Thursday, January 20, 2011
Howl
“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix; angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dyn."
This is a trailer for the new movie Howl based on the Allen Ginsberg poem and the following obscenity trials. I am kind of fascinated with Allen Ginsberg and the whole Beat Generation; in my eyes, it shakes the glorified, mythologized view of the 60's as fun acid trips and all psycadelic grooviness; behind the glamour, the generation was generally lost and wandering around intoxicated trying to make semblance of their broken lives. At least, that's what the literature says to me. I haven't seen this movie yet, but I think it looks promising.
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For some reason, the way you describe the 60's reminds me of the film Lenny, about another iconic figure from the 1960's, Lenny Bruce. Like Ginsberg, Bruce got in trouble with the law for obscenity and spent a good deal of his life and even his comedy act defending his actions. In a way, both men were trying to get the American public to abandon the rigid conformity of the previous decade and to start examining the problems their society had. Bruce died of a drug overdose in 1966, before the counterculture had fully formed, but he is credited with contributing to the "liberalization" of society, due to his legal battles.
ReplyDeleteAs for Howl, I plan on reading the poem and possibly more of Ginsberg's material first and then watching the film, so I can appreciate the story more.
I agree that the stereotypical image of the 60's misleads people of later generations into thinking that the mythologized counterculture defined the culture of the time. Most historical movies, if not all, give a subjective account of events. Do you think the movie is trying to be objective? From the trailer, the movie in ways seems to be favoring Allen Ginsberg and his movement, which in turn glorifies the Beat Generation itself. After watching the trailer, do you find yourself identifying with Ginsberg or with the people who put him on trial?
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