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Fat Abe · 02-09-2013, 04:03 PM

… and words are all I have, to take your heart away. And so begins a discussion of the film, The Words. The quote is from a BeeGees song, just to get the attribution straight. The movie does not reference this quote, but it may as well have made the connection. Those who have not seen the movie should skip this thread entirely. At some point, a plot element will be revealed, and sticking a SPOILER alert before each paragraph is too cumbersome for me, and too tempting for the reader. A good synopsis of the movie may be found in Stephen Holden's review:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/09/07...oper.html?_r=0

This is a movie about a book within a book, with further connections and twists if you so choose to make them, while viewing the film. It is about the power of Words, the difficulty of writing, and the connection between writing and life. The fact that we have elevated writing, and art, for that matter, far above "life", is a telling trait about the human race. There is a permanence about words on a page, and a published work which achieves either fame or notoriety. In a sense, the expression of love, in the form of language, transcends love itself. But, admittedly, there is no way to capture the love between two partners in words, film or drawings, in a way that matches the emotion, anxiety, and transience of the moment. If you write a great work of literature, then you belong to a special class of human beings. If you plagiarize those words from another writer, what does that make you? Someone who occupies the nether world between the living and the immortal? There are many questions posed in the film (not as questions per se), but thought queries emerging from character decisions. Ernest Hemingway's wife, Hadley Richardson, lost some of his manuscripts, in transit. As an aspiring or accomplished writer, or just a fan of literature, how would you react to such an event? Are Words so important that they are more significant than actual people? If life is about rebirth, then why can't art emulate life? The optimist in me is showing, in my hope that life and art can coexist. One is a facsimile of the other. Without art I would die. No, without air and water, I would die. Art is a luxury, but to some, it is their lifeblood.

02-09-2013, 04:03 PM	#1
Fat Abe Man Who Stares at Books Posts: 1,826 Karma: 10606722 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: 50th State, USA. Also, PA, NY, CA, and elsewhere. Device: All of the Above	It’s only words … … and words are all I have, to take your heart away. And so begins a discussion of the film, The Words. The quote is from a BeeGees song, just to get the attribution straight. The movie does not reference this quote, but it may as well have made the connection. Those who have not seen the movie should skip this thread entirely. At some point, a plot element will be revealed, and sticking a SPOILER alert before each paragraph is too cumbersome for me, and too tempting for the reader. A good synopsis of the movie may be found in Stephen Holden's review: http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/09/07...oper.html?_r=0 This is a movie about a book within a book, with further connections and twists if you so choose to make them, while viewing the film. It is about the power of Words, the difficulty of writing, and the connection between writing and life. The fact that we have elevated writing, and art, for that matter, far above "life", is a telling trait about the human race. There is a permanence about words on a page, and a published work which achieves either fame or notoriety. In a sense, the expression of love, in the form of language, transcends love itself. But, admittedly, there is no way to capture the love between two partners in words, film or drawings, in a way that matches the emotion, anxiety, and transience of the moment. If you write a great work of literature, then you belong to a special class of human beings. If you plagiarize those words from another writer, what does that make you? Someone who occupies the nether world between the living and the immortal? There are many questions posed in the film (not as questions per se), but thought queries emerging from character decisions. Ernest Hemingway's wife, Hadley Richardson, lost some of his manuscripts, in transit. As an aspiring or accomplished writer, or just a fan of literature, how would you react to such an event? Are Words so important that they are more significant than actual people? If life is about rebirth, then why can't art emulate life? The optimist in me is showing, in my hope that life and art can coexist. One is a facsimile of the other. Without art I would die. No, without air and water, I would die. Art is a luxury, but to some, it is their lifeblood.