New Ken Burns documentary premieres tonight on PBS:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021 ... d-the-myth
Hemingway
-
atcolomb
- Wellesnet Veteran
- Posts: 357
- Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Round Lake, Illinois
Re: Hemingway
Viewed the first 2 hour episode last night and liked it. Was surprised on the many photos of him when he was young.
-
Le Chiffre
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2078
- Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2001 11:31 pm
Re: Hemingway
I enjoyed the whole thing, although Hemingway is still a mystery to me; part genius, part toxic-macho nutjob. I watched it looking for clues as to why Welles was so interested in him. Welles certainly didn't have the love of killing animals that Hemingway had, although they both had a love of watching bulls get killed for sport.
Another thing similar is that they both created larger-than-life personas that were impossible to measure up to, but which provided each of them with a lot of opportunities and privileges as well. Welles may have modeled part of his persona on Hemingway's, as did John Huston. Huston's 1958 THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN features Welles as a Hemingway type reporter who gets shot in the butt, IIRC.
I didn't see a huge amount of Jake Hannaford in Hemingway, but maybe there is in the underlying sexual ambiguity beneath the exaggerated macho stance. I've only read a couple of Hemingway's books. I'll have to check out GARDEN OF EDEN sometime, since that seems to delve more deeply into this ambiguity more than the others. Other writers Welles liked have something of this trait too, including Whitman, Melville, Conrad and others. Also, Hannaford's father committed suicide as did Hemingway's. As did Welles's, according to Welles.
Some of Welles's statements about Bullfighting sound like they could have come straight out of Hemingway's DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON. Welles also mentions Hemingway's short story THE UNDEFEATED in F FOR FAKE as well. The whole bullfighting mystique, incomprehensible to me, is something both Welles and Hemingway believed in fervently, although Welles had pretty much given it up by the time he started filming TOSOTW. They both also loved Spain in general and cherished its ultimately futile attempt to turn its back on the modern world.
Welles's involvement in Joris Ivens' 1937 socialist documentary THE SPANISH EARTH (which Hemingway wrote the narration for) is not mentioned, although the documentary mentions that John Dos Passos and Archibald Macleish were good friends of Hemingway. Welles would have recorded his narration for the Ivens project shortly after starring in MacLeish's PANIC in New York, so one has to wonder if MacLiesh was involved in getting Welles the job that produced his first tumultuous run-in with Hemingway.
Overrall a very good program. I didn't know Teddy Roosevelt was Hemingway's idol. Makes sense.
Another thing similar is that they both created larger-than-life personas that were impossible to measure up to, but which provided each of them with a lot of opportunities and privileges as well. Welles may have modeled part of his persona on Hemingway's, as did John Huston. Huston's 1958 THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN features Welles as a Hemingway type reporter who gets shot in the butt, IIRC.
I didn't see a huge amount of Jake Hannaford in Hemingway, but maybe there is in the underlying sexual ambiguity beneath the exaggerated macho stance. I've only read a couple of Hemingway's books. I'll have to check out GARDEN OF EDEN sometime, since that seems to delve more deeply into this ambiguity more than the others. Other writers Welles liked have something of this trait too, including Whitman, Melville, Conrad and others. Also, Hannaford's father committed suicide as did Hemingway's. As did Welles's, according to Welles.
Some of Welles's statements about Bullfighting sound like they could have come straight out of Hemingway's DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON. Welles also mentions Hemingway's short story THE UNDEFEATED in F FOR FAKE as well. The whole bullfighting mystique, incomprehensible to me, is something both Welles and Hemingway believed in fervently, although Welles had pretty much given it up by the time he started filming TOSOTW. They both also loved Spain in general and cherished its ultimately futile attempt to turn its back on the modern world.
Welles's involvement in Joris Ivens' 1937 socialist documentary THE SPANISH EARTH (which Hemingway wrote the narration for) is not mentioned, although the documentary mentions that John Dos Passos and Archibald Macleish were good friends of Hemingway. Welles would have recorded his narration for the Ivens project shortly after starring in MacLeish's PANIC in New York, so one has to wonder if MacLiesh was involved in getting Welles the job that produced his first tumultuous run-in with Hemingway.
Overrall a very good program. I didn't know Teddy Roosevelt was Hemingway's idol. Makes sense.
Re: Hemingway
Interesting article in Salon criticizes the new Ken Burns documentary-
Ken Burns' vicious Hemingway smear: PBS series totally ignores writer's lifelong leftist politics
Ernest Hemingway was a lifelong anti-fascist persecuted by the FBI. New miniseries erases that history entirely
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/11/ken-bu ... mRrf1fg5ow
Ken Burns' vicious Hemingway smear: PBS series totally ignores writer's lifelong leftist politics
Ernest Hemingway was a lifelong anti-fascist persecuted by the FBI. New miniseries erases that history entirely
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/11/ken-bu ... mRrf1fg5ow
Re: Hemingway
Another response to the documentary - https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/0 ... i-a10.html
Return to “F For Fake, The Other Side of the Wind”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests