flicks
Friday, August 06, 2004
splendor in the grass, 1961
lines 180-192: Ode to the Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
entire poem: http://www.bartleby.com/101/536.html
pasted below
William Wordsworth (1790-1850) was a defining member of the English Romantic Movement. Like other Romantics, Wordsworth’s personality and poetry were deeply influenced by his love of nature, especially by the sights and scenes of the Lake Country, in which he spent most of his mature life. A profoundly earnest and sincere thinker, he displayed a high seriousness tempered with tenderness and a love of simplicity.
watched this b/c my ma recommended it highly. she saw it on amc. maybe i'll try to get it on dvd for her. at least i like the idea of getting it on dvd for her. knowing that that'll probably be the only american movie dvd makes me wary though.
plot:
(setting) small-mid sized town in kansas; not in wichitaw (the psych hospital) or tulsa (where bud's mother's family was).
deanie and bud make out next to the waterfalls; a popular place for couples. deanie always stops bud fr getting too far, bud's obvious frustration.
deanie comes from a poor family; bud's family into the oil business. deanie's parents are all for the match b/c it'd be a move into money. bud's father realizes that they're poor - wants his son to pursue his (the father's) dreams first, and could marry deanie after college. bud dreams of going to an agricultural school, ranching.
bud's the quarterback of the football team, into basketball, track. doesn't seem to be super bright. i'm assuming his father just bought him the spot in yale.
deanie's very pretty. the "good" girl model. pure, faithful.
bud and deanie are obviously going together. bud's wild sister, jennifer, comes back from the 3rd failed school/enterprise. her message was to not just follow their father's wishes, but to think for herself. also represented the liberated female, but of a dangerous (to herself) sort.
bud has enough courage to tell his dad what he wants to do (marry deanie), but dad convinces him to go to college instead. at the new year's party, jenny is inappropriate, and becomes even more so when publicly reprimanded by her father. she's almost set up for a gang rape, and bud rescues her of sorts. deanie nearly rescues him from getting completely battered. he drives her home, and says that they shouldn't really see one another. [why? that was rather sudden; i understand the sexual frustration, but...?] he has sex (i'm assuming - the waterfall scene) with julietta (red-head). deanie's losing it -- poem first shows up in classroom - picked on by teacher. her insight into the poem causes her to run out in tears. starts to isolate, wants to die, cuts her hair. bud's teammate dell asks deanie to the voyage (graduation) dance and she goes. she decides that she won't be the 'good' girl and dresses up in a trashier red-pink dress, and she's wearing similar beads as julietta in an earlier scene. her hair is cute though, she and bud see each other. she tries to come on to her in the parking lot, and to his credit he doesn't want it to be that way. she runs away, dell finds her and takes her to the waterfall spot. she gets the idea to jump, and is luckily rescued [didn't natalie wood drown herself?]. she's in a delirious state - and her pa makes the decision to sell the stocks (in bud's father's company; which represented deanie's college funds; the parents' path to riches) and put her in the psych ward. bud's there, still loves her, cries in the hallway.
bud goes off to yale, not paying much attn to studies. drinking a lot at a pizza parlor, and meets angelina, a nice italian waitress.
deanie's in the psych ward. staring out windows, getting traumatic visits fr parents (mostly ma), art therapy, psychoanalysis (almost psychodynamic psychotherapy).
bud's father goes to yale to visit bud, convince the dean to let him stay there. probably find the news that he's ruined (glad deanie's father cashed out earlier). they both go to nyc. his father tries to get bud to get together with a deanie look-a-like, which is plain vulgar. the deanie-look-alike shows up at the door; couldn't figure if they slept together b/c there was something red in the room when they woke him up. but the cops woke up to have him id his father who jumped.
deanie is finally leaving the psych institute, where she has been for 2.5 years. she looks good - very finished and refined. john has asked her to marry him; he's in cincinnati being a MD (but not a surgeon). psychiatrist asks about bud - suggests that she should face her fears, aren't as bad as the anticipation. she goes home.
scene with ma, which is the other reason why my mother wanted me to watch this movie:
did the psychiatrists say to blame your ma, pa for how they raised you (guilt)? *i* don't blame you ma.
i just raised you the way that my ma raised me, the best i knew how (excuse).
every parent wishes there was a guarantee that their kid will turn out all right (a mother's 'love')
i love you ma. i hope you do.
there's the tension. betw what i consider a dysfxnal mother (she wasn't bad; just closed-minded, restrictive; more about class, $, than deanie); deanie who's young and bright; and the separation that is inherently there. but deanie's graceful, puts her ma's mind at ease.
ma again tries to hide bud away from her (doesn't learn). but deanie's father (who snores, but has been kind to her thruout) tells her the truth.
another reason why ma wanted me to see the movie: how things turned out (have to face your fears; see old bf's one last time)
so deanie rides out in this immaculate white dress with her 2 friends to visit bud.
bud's on his father's old ranch, working the land. angelina's frying up something in the kitchen, obviously pregnant, looking disheveled. they see each other, everyone's friendly. deanie meets bud's son (bud jr.) under the counter hanging out with the rooster. on the way out, she picks at her dress, realizing the stark contrast betw who/how she is, and what bud's life is like now.
they have a vague chemistry. he looks sun-tanned and healthy, but vacant. she looks proper and pretty. angelina looks pregnant. she drives off in the car with her friends, off to marry john in a month, with her saying the poem in her head.
