keep the wild inside

I am going to the flatlands of Oregon, to Bend, to shoot a movie. I write the director the following note when she writes to ask me about the creative process and how conscious one is of "building" a piece rather than simply allowing it to come to life on its own. It is a funny question, since it comes in the midst of two weeks of solid writing, none of which is "built." I feel rather autistic, scrambling for structure, and I write the director with my cautious advice:

"A movie such as the piece you are making seems to be very self-analytical, unless you try hard to make your story and images represent a reality (or a fantasy) in which other people are invited to participate. What makes this a difficult proposition is that it takes incredible concentration to distill your impulses into something comprehensible to other people.

"How many people will "understand" your movie? I doubt very many! But how many people might "appreciate" your movie? Quite a few, I think, especially people trying to formulate their own aesthetic identity. Certainly a lot of your viewers will appreciate this attempt, and will thus give you the courage and enthusiasm to make another movie, and then another movie or artwork, until the autistic urge you feel for self-expression sounds like the simplest concept possible to utter strangers. But you can't expect to be an autistic Yeats! The process of emergence is critical. You can document your own emergence, or you can objectify the process impersonally. I think art happens when strangers recognize something about themselves in your struggle. If a stranger sees nothing in your effort or is not moved by it, then it’s safe to say your piece is an autistic scribble: What you would like to express cannot be translated.

"I wouldn’t think about your movie any more. Neither about your intentions nor about the technical process. Let the movie define you and not the other way around. This is a great reward for trying to be an author of anything."

To read something from Blue's "two weeks of solid writing", click here.

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