tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100043977279787831.post3308736216381696904..comments2024-03-13T03:52:17.006-05:00Comments on Orexis Dianoētikē: Revisting Conan the BarbarianGregory B. Sadlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02197307174003462308noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4100043977279787831.post-2260249501260881882012-05-14T15:20:35.080-05:002012-05-14T15:20:35.080-05:00Wow. Much food for thought. Great post. I'm gl...Wow. Much food for thought. Great post. I'm glad you found my comment of interest and help, too! For my own part, I hadn't taken into account music, and should have. Especially since I know well the movie's score by now! <br />Since we're talking cinema, I thought I'd mention another film that I recommend. It's rare that I ever come across anything akin to the movies mentioned above. But I did just that recently, to my delight. By chance I happened upon "Valhalla Rising" which can be viewed for free on youtube. Whereas "Tree of Life" evokes the couple nature/grace from the beginning, Valhalla Rising evokes nature/man. There are significant Christian themes (think Snake Plissken meets CS Lewis' Aslan), but the esthetics are somewhat different from Conan despite the seeming parallel between vikings & barbarians & swords, etc. The violence is gore, but done in such a way (I think - I dunno really since I closed my eyes during some parts of the action!), that it communicates something other than itself. Its not gratutious, its grotesque, I believe. In the preface to his play "Cromwell", Victor Hugo develops his notion of grotesque - for him, art strives for totality embracing not just beauty and the sublime, but also the ugly and deformed. The deformed, one-eyed viking (named "One-eye") is the vehicle by which man conquers nature by imitating the divine. (that's my interpretation, anyway).<br />As for Conan, I don't see this grotesque at play. I think this was a deliberate choice on Milius' part: other themes, other artistic tools deployed. <br />In any case. Fascinating discussion you started there!Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04004401041598981984noreply@blogger.com