I tapped her on the blogwatch and said, “Do you have a beau?”

She looked at me and smiled and said she did not know…

Camassia: A correction, re: sincerism! And a post about revenge and divergent views of authority.

Sean Collins: “Is it too much to ask for horror art to inflict emotional damage?”

(I think I’d also add a category for horror art which provokes teshuvah/repentance. Some horror I’ve seen and loved does neither for me–Suspiria is amazing, just incredible art, but I don’t think it “traumatized” me in the way Sean means, nor did it provoke any change in my behavior. But a lot of other movies–Vertigo, obviously, but also Ringu and Barton Fink–seem to me to have the potential to provoke a change in self-understanding which wreaks itself through the emotions, but beyond them, into actions.* Anyway, yeah, I get behind Sean’s cri de coeur!)

(*If you think you hear a faint echo of my disagreement with Sean about the ending of Eyes Wide Shut, you’re right. On the other hand, I think Sean could have easily rebutted my points in that disagreement by saying that the movie itself has the capacity to provoke teshuvah, whether or not Tom Cruise’s character actually ends up there. I think that’s true, and it’s a very strong point against that aspect of my criticism of the movie.)

Also, this comic sounds like it might echo intriguingly against “Keela, The Outcast Indian Maiden,” which is the only Eudora Welty story I really love.

VJ Morton has a huge raft of reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ve added at least three movies to my Netflix “save” queue on his recommendation, and will be keeping my eye out to see if any of them open in theaters down here.