about Hollywood films. There are several definitions I've seen
of magical realism, again all from the anglo view.
1. The latins make no distinction between the real world and the
spiritual world so the elements of those worlds co-exist for them.
2. M.R. is the world seen by people who grow up with a strong mythology.
They are taught it from childhood so their adult writing is in the
same vein.
3. They don't know any distinction between the "real" and the "non-real".
But for the latin M.R. is the world as they see it. So these views
we have are different philosophies and it is very hard if not impossible
to translate between philosophies. Like trying to explain a pie fight
to Archie Bunker. In my opinion the TV series that came closest to
magical realism was "Northern Exposure" (re the Bolex).
-jb
Bob Miller
jbot...@world.std.com (John W Bottoms) wrote:
>Joseph Abbott <jabbott@{remove}lynx.bc.ca> wrote:
>> I dont think its as simple as being real or not real. Magic realism
>>is like an abstract painting of a flower. Flowers may not ever
>>actually look like that, but that doesnt mean flowers arent real. The
>>painting is describing a real thing in an abstract way. It doesnt look
>>like a photograph of a flower, but its still a flower. Thats what
>>magic realism does. Take for example luis Jorge Borges short story
>
Magical realism? Is that a phrase that's going around now? What I've
always heard is "Enhanced Reality" -- It's real, but the colors are
over-saturated, a special camera lens may distort the view; it's real,
but overly so -- and can be a bit in-your-face.
woooo-uuu-woooo-uuuu....
Bob
Bob Miller
bmi...@neosoft.com
Chris Owen
On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 17:42:59 GMT, bmi...@neosoft.com (Bob Miller)
wrote:
>Magical realism? Is that a phrase that's going around now? What I've
>always heard is "Enhanced Reality" -- It's real, but the colors are
>over-saturated, a special camera lens may distort the view; it's real,
>but overly so -- and can be a bit in-your-face.
>
>woooo-uuu-woooo-uuuu....
"Magical realism" isn't a new term. It describes a well-established
genre of Latin American writing. When this thread started a couple of
weeks ago, the initial poster wanted tips on incorporating elements of
"magical realism" into his script. This sparked a small debate on
what characterized "magical realism".
>Bob Miller
>bmi...@neosoft.com
sam
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We could even go back to The Douanier, Henri Rousseau, or Raymond
Roussel's Impressions d'Afrique and thence to, say Rene Clair or (drum
roll) Bunuel, to trace "Old World" roots (read influences) of "Magical
Realism" in literature or cinema, or painting orsay, Gaudi, in
architecture. I would rather not isolate cinema from its cultural
context..
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sam
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To say nothing of the connection with European Surrealism during the
'30's and again the '50's.
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Paul
Bob
When I started this thread, I wondered if there had been a
transformation from the literary genre of "magical realism," which came
to the forefront in the late 60's when Gabriel Garcia-Marquez won the
Nobel for "One Hundred Years of Solitude," to filmmaking.
(at the time of the first post, I could only think of "The Milagro
Beanfield War")
My understanding of this genre comes from a quote by Garcia-Marquez, who
stated that he wanted to tell stories the way his grandmother did: with
a stone face. He also said that when he first read Kafka's "The
Metamorphosis" that the first line: "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to
find himself transformed into a giant cockroach" knocked him out of his
bed, because he didn't know that people were allowed to write like that.
What I'd like to do, after I've developed more confidence in my craft,
is write a magical-realism script. But I cannot foresee how one could do
it coherently without jarring transitions. I feel that my reach exceeds
my grasp on this, but I'd rather try and fail, and get out my
subconscious, than to wonder if I could have created an entertaining
story.
This has been a fruitful thread for me and I'd like thank whomever
recommended "Red." I've watched it, as well as "Blue."
BTW, I've argued that Kurt Vonnegut's Jr's "Slaughter-House Five" ought
to be considered a classic, worthy of the magical realism distinction,
but I've been told that it doesn't count. I guess his time manipulation
was explained by the Tralfamadorians so the spell was broken, but the
opening line pays fine homage to Kafka, whom many consider the "father"
of MR, and both beginnings have that hypnotic iambic rhythm. So I'll
close now as my signature, which is the start of SH5, and as always...
All the best