VLVL(5) At the Movies and on the Tube

[Dave Monroe]

Well, that's my point, Zoyd, Hector, maybe everybody
in Vineland, maybe all of us out here as well, are
interpelated by the Tube (and do note as well yr, our
interface here ...).  In Orwell's 1984, you can't turn
the teevee off.  In Pynchon's 1984, not only do people
simply not bother, but it perhaps simply isn't
possible anymore.  We are always already televised. 
We are all Brady Bunchers ...

"It seems that Pynchon's sister Judith once taught at
Suffolk Community College and a colleague of [John
Krafft, editor of Pynchon Notes]'s actually dated her,
and actually asked her, one time, 'What's your brother
likely to be doing right now?' and she said 'Watching
The Brady Bunch.' This, I learn, is a wholesome family
sitcom which was run and rerun throughout the
Seventies, and it's Pynchon's favourite show. So, Tom
is just like you and me! He watches cruddy TV!"

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/influences.html

"(supposedly, he never missed an episode of The Brady
Bunch) ..."

http://www.archipelago.org/vol1-3/oconnell.htm

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0308&msg=84681&sort=date

--- Otto <ottosell at yahoo.de> wrote:
> 
> What about the strange idea of describing his "inner
> feelings" by a movie-quote? It doesn't make those
> feelings very authentic.

But the question here then, is exactly when are
feelings "authentic" or otherwise?  Especially in any
given description/expression/whatever thereof?  When
is any such description NOT a "quote" of some sort? 
In general, when (here putting aside the question of
said "feelings" in and of themselves, IF one can do so
...) are descriptions quite outside of language?  By
definition ...

Main Entry: de·scrip·tion 
Pronunciation: di-'skrip-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English descripcioun, from Middle
French & Latin; Middle French description, from Latin
description-, descriptio, from describere
Date: 14th century
1 a : an act of describing; specifically : discourse
intended to give a mental image of something
experienced b : a descriptive statement or account
....

Main Entry: de·scribe 
Pronunciation: di-'skrIb
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): de·scribed; de·scrib·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin describere, from
de- + scribere to write -- more at SCRIBE
Date: 15th century
1 : to represent or give an account of in words
<describe a picture>
2 : to represent by a figure, model, or picture :
DELINEATE
3 obsolete : DISTRIBUTE
4 : to trace or traverse the outline of <describe a
circle>
5 archaic : OBSERVE, PERCEIVE

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

... recalling, of course, that the vocabulary of
"observation," "impression," is always already
de-scribed, in-scribed, whatever, "impressions," et
al.  (J. Derrida, "Plato's Pharmacy," et al.).  But
my, er, feeling here is, description of a feeling via
an analogous example, and, esp., via an exmaple of a
certain complexity, via an exmaple establishing a
certain context, and so forth, is a hell of a lot more
descriptive than falling back on the usual, nebulous
vocabulary of emotions.  Which remids me, has anyone
quite mentioned what it might mean to "feel like
Mildred Pierce's husband, Bert" here?  Hm ...



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