{"id":88319,"date":"2013-01-28T13:06:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T20:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?p=88319"},"modified":"2013-01-28T22:09:40","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T05:09:40","slug":"too-much-art-for-oscar-the-master-inspires-thought-not-oscars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2013\/01\/too-much-art-for-oscar-the-master-inspires-thought-not-oscars\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Master”: Too Much Art for Oscar?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m grateful to David Dark, author of one of my favorite books \u2014\u00a0The Sacredness of Questioning Everything<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0for highlighting\u00a0this article by Tyler Sage on Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s film\u00a0The Master<\/em><\/a>, published at\u00a0The Los Angeles Review of Books.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>It is so refreshing, after reading a storm of hasty reactions, wild accusations, and complaints about this\u00a0\u201cdifficult\u201d<\/a>\u00a0work of art, to read such a thoughtful, patient, studious consideration of this film.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it starts\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

LIKE MANY AMBITIOUS FILMS, P.T. Anderson\u2019s\u00a0The Master<\/em>\u00a0generated a fair amount of controversy when it was released last fall. Some people loved it, some hated it, and many did not seem to know what to make of it. A number of critics, even those who lauded the film, claimed that it included no third act, or was altogether plotless; others dismissed it as either (or both) overwrought or dull. In some quarters, the film was portrayed as a masterpiece. In others, it was portrayed as insufferably highbrow and self-impressed, the kind of movie that makes you feel like an artistic Neanderthal if you don\u2019t \u201cget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the final point, there\u2019s little ground for productive argument. Many people are antagonistic towards what they see as difficult movies, and don\u2019t go to the theater to be challenged. There\u2019s nothing wrong with this. In terms of the film\u2019s aims and structure, however, it was surprising how misdirected were the complaints of formlessness or incompletion. The narrative of the film is whole and resolved. It is not a straightforward work, nor an easy one; it does, however, present a vision that is coherent and readable. And the most interesting \u2014 and least commented on \u2014 aspect of the film is that it is an example of what is becoming a clear trend in Anderson\u2019s work: a reaction to the technical capacities of modern cinema, and to our contemporary cultural milieu, that is decidedly Modernist in nature. In this regard,\u00a0The Master<\/em>\u00a0has much to say about our contemporary moment in both film and culture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole thing.<\/a> This is the kind of study such a movie deserves.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not at all surprised that\u00a0The Master<\/em>\u00a0was not nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

Hollywood and its target audience much prefer something that flatters America (and more specifically, something that flatters Hollywood, like\u00a0The Artist<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Argo<\/em>). The Academy is more inclined to choose films that don\u2019t need much interpretation or study or discussion, films that give everybody a good time.<\/p>\n

In the long view, though,\u00a0The Master<\/em>\u00a0will make the bigger mark on film history. It\u2019s is a film that will still be studied and discussed by artists, film scholars, and moviegoers who appreciate a challenge, for decades to come. That\u2019s why it topped a lot of critics lists this year (including\u00a0the\u00a0Village Voice<\/em>\u00a0film critics poll<\/a>,\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/a>,\u00a0Time Out New York<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>the San Francisco film critics<\/a>, Dana Stevens at\u00a0Slate<\/em><\/a>), especially those that exist outside of the culture of Hollywood hype (like\u00a0Sight and Sound<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0the Toronto Film Critics Association<\/a>,\u00a0The Guardian<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0The British Film Institute<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I doubt that many of the great filmmakers will point back to 2012 and say, \u201cArgo<\/em>\u00a0is the movie that really showed me what movies can do.\u201d But they will say that about\u00a0The Master<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(Note what Ben Affleck,\u00a0Argo<\/em>\u2018s director, said when he accepted his Golden Globe for\u00a0Argo<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cThese nominees are exceptional talents. I truly to God never thought I would be in the same breath as them. I want to thank them, and I want to thank the many talented people that weren\u2019t nominated. Paul Thomas Anderson who\u2019s like, I think, Orson Welles.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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