http://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/06/12/berlin-29-via-cincinnati-08/ ............................................................................................."Take your pleasures seriously."....................Charles Eames............................ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:22:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/06/12/berlin-29-via-cincinnati-08/#comment-295 cynthia Sailers Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:11:45 +0000 http://blog.sfmoma.org/?p=280#comment-295 Hi Dana--this is such an interesting question you ask:"Something I want to ask: in the novel sometimes we leave Franz and the ‘eye’ of the book floats away through Berlin, to some tragic or comic social incident manifesting a significant aspect of Weimar life..." I'd love to hear more. I'm now home from the second installment. It's late. It seems the I/eye of the film shifts through voice over (Fassbinder himself) and interruptions of the media (Franz's repetitive reading of newspapers). Maybe a different "eye" then the one you describe; in the film the shifts are interruptive, a discontinuous present, so to speak. I was also thinking of the comparision of the role of the media between Fritz Lang's M (a film made in the period that Berlin Alexanderplatz is set) and Berlin Alexanderplatz, which in the former is more hysterical, more invested in the serial drama, the serial killer. In BA, he is constantly reading and yet the social spectacle doesn't quite surface, and nothing is done with it. A crowd doesn't form; Frantz doesn't take it in. I also thought a lot about the comparison in terms of mafia organizations now appearing in BA and how the criminal negotiates being good, and how Frantz works himself, identifies himself against such a group. More specificities to come, I hope. So nice to be responding to you, Dana! Hi Dana–this is such an interesting question you ask:”Something I want to ask: in the novel sometimes we leave Franz and the ‘eye’ of the book floats away through Berlin, to some tragic or comic social incident manifesting a significant aspect of Weimar life…” I’d love to hear more.
I’m now home from the second installment. It’s late. It seems the I/eye of the film shifts through voice over (Fassbinder himself) and interruptions of the media (Franz’s repetitive reading of newspapers). Maybe a different “eye” then the one you describe; in the film the shifts are interruptive, a discontinuous present, so to speak. I was also thinking of the comparision of the role of the media between Fritz Lang’s M (a film made in the period that Berlin Alexanderplatz is set) and Berlin Alexanderplatz, which in the former is more hysterical, more invested in the serial drama, the serial killer. In BA, he is constantly reading and yet the social spectacle doesn’t quite surface, and nothing is done with it. A crowd doesn’t form; Frantz doesn’t take it in. I also thought a lot about the comparison in terms of mafia organizations now appearing in BA and how the criminal negotiates being good, and how Frantz works himself, identifies himself against such a group. More specificities to come, I hope. So nice to be responding to you, Dana!

]]> http://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/06/12/berlin-29-via-cincinnati-08/#comment-292 Dominic Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:32:42 +0000 http://blog.sfmoma.org/?p=280#comment-292 By the way, the episodes being screening tonight (and Saturday) are introduced by Döblin with these words: 'Here you are going to see our man boozing, almost giving himself up for lost. But it wasn't so bad after all, Franz Biberkopf is being spared for a harder fall.' (p. 92) By the way, the episodes being screening tonight (and Saturday) are introduced by Döblin with these words: ‘Here you are going to see our man boozing, almost giving himself up for lost. But it wasn’t so bad after all, Franz Biberkopf is being spared for a harder fall.’ (p. 92)

]]> http://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/06/12/berlin-29-via-cincinnati-08/#comment-291 Dominic Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:27:14 +0000 http://blog.sfmoma.org/?p=280#comment-291 Hi Dana, nice to meet you too. Let me think about what you're saying about the book and I'll try to post something tomorrow. As I'm both reading and seeing, maybe I can be a kind of Fassbinder guide dog for you. For now, I can tell you that tonight's program begins on page 92 and ends somewhere around page 204. Hi Dana, nice to meet you too. Let me think about what you’re saying about the book and I’ll try to post something tomorrow. As I’m both reading and seeing, maybe I can be a kind of Fassbinder guide dog for you. For now, I can tell you that tonight’s program begins on page 92 and ends somewhere around page 204.

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