GRGR(6) - Ep. 16 (up to the advent section)

[Jeremy Osner]

Gary Thompson wrote:

> I can see why Jeremy had trouble getting a purchase on the Advent
> section . . .

I was going over 16 pretty closely last night and saw that my complaints
yesterday about the episode should actually have been pretty much confined to
the Advent section; the rest of it I can dig pretty well. I really enjoyed, this
time through, what M. Perez describes (and thanks for the description; it
helps!) as "a ping-pong match" between the narrator of Roger's experiences and
the Jessica narrator.

One thing that kept rising up in my consciousness (like an approaching iceberg?)
as I read pp. 120-8, was the idea that something like a montage of stills in a
motion picture was going on. Look: on p. 122, Jessica  says "... pictures, well
scenes, keep flashing *in*, Roger. By themselves, I mean I'm not *making*
them..." Then after a funny bit about the anthropomorphic bedroom and a story
about Jessica showing her tits in the car, making Roger nervous, we see some of
the images that "go, flowering, in and out": Jessica sitting in a chair, looking
at a landscape with vivid colors, the chair empty, nighttime. And later on (p.
147), as we move into the Advent scene, another jumble of images: waits (btw, if
anyone's curious/ didn't pick it up from context, a "wait" is a group of
carollers), moors, minefields (how did that get in there?), snow, wind,
loneliness.

What do you think of this idea: The director is cutting the action with stills
(maybe voiced over, maybe silent) to set a mood; his characters are a little
confused because they don't quite know what's going on (Jessica's quote on p.
122).

Don't know if it works, any other ideas for how to explain what's happening
here?

Jeremy