Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!thakur
From: rfink@eng.umd.edu (Russell A. Fink)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.cinema
Subject: Re: What is Wild at Heart About?
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.215959.22091@eddie.mit.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 90 21:59:59 GMT
References: <1990Sep20.160021.25426@eddie.mit.edu>
Sender: thakur@eddie.mit.edu (Manavendra K. Thakur)
Reply-To: rfink@eng.umd.edu (Russell A. Fink)
Followup-To: rec.arts.cinema
Organization: Civil Engineering Department, University of Maryland
Lines: 35
Approved: thakur@zerkalo.harvard.edu

I recently paid a whopping 99 cents to see Wild at Heart at a local
cinema. I found that it appeared to be a dull, dragging movie with
little plot and direction.

Many people really hated this about it. But, now, revert to your
highschool English teacher's frame of mind. "Wild at Heart is full of
symbolism, in that it shows ..." I hated the word "symbolism" for the
longest time, but when faced with answering a very challenging
question, such as that about this movie, I need to point it out.

Wild at Heart drags, because the lives of Sailor and (blonde girl)
drag. The movie is in of itself its own symbolism. Also, look at the
references to the supernatural -- witches, the Good Witch of the East
-- to see the mentality of the characters.

Wild at Heart is one of those movies that relies on you to supply some
imagin- ation and try to put yourself in the characters' shoes. What
would you do if someone tried to kill you? What would you do if you
were pregnant in a small town? What would you do if one person, the
one who is with your daughter, is the only threat to exposing the fact
that your life was a lie?

This movie is, in my opinion, an attempt at putting some level of
audience participation into the cinema. You are almost REQUIRED to
place yourself in the shoes of the characters (male OR female), and
ask yourself, "what would I do if I were *?" For this reason, although
I hate Twin Peaks, I feel the director has created a masterpiece of
personal insight. So go back, preferably by yourself and with a
renewed state of mind, and give it another try.

--
   //=====   //=====   Russ Fink  ===============
  //        //____     rfink@eng.umd.edu        
 //        //          University of Maryland
//=====   //=====      College Park  ============