Don't Speak

Comments responding to yesterday's Leni Riefenstahl post got me to thinking about Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994), which examines the creative process and its attendant horrors as well as joys. A naive and idealistic playwright comes to the metropolis during the Gangster days. A basically good guy, he is drawn into the chaotic realities of his new surroundings. He must make all sorts of compromises and often bad decisions if he is to succeed. Much hilarity and mayhem ensues.

Woody Allen seems to be saying that the creation of art or anything else costs, and costs a lot more than anyone initially bargains for. Every minute of writing, for example, requires sacrificing a minute for something else, what economists like to call "opportunity cost." Creation requires a certain amount of chaotic energy, resulting in change.

The process is so complicated that Woody can provide no definitive answers or solutions, but he does seem to suggest that messy issues and uneasy moral/ethical choices will creep into the noblest of projects. Is creating art of any form worth that cost? The answer will ultimately vary from person to person. It does seem that the bigger the risk taking, the greater the cost, yet also the greater the potential reward. Or all mixed together simultaneously. Just like Woody Allen's real life and career.

Today in class we discussed a short documentary on Raymond Carver that addresses the same themes. There was no definitive response from me or anyone else. Some things remain mysterious, and what could be more mysterious than creating through writing, a mad scramble of words strung together with a unique signature? Tomorrow, Maryann Burk Carver's What It Used to Be Like : A Portrait of My Marriage to Raymond Carver comes out, providing her angle on the writing life. I'm willing to bet it's an interesting one. When you don't speak, write.



Ciao, darlings! Thanks for the thoughtful comments!