8 - The Artist - Machine Gunning

7/31/2019 8 - The Artist - Machine Gunning

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Im Not There The Artist and the Audience


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Focus Questions(what you should be able to answer bythe end)

1. How can we apply Freuds notion of projection to thefilms attitude towards the artist?

2. What are the machine guns symbolic of in relation tothe artist/audience relationship?

3. How does the use of allusion support the wider ideapresented by the machine gun sequence?


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Insert clip of Jude and Keenan Jones arguing


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Why do we want?To paraphrase Jude, why should we care whether he cares?

Why are we so interested in the artists attitude towards their

fans?

Why, when an artist abandons what we knew them for, do weseem to see ourselves as justified in being upset?


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Close ReadingWeve looked briefly at a key set of dialogue that raises this ideaabout obligation of the artist to the audience, now we want tolook a little more at where this change came from in Dylans life

and the specific reaction that came from the audience.

The most striking representation of this is the re-creation of theNewport Folk Festival.

Well have a watch, then well talk about what we see, then wellhave a look at what Haynes has to say about the sequence...


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Insert clip of Newport Folk Festival


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Symbolism: The Gun

The most striking piece of abstraction in the sequence inthe use of the machine guns on the audience.

But what does this mean?

Have a go:- what is the intended effect?

- how is the effect created?- what is the significance of this effect?


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Digging Deeper

I wonder about the intention of the use of the gun in thesequence. I think it can easily be dismissed as arepresentation of Dylans feelings at the time. It canrepresent what the song says - he doesnt want to workon Maggies Farm anymore and is distancing himself inthe most obvious way possible.

The troubling aspect though is the connotations of thechoice - this notion of an attack on the audience and thisnotion of a figurative act of murder.


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Music

Maggies Farm was an interesting choice on Dylans part,especially when combined with his playing of Like ARolling Stone.

If we have a look at the lyrics...


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Directors Commentary

Hayness own opinion of the scene is quite interestingand raises a few interesting thoughts on what he was:

a) trying to do with the sceneb) influenced by in the construction of the scene


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Insert clip of Newport Folk Festival with Haynessdirector commentary


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Interestingly..."the deification of a contemporary warrior-saint, the towering, pre-eminent idol bearing a deadly weapon as if protecting the mythicalworld of celebrity itself."

The idea with the Warhol image is that Elvis is being deified, whichmeans that he is being made into a God. Its this notion that we turncelebrities into gods, often without their permission. The idea beingsuggested in the Elvis image is that this creates a mechanism wherecelebrities work to hold on to and protect the image that is

constructed for them. They are successful because of their imageand so protecting the image is of primary importance.

We could argue that Haynes is taking this and turning it on its head.


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Interestingly...Why might I argue that Dylan is doing the opposite of what is beingsuggested in the Warhol painting?

Why might it make sense to argue that this machine gun sequence is

actually attacking this notion of deifying celebrities?


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Interestingly... As he expresses in both Maggies Farm and Positively 4th Street,he is frustrated by the machine that he has become a part of. Hebecame part of a system that deified the image, or the idea, of anindividual, rather than caring about the individual beneath that idea or

image.

People believed that they knew Dylan, they knew what he stood for,they knew his politics, etc. but in all honesty, all they knew was theimage of him, or the representation of him. Now, a lot of artists bank

on this, and they make money and become popular by representingsomething fixed, but Dylan hated this. One of my thoughts here as tothe reason why is because it seems to deny an individual their humanity. They stop being a person and they become an image.


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AllusionThe end of the sequence draws heavily on allusions to other texts.

At the same time, the entire sequence is itself an allusion becausewe have to remember that Jude isnt Dylan, he is Jude. And soJudes storyline draws on this moment in history to shape it.

And we know its not precisely biographical because, as Haynes talksabout in the commentary, he is drawing on this mythological momentin his construction of Jude Quinn.

And the very idea of mythology is really important to this sequence.Haynes draws on myth rather than relying solely on fact. We getpresented with the image, the very thing that Dylan was reactingagainst.

8 - The Artist - Machine Gunning

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