Saturday, March 08, 2003

"WHEN I'M WIDE AWAKE, I SEE SIGNS OF AN UNBREAKABLE CATHOLIC SIXTH SENSE."

Tim Drake has posted an extensive critique over on CatholicPundit called "The 'Catholic' Imagination of M. Night Shyamalan." There is lots of info about the director's personal history and filmography. It's interesting and well-written, although I don't agree with the central thesis of the piece, namely:

"Although a Hindu, Shyamalan’s artistic imagination is decidedly Catholic."

Exactly what are the elements of a Catholic Imagination as discerned in Shyamalan's work? Is it the part about ghosts wandering among us, giving us colds while trying to work out their issues? Or the notion that aliens exist and are essentially retarded? Seriously. It reduces the Catholic dispensation (nevermind the merely Christian one) to credit this director with having one just becuase he makes films that grant a spiritual dimension to man. This is a universal in pretty much every religion. So, he uses a lot of Catholic iconography. Every director does, because our stuff is cinematic and carries with it some gravitas which is always good, minimally, to add controversy.

What would be the elements of a distinctly Catholic cinematic imagination?

Brood over that. I'll tell you the answer tomorrow.


No comments: