Throwback Thursday: Sometimes Even When You Don't Understand a Dylan Song You Can "Get It"

“I don't like the idea of 'understanding' a film. I don't believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art. Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn't. If you are moved by it, you don't need to have it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.” ~Federico Fellini

There it is. This is what some people mean when they talk about art, whether music, poetry or a painting. It's like a joke; you shouldn't have to explain why the punch line was funny.

To this day I don't "get" Dylan's "Changing of the Guard," but it moves me every time I hear it, and remains one of my favorite Dylan songs. What's it all about, Alfie? The images connect with something inside like a series of dreams, rising up from a subconscious sea teeming with shimmering mysteries.

In his book The Dylanologists David Kinney devotes one chapter to the Lyrics Dissecters. These are the ones Fellini is calling out above. It's like Dylan's lyrics are a secret code to be cracked, if only we had an Enigma Machine.

People have the same problem with abstract art. "I don't get it" has been exclaimed in art museums and galleries all over the world.

"Ballad of a Thin Man" is another song that falls into this category, difficult to apprehend but one that definitely haunts. The opening bars on the piano send a chill through the room and the confounding imagery shocks and frightens. Something's happening, even if you don't know what it is. "You try so hard, but you don't understand," Dylan hisses.

The words and images can confuse, but when ignited there can be light, revealing the outlines of shapes and scenes that darkness conceals.

* * * *

For what it's worth, Duluth Dylan Fest is just around the corner. May will be here faster than you know it. The events are slated for May 17-24 this year. If you want to celebrate with us here in Dylan's home town, mark your calendars. There will be a birthday celebration on his 85th, May 24, in front of the house he grew up in. And there will be plenty of music... some of it you'll "get" with your head and some with your heart.

Meantime life goes on all around you. Be a part of it. 

Project Hail Mail Reflects Recurring Images and Storylines from Film History

I'd heard enough raves for Project Hail Mary that it got my attention. As I considered going, what caught my eye was that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had been screenwriters for The Lego Movie, which I found sizzling with great lines and a clever storyline. 

Imdb.com places the film in several categories including Buddy Comedy, Sci-Fi, Epic, Adventure and Comedy. My take is that it's essentially the story of a lonely problem-solver in space, with both overt and subtle echoes of earlier films. We'll return to this after briefly outlining the story.

Here's how Amazon MGM summarizes it: Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction... but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

In other words, it begins as a mystery. Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? Why am I all alone? There's a sense in which we ourselves periodically need to take stock of our lives and ask outselves these fundamental questions.

Tributes
A few days after seeing this film I reflected on how many previous films were echoed here. The most obvious, of course, is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The lighting and manner in which Ryland Grace's spaceship silently glides through deep space is pure Kubrick magic. The infinite frontier, the massive emptiness, and the loneliness.

A second film seems directly echoed in this one, in a different way: Spielberg's E.T., the curiously cute creature from another world who is unable to effectively communicate that he wants to go home. And yes, that is the trajectory of Project Hail Mary as Ryland Grace succeeds in making contact. with alien life. And "Surprise!" The film transforms from a mission to save the world into a love story.

The Martian is a third film this story pays tribute to. As it turns out, both Project Hail Mary and The Martian are based on novels by Andy Weir. Both involve hard science and technology, and both feature a character in similar circumstances, alone and a long ways from home.

The next echo for me, and I'd like to know if it was intentional, is Fellini's 8½. You may be curious how that film relates to this one. If you recall the storyline, it is about Italian director Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) who is having an existential crisis. But the backstory is that he has been contracted to direct is an epic science-fiction project about humanity fleeing a dying, post-apocalyptic Earth. In several scenes we see a large set made of vertical pipes, poles, and scaffolding is the massive, unfinished rocket launch pad / spaceship launch tower built for the science-fiction film that the protagonist, Guido, is supposed to be making.

The reason I draw attention to this is that when Ryland Grace reaches his destination, the spaceship for the alien (Rocky) looks like this strange assembly of rods, poles and pipes. Having seen Fellini's famous flick twice this past year, the rods, pipes and poles image was fresh in my mind. 

Other films this film may have drawn inspiration from might include Oppenheimer (sparks and SFX in his semi-lucid dream sequences), Apollo 13 (survival through improvisation), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (communication across species barriers). There are no doubt others, but these are all films I'm familiar with that seem reflected here.

One last comment. Yesterday Artemis II launched, the first step in a new chapter for the space program. This has been a long time coming. Was there some measure of coordination between these events? Maybe not. Sci fi fiction has a long history, and whatever unfolds in real life will likely have been foretold in one form or another creative minds making imaginative connections.