As in: Reading

Some more bits of Davis' book I like:

What a 'real' Marxist Hollywood film would have looked like remains a matter for arcane conjecture. Perhaps the best potential candidate was the remarkable screenplay of An American Tragedy which Sergei Eisenstein and Ivor Montagu wrote in 1930 during the Soviet director's brief and troubled stay in Hollywood. Dreiser supposedly loved the script, but Paramount — alarmed by its 'monstrous challenge to American society' — killed the project. (92)

I'm captured by the phrase "monstrous challenge to American society." It seems like something to strive for, as a cultural critic.

"As late as 1883, local seers envisioned a purely parochial future [for Los Angeles]. Ostrich raising was still described as a 'prominent industry' and naturalist John Muir saw the region's best hope in beekeeping"(111). C'mon! Does it get any better than that? Ostrich raising!

Posted by briley at February 7, 2005 6:14 PM