[NetBehaviour] Derek Jarman's birthday would be today! Now yesterday ; -)

Mon Feb 1 02:15:15 CET 2010

Tilda Swinton gave a wonderful talk, "In the Spirit of Derek Jarman"  
at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 2002, a truly frank and  
impassioned memorial lecture to this brilliant man.

I've often referenced it, most recently while giving a talk about  
'the creative producer as collaborator' in tandem with excerpts from  
Marc and Ruth's essay for Coding Cultures handbook, examining the  
beginnings of Furtherfield amidst the branding and commodification of  
art by Saatchi & Saatchi and the like

[Do It With Others (DIWO): contributory media in the Furtherfield  
Neighbourhood - http://www.dlux.org.au/codingcultures/handbook.html ]

A couple of quotes from Swinton
"I had run away to join a different circus myself: Planet Jarmania.  
You were the first person I met who could gossip about St Thomas  
Aquinas and hold a steady camera at the same time. I thought it would  
be good to hang out with you for six weeks: I guess we had things to  
say. Our outfit was an internationalist brigade. Decidedly pre- 
industrial. A little loud, a lot louche. Not always in the best  
possible taste. And not quite fit, though it saddened and maddened us  
to recognise it, for wholesome family entertainment.

Wholesome families were all the rage then. There was a fashion for a  
thing called "normal" and there was a plague abroad called  
"perversion". There was no such thing as society, and culture meant  
something to do with yogurt (this was before the Sunday Times  
educated us that culture means digested opinions about marketable  
artistic endeavours)."

...

"The dead hand of good taste has commenced its last great attempt to  
buy up every soul on the planet, and from where I'm sitting, it's  
going great guns. Art is now indivisible from the idea of culture,  
culture from heritage, heritage from tourism, tourism from what I saw  
emblazoned recently on the window of an American chain store in  
Glasgow - "the art of leisure". That means, incidentally, velours  
lounging suits by the ton."

read the (almost full) text here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/aug/17/books.featuresreviews

it also appears on the DVD release of Jarmans film "The Last of  
England", in my opinion one of Jarman's greatest works.

On 01/02/2010, at 11:03 AM, marc garrett wrote:

> Derek Jarman's birthday would be today! Now yesterday ;-)
>
> As a mark of respect to Derek Jarman, I am posting some links to  
> some of
> his works which have inspired me...
>
> Derek Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February, 1994) was an English film
> director, stage designer, artist, and writer.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Jarman
>
> Jubilee (1977 film), a cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars
> Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title
> refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.
>
> "When Queen Elizabeth I asks her court alchemist to show her  
> England in
> the future, she’s transported 400 years to a post-apocalyptic  
> wasteland
> of roving girl gangs, an all-powerful media mogul, fascistic police,
> scattered filth, and twisted sex. With Jubilee, legendary British
> filmmaker Derek Jarman channeled political dissent and artistic daring
> into a revolutionary blend of history and fantasy, musical and  
> cinematic
> experimentation, satire and anger, fashion and philosophy. With its
> uninhibited punk petulance and sloganeering, Jubilee brings together
> many cultural and musical icons of the time, including Jordan, Toyah
> Willcox, Little Nell, Wayne County, Adam Ant, and Brian Eno (with his
> first original film score), to create a genuinely unique,  
> unforgettable
> vision. Ahead of its time and often frighteningly accurate in its
> predictions, it is a fascinating historical document and a gorgeous  
> work
> of film art." http://www.criterion.com/films/736
>
> Jubilee was one of those films which influenced my own life  
> greatly. The
> spirit of the movie connected to me personally and (dare I say it)
> spiritually, in respect of it triggering off various inner feelings
> which before laid ungrounded. From then on, art, punk and everything
> else fell into place...
>
> Here is a snippet of Jubilee on Youtube
> BEYOND THE ENDLESS FUTURE CITY part 1 (Amyl Nitrate Lesson 1)
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmidfMeK7AE&feature=related
>
> Escena de Ballet de Jubilee
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEn5ldq8O4
>
> Amyl Nitrate - Rule Britannia
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlL0D5BF2Ok&feature=related
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (music video directed by Derek Jarman).
> "The Queen Is Dead", starts with a soundbite from Bryan Forbes' 1962
> British film The L-Shaped Room. Another instance of Morrissey's
> fascination with '60s British cinema. The soundbite is Courtneidge's
> character nostalgically singing the World War I song "Take Me Back to
> Dear Old Blighty".
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5IFl7uCis
>
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> The Devils.
>
> "The Devils is a 1971 British horror film directed by Ken Russell. It
> stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the
> 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the
> 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book."
>
> |Derek Jarman was responsible for the film's production design. The  
> film
> is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain
> Grandier, a 17th century French priest executed for witchcraft."
>
> "A highly controversial film which has a history of censorship. The  
> film
> is a strong condemnnation of religious institutions such as the  
> Catholic
> Church and organized religion in general. This, combined with its
> unrelentingly graphic depictions of sex and violence, has led to its
> history of censorship.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_(film)."
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devils_(film)
>
> I remember reading The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, an amazing
> book. Oh yes, at a young age the film itself blew my mind...
>
> The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Xgm1u_SF4
>
> That's my fave selection, any other suggestions?
>
> Wishing all well.
>
> marc
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