film and music vs lit

[Patrick Schreuder]

     Mantarar wrote:
     
     >Just look at the way most of us read Pynchon in 
     >particular, ie very slowly; sometimes the same sentence over and 
     >over, or even a single character. 
     
     Film isn't slow? Then you've never seen Tarkovsky's Stalker. That 
     movie was like reading a hundred GR's.
     
     MantaRay
     
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     The difference between "lit. speed" and "film speed" is that the 
     latter is dictated by the director, and the former for the most part 
     by the reader. It's very easy for a director to make a slow film, but 
     quite difficult for a writer to write a slow book. The reason why 
     people read a book very carefully is that they want to enjoy as much 
     as possible from the book, this is not possible in a film.
     
     
     Patrick S.
     
     PS
     Stalker, by the way ,uses "slowness" to great effect. The story (for 
     those who haven't seen the film) is about a zone in an industrial 
     wasteland where dreams come true. It's forbidden to enter the zone, 
     but a writer and a scientist want to enter, an enlist the help of a 
     guide who knows the way in. During their voyage in the zone, Tarkovsky 
     uses pacing (esp. slow dolly shot and long static shots) to create a 
     weird, very depressing atmosphere (as if you're always being watched). 
     When they finally arrive at the heart of the zone, the writer wants to 
     destroy yhe zone,'cause he's affraid that it may be abused, while the 
     scientist doesn't want to enter because he may not be worhty. They 
     both leave the zone, with only the guide still willing to go back in 
     the zone.
     
     The film has been seen by some as a attack on the russian communist 
     government. The zone being Freedom (or to some the USA) and the writer 
     and the scientist the elite of russia, and the guide the common man.
     Personally I think this is a load of crap, and that Tarkovsky  wanted 
     to say something philosophical, but ended up with some cliches about 
     the fear of dreams becoming reality. What saves the film is it's 
     beauty and atmosphere. Highly recommended to everybody who likes 
     Lynch, Greenaway,etc.