Some questions I have:
- Haynes has six different actors play Bob Dylan including a woman (Kate Blanchet) and an African American boy (Marcus Carl Franklin). How come?
- Dylan has been a performer for over 50 years. In that time, he's played folk, rock and roll, soul, standards, gospel, and country. He's written a novel, an autobiography, and even starred in a few films. How does Haynes capture that aspect of Dylan?
- Why didn't he tell ea. story separately? Why does he jump back and forth between narratives?
- Some of the music in the film are the original Dylan recordings and some are Dylan covers performed by bands like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo. Why use a mix of originals and covers? Why not one or the other?
- Polizzotti quotes Dylan as saying that "protest [is] an amusement-park word...The word 'message' strikes me as having a hernia-like sound." How does the quote fit w/ Haynes' film?
- On the first page of Polizzoti's book, he analyzes the album cover. (It's on the front of the book if you need to look). Do you agree w/ his interpretation of it?
You don't have to respond to all of these questions. You can pick or choose or ask your own questions.
I believe that Haynes used 6 different actors to play Bob Dylan to show the different personalities he went through. To show the different characters he played through out his life. Us as humans change overtime. As we grow, we change. We are not the same person we were when we were a baby or a child. He used the 6 different characters to better express/show Bob Dylan in different times of his life. Which I believe should us, Bob Dylan in a different way that helped us better understand Dylan and how he changed over time. To me his music changed as his life changed.
ReplyDeleteI think he didn't tell each story independently because each story tied together and helped you better understand the other story. Him jumping back in forth kept you engaged to figure out and watch what was happening. For me it drew me in to watch closer. In the end though the quick jumping around from one story to the next and bringing it all back together showed you how his life was as a whole and that each story wasn't an individual story it was a whole story in one that tide all together to tell you about one artist Bob Dylan.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason he didn't tell a story separately is because Dylan's life is not as smooth as having a beginning, middle and an end of a life story with the same rhythm. He went through so many different personalities in his life which can not be captured describing it as a story. Every individual phase of his singing style exposed a different Dylan. The completeness of his life story lies on him being so different in each different phase of his life.
ReplyDeleteAlthough very confusing in time and sometimes narrative, Todd Haynes' seems to depict exactly what Bob Dylan was: a jagged and complex human being. Throughout the film we're exposed to different parts of Dylan's life--different narratives, so to speak. These narratives are juxtaposed together in the way that they are because memories are often fragmented in the same way. I believe the director is trying to offer a visual representation of Bob Dylan's mind, while at the same time telling Dylan's life story. The events are sequenced in a way that helps move the narrative along as well as show us various moments in Dylan's life.
ReplyDeleteThere is a moment in the film where Cate Blanchet's version of Dylan says, "I'm a lot of different people." I believe that throughout his career, Bob Dylan has depicted those different narratives through his music and in his personal life. I suppose this is why Todd Haynes decided to cast different actors for various parts of Dylan's life. Each one speaks for the other, and we can see that through the depiction of Dylan as a young African-American boy. Later on in the film, there is a scene where it is mentioned to Dylan how his music has been used at Black Panther rallies, and that's visualized during the "Ballad of a Thin Man" scene. I believe the young African-American boy was cast as young Dylan to not only show his roots in folk music, but to also foreshadow his role in the political movements surrounding African-Americans.
Another component to Todd Haynes' film that I found very interesting was his use of color versus his use of black and white. I believe the choice comments on the narrative. For example, the film is presented in black and white during moments when Bob Dylan seems to be very set in his mind and affirmative in his thoughts. Therefore, during Cate Blanchet's representation of him it's mainly shot in black and white to show the very "black and white" mindset that Dylan had at the time. On the other hand, during more colorful scenes, it seems to be commentary on a more "full of life" Bob Dylan who is on the cusp of fame before fame became too much to handle. The color scenes show more of his open-mindedness and desire to be political. But once he starts to deny being political and enters a more dissatisfied state, the scenes turn to black and white. The only time where we see the colors start to dull is in the scene where Heath Ledger's adaptation of Dylan begins to get agitated with politics and showcases sexist ideals against women. This scene is shot in a very dark blue which is where we start to see Bob Dylan transition into the "black and white" dissatisfied state.
I think it was just perfect because he uses different characters to define his different stages in life . We as humans go through a lot of different emotions and chapters during our life spam. And he uses this different characters to make us understand better how amazing and hard his life was, I totally loved the movie made me think a lot. Very challenging!
ReplyDeleteHaynes were not able to cast (hire) one actor to play all characters in Bob Dylan because there are at least 6 completely different personalities in Dylan. Style of music, style of life, all are different so changing actors even though races of actors is the only way to depict Dylan accurately in the film. One question is why all actors are men. Dylan may involve somewhat women in him. So a woman (Kate Blanchet) can be a mirror image of Dylan, but I am not sure.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to generalize Bob Dylan so I appreciate Haynes's work (film) to depict who Dylan is. I believe Haynes is one of the greatest fan of Dylan. One thing I know in general is we human beings normally develop our personality in their adolescent. It is hard to change the basics of personality once we become an adult. Let's imagine the old school means people who are conservative and they are literally old. As age becomes older, it becomes harder to change anything in person. This is general. Therefore, it is fair to say Bob Dylan is special.
