![]() The final image of An Interesting Story is instructive: it frames the bookworm as an object of fun and positions the comparatively active and modern bicyclists as spectators entertained by his pratfalls. I emphasize the directionality of the bookworm’s walk in the final scene because as he makes his exit, the two bicyclists remain in the foreground, one on either side of the frame, laughing and pointing at the bookworm while he walks into the distance. Once again three-dimensional, the bookworm attempts to communicate something about his book (although with his attention fixed on the page, he fails to make eye-contact) and then continues his walk to the back of the frame. Two bicyclists emerge on the scene, apply their bike pumps, and inflate the flattened reader. But because this is a trick film and not an early version of the Saw franchise, the bookworm’s tragedy quickly transforms into an opportunity for a gag. His back faces the camera as he walks directly into the path of the steamroller, which quite literally lays him flat. While the breakfast table, maid, jump rope, and junkman incidents involve the bookworm facing the camera and walking toward the audience, the final scene takes place in a long shot, into which the bookworm enters from the bottom of the frame. Importantly, the film frames this encounter differently than the earlier scenes. As he continues his walk up the street, reading all the while, an instrument of modern labor, a steam roller, comes his way. When it comes, the punishment for the bookworm’s lack of direction and engagement is explicitly modern. Moreover, in the context of the film, he is rude, getting in the way of other men’s labors. While the other characters both literally and figuratively have direction-they are either working or moving with purposeful directionality-the bookworm’s walk appears aimless. The peddler’s and pedestrian’s routes appear purposive, and by overcoming an environmental obstacle (the bookworm), they show themselves to be in control of their surroundings. The first, a junkman with his mule, gives the bookworm a whack to the back of the head with his peddler’s sack the second, a pedestrian whose way the bookworm blocks, challenges him to a fistfight.Īlthough the offense the junkman and the pedestrian take is perhaps excessive, even bullying, these are manly reactions, and not just because they are violent. In response to the bookworm, whose readerly perambulations disrupt their work, these men react aggressively. While the first encounters are with women, who perhaps can be ignored, the second half of the film shifts to run-ins with men, whose public circulation the bookworm hinders. ![]() His next misadventure occurs as he walks through a little girls’ game of jump rope, spoiling the fun and sending him sprawling once again. Thus blinkered, the bookworm trips over a scullery maid, resulting in his first of many tumbles. ![]() Breakfast over, the bookworm ventures out onto the street, book firmly in place before him. Dressed in fussy bowtie and moustache, the man is totally absorbed in his reading, which the film quickly identifies as a mode of distraction when the reader pours coffee and cream into his hat. 1 The film opens on this literate fellow as he sits at the breakfast table, reading his ubiquitous novel. I am looking forward to being an active person in this group and I hope the differences in time zones will not pose a threat to that! We are 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of GMT.The classic cinematic bookworm appears in James Williamson’s Kinematograph film An Interesting Story (1905). I enjoy books with a lasting quality and beautiful writing. My favourite authors include Jeffrey Archer, Mitch Albom, Jean Sasson,Jason Goodwin, Khaled Hosseini,Sudha Murty, RK Narayan, Enid Blyton,Charles Dickens,Danielle Steel, Alexandre Dumas, Nora Roberts and Victor Hugo. Last but not the least, I love making friends.I love life! We've won several prizes at regional level competitions! I am a voracious reader and read ten/fifteen books a week when I get a chance to!(It depends on my mood or the pace of the book)Besides all this, I write in the newspaper and our diocesan spiritual magazine. I am a passionate singer and I love playing the keyboard.I am an active member of my church and school choirs. This is Meryl from India and I happened to join goodreads and this group just yesterday! This is my first time on a reading group and it sounds like fun!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |