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THE_HUMAN_KAEL

                                    January 17, 2013

Section IX, of Pauline Kael's "Trash,
Art, and the Movies" (1969), opens:              TRASHING_KAEL

   "Part of the fun of movies is in seeing 'what
   everybody's talking about,' and if people are
   flocking to a movie, or if the press can con
   us into thinking that they are, then
   ironically, there is a sense in which we want
   to see it, even if we suspect we won't enjoy
   it, because we want to know what's going on."

If you are of humanity, then even
human follies are of interest. Check.

Then Kael casts her judgments from on
high about aesthetics:

        "Movies like 'Morgan!' or 'Georgy Girl'
        or 'The Graduate'-- aesthetically trivial
        movies which, however, because of the
        ways some people react to them, enter
        into the national bloodstream-- become
        cultural and psychological equivalents       GONE_WITH_THE_WIND
        of watching a political convention--
        to observe what’s going on."


There's then a bunch of nasal droning
about "The Graduate"-- yes okay, so
it's a basic love story.

But consider the fade: the young couple
makes their joyous escape on the bus-- but
then the camera stays on too long; the
laughter gets stale, the smiles freeze on
their face.  You got your happy ending, but
now what?

How can you miss details like this?
How can you simply not notice that
this is an unconventional treatment
of a basic love story?

How could Kael miss something like this?
Kael is the champion of the perfect little
bit that makes the movie...                    "... it is what we have always
                                               found good in movies only more
    If it weren't recognized as                so. It’s the subversive gesture
    Great, she'd be praising it                carried further, the moments of
    as an overlooked gem.                      excitement sustained longer and
                                               extended into new meanings."





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