A longnew article about Louise Brooks is included in the newest issue of
Senses of Cinema (issue #55). The article, by Robert Farmer, is titled "Lulu in Rochester: Louise Brooks and the cinema screen as a tabula rasa."
In it, Farmer looks at the ever evolving nature of Louise Brooks’ reputation. As Farmer notes, Brooks' real fame arrived many years after she abandoned her acting career. He analyzes the life, the films and the screen persona of an actress who has been turned into an icon of modernity. In my opinion, its a thoughtful and well considered piece, though I disagree witha few of his lesser points.
Robert Farmer is a filmmaker and lecturer in film theory and practice living in Northampton, UK. Check out his article at
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/lulu-in-rochester-louise-brooks-and-the-cinema-screen-as-a-tabula-rasa-3/
[ The Louise Brooks Society even gets a shout out in this article. Check out footnote #35 ! ]
"What this means for us is that the three principal sources of information on Brooks, Tynan’s The Girl in the Black Helmet, Brooks’ own writings, collected in Lulu in Hollywood, and Paris’ Louise Brooks: A Biography, should not be treated uncritically as works of dispassionate historical fact, but as works of image construction and reinforcement."
ReplyDeleteRevelatory. My eyes are rolling so hard you may hear them rattle in California. If there is such a thing as dispassionate historical fact I'd like to see it.
Sadly and like so many, Louise probably made more money last year than she did in her whole life...
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