Legendary Director Peter Bogdanovich: What If Movies Are Part of the Problem?
I told him that's how I saw things.
Just the basics, those three colours. The squares perfectly square
and perfectly colored in. Everything within the boundaries, nothing
leaks out. And behind it a tranquil chaos. That's the phrase that got
to him. Tranquil chaos. It was a silly paradox, he said. And
besides, he added, things are never like that. They mix, they
confuse themselves, become muddled, until everything is a cesspool of
indistinction. That's the phrase that got to me. But I didn't have
arguments, I just didn´t like the idea of indistinction. I wanted
red to be red and blue to be blue, him to be him and me to be me.
Sometimes, things get away from me, I admitted. They hide in the
darker corners of my mind, and merge with other secrets. They form a
big blob together, and attack my primary colors. So far, the base colors have always won, but, yes, it is a frightening idea. It makes me wonder what my true colors are. So I pleaded
with him to at least keep my sanity in my art. If we allow the
darkness into that, then what is next? He retorted that we need to
create a controllable darkness, as a vaccine to the real thing. I
argued that it could also get people hooked on the drug. Hooked on
the real thing. He looked at me, and slowly shook his head. He
snatched my drawing away, and smudged everything out until it was one
large, filthy blur. Luckily I had it firmly lodged in my mind´s eye.