However, we have a certain type of similarity with Dylan. It is probably instinctive, like vagabondism and self-reliant. Changing channels when watching TV is a part of vagabondism?? So Haynes didn't tell each story separately and mix them back and forth. This can be Haynes's technique as a director of the film in order to represent the instinctive similarity that we all (including Dylan) may have.
The reason I believe Haynes uses different actors to portray Dylan is because of two reason. The first reason is because he is trying to capture the different stages of Dylan's life journey. The character of Jack Rollins (Bale) is portraying Dylan's career as a Folk singer and then later on in the movie he shows the later stage of his career being a Gospel singer. The character of Jude Quinn (Blanchett) shows Dylan's transition from Folk singer to RockNRoll. The other reason Haynes used different actors was because he used characters that Dylan admired. Such as the character Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin) was a representation of Woody Guthrie, a singer in which Dylan idolized. Woody Guthrie was the one who labeled his guitar "This machine kills fascist".
ReplyDeleteHaynes was able to capture each aspect of Dylan by showing all of the different stages and transitions of Dylan's career and personal life.
ReplyDeleteAlso it was cool to see that the Batman and the Joker put their differences aside to make this movie possible.
ReplyDeleteHa! funny, Henry.
DeleteAll though a bit confusing at times the movie was very interesting and showed us the different stages of Bon Dylan's life, which is why I believe Haynes didn't tell each story separately. In order for Bob Dylan to get to a certain point in his life he had to go through different events and different life experiences which is why I believe he jumps back and forth between narratives in the movie. Haynes choosing different actors I believe is a way to show us his different personalities. He was an artist who kept trying to reinvent himself while also changing the world around him.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot label who Bob Dylan is. He is everyone. Literally. He's black and white. A hero and a villain. A father and a child. A writer and a ghost. He's the air he breathes.
ReplyDeleteThe director does a great job showing us that underneath Bob Dylan's skin is a man of many characters. As Bob Dylan enters into each stage of his life, he changes completely. It's like he physically morphs into another soul. With the help of six actors, I was able to witness and embrace his artistic truths.
I was confused at first, when the movie would jump to different people & scenes. But towards the end it kind of made sense. He was showing different personalities of himself and his life experiences. I thought this was a cool way to show us and other he was different.
ReplyDeleteI think Haynes wanted to emphasize that Dylan has lived many lives and he has multiple sides to his personality and his music is all over the place and he also has various musical influences. Dylan is also more than a musician, he is also a writer and an actor so that is also part of the reason why Haynes used different people to portray Dylan. None of the characters are named Bob Dylan and each have a different name. I believe that is because Haynes wanted a clear distinction between the characters to further emphasize that Bob Dylan has many sides and lived many lives and he did not name any of them Bob Dylan because we should not see as being more Bob Dylan. The black boy was probably chosen to portray Dylan because of the influence black musicians had on Dylan. Haynes chose a woman to also portray him, probably because of the influence that his relationships with women had on his music. He told each story separately to make it feel like the stories are about different people, same reason why he uses a diverse group of actors and by doing so he magnifies the different sides/lives and different stages of Dylan's life.
ReplyDeleteWow! This movie truly demonstrated Dylan's lifestyle, although this is my first time learning about Bob Dylan. The abuse within himself to be respected and taken seriously is a depiction of everyone's lifestyle portrayed in one. As the interviewers "Haynes" and many others express Dylan's music, it seems it had a variety of styles. Chosen in particular with people he encountered in his life and also influenced him. In the end one can only hope that his goals are achieved such as Caring for the world, one of his seven rules.
ReplyDeleteThe movie was a good representation of the evolution of Bob. Todd Haynes used different actors playing the role of Bob Dylan because each individual portrays a different stages in his life . Each character was an example of growth to finding himself . Franklin was a symbol of bob youth . He wants to become a huge star but have to face many adversity to do so . One of his challenges was becoming his own person with his music . In the beginning of the movie the black lady told him " Sing about your own time " . I'm sure this is when bob reinvented his imagine from folk music to electric music . Kate blanchett who was the main character playing Dylan . I'm still confuse on why they chose a female over a male as the primary . She played him during his electric year . I'm guessing it had to do more with the appearance during those years . It was more of a femine look , so she fit the role. During those years Dylan's had curly hair , skinny body , and baby face appearance toward him . He didn't tell each story seperatly because he wanted you to first get a glance perspective of how he was each in stage . If his life story was in a constant sequence you wouldn't feel his thought process for his actions . By spereating the stages of his life you get a feel of his mentally. For example when he was playing his music at the end and the crowed hated Him and started throwing trash at him . It was example of the change from playing folk to electric but the people couldn't understand that it was truely a journey for him to commit to electric but as the audience we seen him as franklin understand the challenges he face to take that step .
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