The eleventh installment of the Conversations has now been posted at The House Next Door. This time, Jason and I tackle David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, using the opportunity to talk about the nature of the epic film, the evolution of the genre over time, the conventions of brownface performances, and of course the specifics of the film itself, which warrants much in-depth analysis. We approached this topic from very different perspectives, as Jason was already a big fan of the film while I was totally new to it and not generally a fan of old-school epics. Despite that, we wound up agreeing on many of the film's merits while reading certain scenes and elements in different ways. I think it's an interesting conversation, so take a look. As usual, we encourage everyone to continue the discussion in the comment thread; we always want our pieces to be the beginning of the conversation, not the whole story.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Conversations #11: Lawrence of Arabia
The eleventh installment of the Conversations has now been posted at The House Next Door. This time, Jason and I tackle David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, using the opportunity to talk about the nature of the epic film, the evolution of the genre over time, the conventions of brownface performances, and of course the specifics of the film itself, which warrants much in-depth analysis. We approached this topic from very different perspectives, as Jason was already a big fan of the film while I was totally new to it and not generally a fan of old-school epics. Despite that, we wound up agreeing on many of the film's merits while reading certain scenes and elements in different ways. I think it's an interesting conversation, so take a look. As usual, we encourage everyone to continue the discussion in the comment thread; we always want our pieces to be the beginning of the conversation, not the whole story.