VLVL2 (14) A generic longhair, 280-287

[Paul Nightingale]

Yes indeed, on 38, and very screwball, of course. The text offers it as a
retrospective judgement, so the auspicious nature of their first meeting is
made apparent with hindsight. The same would be true of the (admittedly
lesser) examples in VL. The Hollywood version would operate differently,
usually, because the meeting came early in the film: here, the audience
would bring their prior knowledge of conventions, the star system etc, to
bear. Pynchon's cute-meets occur in flashback, because the novel is read
differently.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Heikki Raudaskoski [mailto:hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi]
> Sent: 04 March 2004 09:35
> To: Paul Nightingale
> Cc: 'Dave Monroe'; 'Pynchon-L'
> Subject: RE: VLVL2 (14) A generic longhair, 280-287
> 
> 
> 
> Having a cubicle lunch, don't have GR near me, but wasn't
> Roger's and Jessica's witty first encounter in Kent "what
> Hollywood likes to call a 'cute meet'"? (Tried to comb GR
> for R&J passages as thoroughly as possible way back when,
> so the phrase has, so to say, been engraved on my mind).
> 
> 
> Heikki
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 3 Mar 2004, Paul Nightingale wrote:
> 
> > I'm familiar with it from Billy Wilder's comments about his films, so I
> > assume he's the author. He said he liked to come up with a cute-meet
> > situation for his hero and heroine. I've seen him quoted to this effect
> on
> > more than one occasion, and I think he discusses it in the interview
> book
> > with Cameron Crowe a few years back. It implies a screwball dimension to
> the
> > relationship, which is perhaps, and admittedly, more accurate in VL with
> > regard to DL and Takeshi; and there is something stagey about the
> meeting
> > and the way mutual attraction develops (DL and Frenesi, or Frenesi and
> > Brock). More specifically, in Wilder's films there is usually a con,
> perhaps
> > a mutual con involved, with one or both parties being economical with
> the
> > truth, and then having to invent more elaborate scenarios to keep up the
> > charade. I did say perhaps ...
> >
> > Yes, Billy Wilder is one of those people who are greatly missed.
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> > > Behalf Of Dave Monroe
> > > Sent: 03 March 2004 15:15
> > > To: Paul Nightingale; 'Pynchon-L'
> > > Subject: Re: VLVL2 (14) A generic longhair, 280-287
> > >
> > > Pardon my ignorance, esp. having seen this phrase so
> > > many times here, but ...
> > >
> > > --- Paul Nightingale <isread at btopenworld.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > a cute-meet
> > >
> > > ... but I gotta axe, what does this mean?  And where
> > > again does it enter the Pynchon lexicon?  I've seen it
> > > elsewhere, I'm assuming it's not necesarily of his
> > > coinage, but ... well, let me know, thanks ...
> > >
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