Monday 21 April 2014

Death of a Salesman

(1985)

RATING:100%
FORMAT:DVD

The definitive Death of a Salesman told, appropriately, in the first person.

A father lives through his sons and passes this ethical emptiness onto them. He represents the many delusions behind the American Dream: False bonhomie, mirthless cheerfulness, materialism, self deceit, emotional atrophy, etc. Here, you are what you can sell – nothing else matters – so it is hardly surprising this rational business attitude eventually infects personal relationships.

Dustin HOFFMAN dominates as Willy Loman – as his ranting bully character should. An employee who thought he was an employer; an immature man who cannot help his children grow up and away from the false protection of his insignificant shadow. He hates to see his sons as they really are because this would remind him that they mirror his own failings.

Well cast throughout.

Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 11:31
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)