? who's the guy on horseback who trails behind the car in the last scene?
from what i thought would be a light movie, at the end of it, it's surprisingly heady.
sex - dealing with issues; not necessarily how it was presented
i groaned at the first scenes - don't have sex with men or they won't respect you. which was partly why ma wanted me to watch the movie. very sexphobic.
where the hell is female sexuality? deanie was having sexual feelings, and when she tried to talk to her ma about it the response she got: the proper girl's sexuality was letting her husband have his way with her on occasion so that she can get what she really wants -- kids [probably why deanie's an only child]. and when deanie was desperate to have sex, it was to keep bud, give him what he wanted. which probably hits closer to home - miscommunication betw the sexes and bad timing. :p
even more disturbing is my clinical handbook of psychiatry, kaplan and sadock. which clearly states that men's sexual fantasies usually center around scantily clad unrealistic attractive women, and women's fantasies have more to do with being secure and feeling safe. !!! i do like to be held and cuddled; but i also like to fantasize about the wildness, aggression, and power of sex.
and bud's frustrations - either get a prostitute (father's advice) or
but maybe that was the point? a need for some sexual liberation.
psych - much appreciated since in just finished 2 weeks of it. wonder how institutions were like then; it seemed fun. tho the nurse in the funny hat and white looked mighty stern
relationships - their love for each other was portrayed as wholly genuine. they were more than willing to commit to one another. i don't think they were too young, just circumstances didn't allow it for some reason, probably for the wrong reason. i don't know who i'd rather be. bud stayed true to what he wanted, his ideals. i don't know why they stopped writing. angelina was there when things got rough. guess that's good enough reason. it's sad but true that girls get seriously bent over relationships - and deanie's beef in life seemed to be a non bud presence in hers. the love that she has for john, wasn't as automatic as it was for bud - different, but she surely loved him.
characters
deanie - natalie wood; dark-eyed, dark haired beauty. not super distinctive. more of the liz taylor variety, but a more trim figure.
bud - warren beatty; his debut? he's good looking, but talks like a knuckle head.
bud's father - limp b/c he fell from an oil rig; drinks a lot; has bad taste; overbearing, doesn't listen; classist; thinks money will buy you anything; weak; had no redeeming qualities
jennifer - sister; blond; dresses well; very hi-pitched voice; dies in a car accident
watched while eating dumplings and some asian vegetables. really nice. haven't had a fri pm my way in a long while. and it's been nice to write immediately after as well.
/natalie wood
drowned off the California coast in 1981,
her early death completed the tragic triumverate of Rebel Without A Cause (1955) with her co-stars, James Dean and Sal Mineo
starting as a child actress in the 1940's, Natalie worked constantly up until her final role in Brainstorm (1981).
the birth name of Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. born Natasha Gurdin in San Francisco, California, on July 20, 1938.
parents were Russian immigrants; Maria Gurdin was a ballerina and Nicholas Gurdin was an architect who turned to set decoration
she played Susan Walker, the little girl who doubts Santa Claus in 1947's Miracle on 34th Street
her big break was "Rebel"
it wasn't until Splendor in the Grass (1961) that she emerged as a fully-matured movie star.
earned an Oscar® nomination for Splendor in the Grass. She followed up with the most fruitful period of her career. West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), and Love With the Proper Stranger (1963) showcased some of her best work, the last film earning her a third Oscar® nomination.
Natalie's dazzling beauty and penchant for parties thrust her on the front page of the gossip magazines and kept her a box-office draw. She commanded higher salaries, even when the material was weak, but never stopped pushing her talent.
In 1962, Natalie Wood was the second highest-paid actress in the world (behind Elizabeth Taylor) and was the embodiment of glamor.
Soon after, she met Robert Wagner, who represented conventional Hollywood and was completely different from her then boyfriend, Dennis Hopper. Wood and Wagner married in 1958 and became one of the world's most publicized couples. But when Wood found Wagner in a sexual encounter with a man four years later, she ended the marriage and plunged more deeply into work and new relationships.
She again was nominated for an Academy Award for Love With the Proper Stranger (1963) and had a tumultuous affair with Warren Beatty. Later, she married producer Richard Gregson in 1968 and daughter Natasha Gregson was born in 1970. The marriage didn't last, and in 1972, she reconciled with and remarried Wagner. Their daughter, Courtney, was born in 1974.
Her best film roles were behind her at this point, but she did enjoy playing opposite Wagner in a British TV production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1976). She is the mother of actress Natasha Gregson Wagner, her daughter with producer Richard Gregson... Wood was 5'2" tall.
