Re: meanderings...

Posted by Gayle on November 24, 1999 at 20:30:58:

In Reply to: meanderings... posted by myrrh on November 24, 1999 at 17:44:11:

: Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm picking up on a feeling that something intervened (how, what, I don't know) and he allowed himself to get somehow emotionally cut off from his brainchild, his sacred creation. Why else would he have done the DC the way he did...I'm still puzzling.

: I loved those two or three flippant lines we've mentioned...I always felt that Natty Bumppo was a pretty consistently irreverant guy, and I felt those lines were the 20th-century-geared equivalents of 18th century irreverance, or something. More than irreverance, he was very disdainful! I think one thing the lines demonstrated was that he didn't take himself too seriously, in contrast to Duncan, who took himself EXTREMELY seriously! Anyone else want to comment on this? I know you all know what I mean out there!

:myrrh

Dear Myrrh,

Sounds like you are betwixt and between the Cooper characters and the LOTM characters. Interesting contrast! If you are referring to the books, you have it exactly right - Natty Bumppo was an extremely irreverant and distainful guy when it came to the incompetence of the British military in frontier warfare or the naivete of people from the settlements when faced with the realities of frontier survival. And the lines under discussion, although they are pretty much canned 1990s one-liner material, do express the way Natty thought. He would have used language a little more archaic and flowery, but nonetheless, Mann had his attitude down pretty well.

And Duncan certainly took himself a great deal more seriously than was warranted by either his knowledge or his experience. However, in the movie, I think Mann portrayed Duncan very authentically - he was Young, and therefore cocksure and tunnel-visionned to a great extent. It wasn't until the end of the movie that he caught on to Realities and started to behave with any degree of awareness - and in the book, he never did!

I haven't seen the DVD but. I think Mann did his interpretative and creative best with the original. There was nothing that could have made it better - nothing that could possibly have exceeded the emotional impact of the original. So my feeling is that we should simply admit that you can't improve on perfection and the DVD is testimony to that. We haven't lost a thing - only had our original impressions confirmed - it's a Classic.

Gayle

Follow Ups:

• Re: meanderings... MMMMarcia 21:34:08 11/24/99 (0)
• Re: meanderings... myrrh 21:31:06 11/24/99 (2)
  • Re: meanderings... And those 2 lines ... Rich 06:08:07 11/25/99 (1)
    • Re: meanderings... And those 2 lines ... myrrh 11:32:13 11/25/99 (0)

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Comments:
: : Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm picking up on a feeling that something intervened (how, what, I don't know) and he allowed himself to get somehow emotionally cut off from his brainchild, his sacred creation.  Why else would he have done the DC the way he did...I'm still puzzling.     

: : I loved those two or three flippant lines we've mentioned...I always felt that Natty Bumppo was a pretty consistently irreverant guy, and I felt those lines were the 20th-century-geared equivalents of 18th century irreverance, or something.  More than irreverance, he was very disdainful!  I think one thing the lines demonstrated was that he didn't take himself too seriously, in contrast to Duncan, who took himself EXTREMELY seriously!  Anyone else want to comment on this?  I know you all know what I mean out there!

: :myrrh

: Dear Myrrh,

: Sounds like you are betwixt and between the Cooper characters and the LOTM characters.  Interesting contrast!  If you are referring to the books, you have it exactly right - Natty Bumppo was an extremely irreverant and distainful guy when it came to the incompetence of the British military in frontier warfare or the naivete of people from the settlements when faced with the realities of frontier survival.  And the lines under discussion, although they are pretty much canned 1990s one-liner material, do express the way Natty thought.  He would have used language a little more archaic and flowery, but nonetheless, Mann had his attitude down pretty well.

:  And Duncan certainly took himself a great deal more seriously than was warranted by either his knowledge or his experience.  However, in the movie, I think Mann portrayed Duncan very authentically - he was Young, and therefore cocksure and tunnel-visionned to a great extent.  It wasn't until the end of the movie that he caught on to Realities and started to behave with any degree of awareness - and in the book, he never did!

: I haven't seen the DVD but. I think Mann did his interpretative and creative best with the original.  There was nothing that could have made it better - nothing that could possibly have exceeded the emotional impact of the original.  So my feeling is that we should simply admit that you can't improve on perfection and the DVD is testimony to that.  We haven't lost a thing - only had our original impressions confirmed - it's a Classic.

: Gayle


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