Coppola - Pretension & Meaning
Filed under:
casper,
ctcs,
190,
production,
modernism,
pretentious,
meaning,
movies,
filmmaking,
documentary,
apocalypse now,
francis ford coppola,
vietnam
Francis Ford Coppola discusses the dilemma facing a filmmaker aspiring to make something meaningful.
- from Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
- Creator: Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, and Eleanor Coppola
- Distributor: Paramount
- Posted by Isaac Rooks
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Commentaries on this Media!
Making Meaning
by Isaac RooksIn Dr. Casper's lecture on modernism, he argues that some modernist films and filmmakers were so obsessed with being clever and profound that they failed to produce results that would resonate with audiences. This clip is taken from a documentary chronicling the infamous production of 'Apocalypse Now.' 'Apocalypse Now' is now widely considered a masterpiece of American cinema; during production, it seemed like it could easily become a disaster fueled by hubris. Here Coppola displays great awareness of the derision facing the "pretentious" filmmaker who fails to express their important idea. However, at a certain point, one simply has to abandon those fears and risk coming across like an asshole college professor in order to say something meaningful (in this case revealing truths not only about the still-fresh trauma of Vietnam but about humanity at its primal essence)
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