Film Speed

[Mark Smith]

I think an author has quite a bit of control over the speed at which
his/her book is read.  It is no coincidence, for example, that a book
like On the Road needs to be read fast, considering that Kerouac wrote
it at great speed.  Somehow, despite its brilliance, it doesnt deserve
to be poured over in the same way as a Pynchon book.  I remember the
first time I read Pynchon (Gravitys Rainbow), and taking a *long* time
to get through it - so much so that I had to start over a few times to
build up a continuum of continuity.  At the time I thought it was just
me ( pressures of work, family obligations, fatigue, stupidity, etc.)
but as it turns out, its more than that.  It has something to do with
the way the book was constructed, and the way we read is in large
measure related to the way it is written.  

Raymond Carver chose to write short stories because the mundane demands
of his workaday life did not permit him to attempt anything so grand in
scale as a novel. His carefully constructed stories were created while
sitting in his driveway in his car, because the wife and kids left him
no other space to create.  He worked under duress, so to speak, with
intermittent bursts of intensity.  So much the better, I say, for us
readers.  Here we have perfectly turned out little gems of stories. 
When you finish a Carver story the last thing you want to do is read
another one.  No, you want to sit and ponder what it was that just
happened on the printed page, and how it is that the people in these
stories can possibly go on with their lives, given the limited
circumstances in which they exist.

I would say that there is also a direct relationship in films between
the care with which a film is made, and the degree of focus required by
the viewer.  How often do you find yourself fast forwarding through
Brazil , for instance.  Not bloody likely!   I think fast forwarding
(or even the desire to fast forward) is the cinematic equivalent of
skipping pages, and as such is a measure of the *speed* at which the
viewer is participating in the film.  While I would admit that the
novelist has less control over the reading speed of his book than the
director has over the viewing speed of his film, the issue of
*intensity* or *focus* required by the viewer/reader is perhaps a better
measure of participation in the experience.  Nonetheless, and to
completely undermine my point, I think its entirely possible to fast
forward through almost all of 2001: A Space Odyssey  and not miss a
damn thing, even though Im sure Kubrick took his time in making it. 
But for me the film just doesnt work.  I would say the same thing about
the Tarkovsky film - slow *and yet* dull!  What a combination!
-- 
Beechnut Review	http://www.traverse.com/beechnut
"We don't come here for the atmosphere.  We ARE the atmosphere."