On November 29, 1981, Natalie was sailing on the yacht she shared with her husband, Robert Wagner, and their friend Walken, when Natalie drowned while trying to board the dinghy tied up alongside the yacht.
became enthralled with her co-star, Christopher Walken. Despite rumors that the two were having an affair, Wagner welcomed Walken to join the couple for a Thanksgiving weekend cruise on their boat off California's Catalina Island.
The last quarter of Finstad's book is a detailed account of the doomed weekend on the Wagners' yacht. This much is clear from her reporting: Wood's drowning was due to excessive drinking, the emotions of serious arguments and failure to follow safety procedures. Conflicting reports continue to this day but no criminal charges were ever filed.
so it wasn't suicide... :P
http://home.clara.net/chelle/images/image29.jpg
http://home.clara.net/chelle/images/image41.jpg
http://home.clara.net/chelle/images/image15.jpg
the whole gang of pics: http://home.clara.net/chelle/photo.htm
/ode to intimations of immortality
536. Ode
Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell'd in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream. 5
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The rainbow comes and goes, 10
And lovely is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair; 15
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth.
Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young lambs bound 20
As to the tabor's sound,
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong:
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; 25
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the echoes through the mountains throng,
The winds come to me from the fields of sleep,
And all the earth is gay;
Land and sea 30
Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every beast keep holiday;—
Thou Child of Joy,
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy 35
Shepherd-boy!
Ye blessèd creatures, I have heard the call
Ye to each other make; I see
The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee;
My heart is at your festival, 40
My head hath its coronal,
The fulness of your bliss, I feel—I feel it all.
O evil day! if I were sullen
While Earth herself is adorning,
This sweet May-morning, 45
And the children are culling
On every side,
In a thousand valleys far and wide,
Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm,
And the babe leaps up on his mother's arm:— 50
I hear, I hear, with joy I hear!
—But there's a tree, of many, one,
A single field which I have look'd upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone:
The pansy at my feet 55
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, 60
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come 65
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, 70
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended; 75
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,
And, even with something of a mother's mind, 80
And no unworthy aim,
The homely nurse doth all she can
To make her foster-child, her Inmate Man,
Forget the glories he hath known,
And that imperial palace whence he came. 85
Behold the Child among his new-born blisses,
A six years' darling of a pigmy size!
See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies,
Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses,
With light upon him from his father's eyes! 90
See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,
Some fragment from his dream of human life,
Shaped by himself with newly-learnèd art;
A wedding or a festival,
A mourning or a funeral; 95
And this hath now his heart,
And unto this he frames his song:
Then will he fit his tongue
To dialogues of business, love, or strife;
But it will not be long 100
Ere this be thrown aside,
And with new joy and pride
The little actor cons another part;
Filling from time to time his 'humorous stage'
With all the Persons, down to palsied Age, 105
That Life brings with her in her equipage;
As if his whole vocation
Were endless imitation.
Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie
Thy soul's immensity; 110
Thou best philosopher, who yet dost keep
Thy heritage, thou eye among the blind,
That, deaf and silent, read'st the eternal deep,
Haunted for ever by the eternal mind,—
Mighty prophet! Seer blest! 115
On whom those truths do rest,
Which we are toiling all our lives to find,
In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave;
Thou, over whom thy Immortality
Broods like the Day, a master o'er a slave, 120
A presence which is not to be put by;
To whom the grave
Is but a lonely bed without the sense or sight
Of day or the warm light,
A place of thought where we in waiting lie; 125
Thou little Child, yet glorious in the might
Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height,
Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke
The years to bring the inevitable yoke,
Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife? 130
Full soon thy soul shall have her earthly freight,
And custom lie upon thee with a weight,
Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life!
O joy! that in our embers
Is something that doth live, 135
That nature yet remembers
What was so fugitive!
The thought of our past years in me doth breed
Perpetual benediction: not indeed
For that which is most worthy to be blest— 140
Delight and liberty, the simple creed
Of childhood, whether busy or at rest,
With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast:—
Not for these I raise
The song of thanks and praise; 145
But for those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things,
Fallings from us, vanishings;
Blank misgivings of a Creature
Moving about in worlds not realized, 150
High instincts before which our mortal Nature
Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised:
But for those first affections,
Those shadowy recollections,
Which, be they what they may, 155
Are yet the fountain-light of all our day,
Are yet a master-light of all our seeing;
Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make
Our noisy years seem moments in the being
Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake, 160
To perish never:
Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour,
Nor Man nor Boy,
Nor all that is at enmity with joy,
Can utterly abolish or destroy! 165
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither, 170
And see the children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
And let the young lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound! 175
We in thought will join your throng,
Ye that pipe and ye that play,
Ye that through your hearts to-day
Feel the gladness of the May!
What though the radiance which was once so bright 180
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind; 185
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death, 190
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquish'd one delight 195
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripp'd lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
Is lovely yet; 200
The clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 205
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
