tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post8836041340456024129..comments2024-03-24T20:15:00.996-04:00Comments on Critic After Dark: A Passage to India, E. M. Forster, 1924Noel Verahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-6646601845802473742007-03-08T02:38:00.000-05:002007-03-08T02:38:00.000-05:00Ah well--nobody's perfect.Yes, I do like The Fugit...Ah well--nobody's perfect.<BR/><BR/>Yes, I do like The Fugititve. I'm aware it's a highly sanitized version of Greene's novel, and that it's hardly popular with the critics (Damien Bona expressed dislike for it too), but what is there I think is really quite beautiful, and captures much of the book's anguish. And I think Fonda's amazing--sure he's tall and Anglo-Saxony, but he has that rabbit-caught-in-headlights look down pat (him and Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil (I've got reasons for liking <I>him</I>, too) would be my favorite White Man in Blackface Performances).Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-65072558775847258732007-03-07T22:43:00.000-05:002007-03-07T22:43:00.000-05:00Hate to intrude lengthily on a family colloquy her...Hate to intrude lengthily on a family colloquy here on classic novels and animation, but just can't resist chiming in on "Passage." I think I had it assigned to me both twice in college (or was it once in high school and once in college), and was one of my all time favorite novels. I only say "was" because that was a couple of decades back now, though much of the novel's memory remains clear to me. Still, I tend not to reread books because of time...and I've had "Howard's End" on my "to be read" list since that movie came out.<BR/><BR/>One thing that struck me was how "Passage to India" seemed to be completely free of any racism. Kind of remarkable after reading novel after novel from the 19th and pre-WWII twentieth century in my English classes where almost inevitably somebody -- nonwhites, women, gays almost inevitably, and usually Jews -- took it in the shorts. It also seemed to have some interesting resonances with the U.S. racial controversies of the 1980's, particularly the Tuwanna Brawley case -- which turned out to be a kind of Bizaro world version of the Aziz-Quested case.<BR/><BR/>When I found out that Forster was gay, I was almost kind of saddened. I would have been more impressed in a way if Forster had not been a member of any oppressed minority group.<BR/><BR/>Well, that's it -- but you really like Ford's "The Fugitive"? Eh..the less I say about that probably the better. (Figueroa was an freaking amazing DP, I'll give you that.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-47260007273905499622007-03-04T04:02:00.000-05:002007-03-04T04:02:00.000-05:00Few more things, tho--didn't you mention to me a t...Few more things, tho--didn't you mention to me a terrific Nickelodeon cartoon show years back? Well, <A HREF="http://journals.aol.com/noelbotevera/MyJournal/entries/2005/01/21/invader-zim/645" REL="nofollow">I think I finally caught up with that, too.</A>Noel Verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05904212081036547668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12690266.post-48144412083852475842007-03-03T11:22:00.000-05:002007-03-03T11:22:00.000-05:00So you finally got to read A Passage to India. Yes...So you finally got to read A Passage to India. Yes, even in my relative naivete, I did sense it was quite a good book (though my favorite Forster is his short fiction, "The Machine Stops".) It's nice to know that though I get the impression you're more cutting edge than I am (for instance, when did you tell me to watch Ranma 1/2? 1996? 1997? I'm obsessed with Ranma NOW, almost a decade late)there are a few bits I've seen or read ahead of you. As if this is a contest, or if "being ahead" is anything at all.<BR/><BR/>Your Evil Twin BrotherQuentin Tarantadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08091214116015175705noreply@blogger.com