#Laurence of Arabia

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Arthouse Muppets

Lawrence Of Arabia featuring Kermit, Uncle Deadly, Lew Zealand And The Swedish Chef

Art by Bruce McCorkindale

[cassandraleeds]

One last little birthday wonder last night was finding out T. E. Lawrence was probably by today's language a homoromantic asexual

[thiziri]

Which part of the world are you

[mifunebooty]

Not mad my library's alien 1979 blurays are busy being in other bitch's houses like a ho but ill take the dvd :)

[beeslibrarycorner]

“Why are you torturing her with this movie?” Walter said as he sat down next to you. Davids jaw was tightened as he sat and watched Laurence of Arabia for the umpteenth time.

“David she’s practically half asleep” he said before pulling you into his lap. He wasn’t wrong, you were struggling to keep your eyes open but you give David a small smile anyway and try to stay awake.

Walter makes it hard for you though as he secures his arm around your waist and starts rubbing your back. Your head rests on his shoulder and his head rests against the top of yours.

“That’s completely unfair, you getting her to sleep faster” David says annoyed at what the synthetic was doing. “I have no idea what you’re talking about” Walter replied as he threw a throw blanket over your body.

You fell asleep soon after with Walter watching you and David watching the movie. When the movie ended Walter carried you off to bed, David in tow. Once you were under the covers David sat down and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

He watched you for a bit before leaving with Walter. “Since you watched your movie I’m going to watch a documentary” Walter said and David smiled and said “I’ll join you”.

[hotvintagepoll]

i haven't seen laurence of arabia i'm sure it's a great movie but barely anyone has mentioned funny girl in relation to omar sharif... what's wrong people don't sexy morally dubious men who seduce vaudeville starlets...

Fanny Brice's Paramour vs Toshiro Mifune

[hootenanie]

there's french words everywhere in canada it's so exotic I feel like laurence of arabia

[julianalvarez9]

feliz cumpleaños, rey / happy birthday, king

Quotes by Lionel Messi extracted from ALTA EN EL CIELO, and cited from here. / (1) Leo Messi disapointed in match between Germany and Argentina, corresponding to the 2014 World Cup final, played at the Maracana Stadium, July 13, 2014. (Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto) / (2) Lionel Messi of Barcelona celebrates after scoring his sides second goal during the La Liga match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou on May 6, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos / (3) Team Argentina with Lionel Messi (R) of Argentina sing their national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia at Lusail Stadium on November 22, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Matthias Hangst) / (4)  Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates with The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Winner's Trophy after winning the FIFA World Cup on an open top bus outside the stadium during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Michael Regan) / (5)  Lionel Messi of Argentina reacts during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 semi final match between Argentina and Croatia at Lusail Stadium on December 13, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Richard Heathcote) / (6) Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates after scoring the team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Round of 16 match between Argentina and Australia at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on December 03, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths) / (7) Lionel Messi (C) of Argentina celebrates with teammates after an international friendly between Argentina and Panama at Estadio Mas Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti on March 23, 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Jam Media)

[eros-thanatos89]

some thoughts on Dune

It's 5 AM and I can't get back to sleep, so clearly it's time to ramble about Dune on the internet.

I recently rewatched part one of Villeneuve's movies and then saw part 2 in theaters this week.

I've seen the David Lynch Dune a couple times in the past few years, mostly because I wanted to see the Villeneuve. I love Lynch, but his adaptation is wild--very fun, but it feels like a fever dream, and he has spoken openly about how the studio fought him and the process of making the film was awful for him. It's also such a dense source material, that it's so hard to fit into one two hour movie. Hence, the last 45 minutes try to cover major plot points and it feels rushed and scattered.

So the new Villeneuve adaptations have more time to really introduce to Dune's world of interplanetary Empire, the warring houses and factions under the Emperor, and the planet of Arrakis which is coveted by the Empire for its precious resource of Spice--and therefore exploited and oppressed.

I didn't really catch the very clear commentary on imperialism and extractive capitalism until I saw part 1 of Villeneuve's Dune (because I was just so bewildered by the fun fever dream quality of the Lynch movie). But it's so clear--especially that scene where the Atreides first arrive on Arrakis and leave their ship with their flags flying and an honor guard playing bagpipes and Duke Leto and Paul in ceremonial Caladan attire while Lady Jessica has donned traditional Arrakian clothing. It's so clearly an intentional parallel to the British Empire in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

What's wonderful about Dune 2 is now that the stage is set, we really get to dive into the world of Arrakis through the lens of its indigenous population, the Fremen.

A friend and I binged through the SyFy Dune miniseries between part 1 and the release of part 2. And something that has been pointed out in video essays, and was very striking and meaningful to me, is that the novel and every adaptation show us Arrakis through the eyes of Paul Atreides, Princess Irulan, and other outworlders. Villeneuve's Dune is the first adaptation to open with a quote from a Fremen, Chani, who says "My planet Arrakis so beautiful when the sun is low..." in the opening shot of part 1, as the camera pans over a sea of sand dunes, glimmering in the evening light. It really sets the tone for both of the new films: Dune is Arrakis' story; it's the Fremen's story.

And in part 2, we get to watch Paul transform personally and reach mystical, messianic superhuman status (against his own will and intuition) but just as importantly we watch him integrate himself into Fremen culture and learn to fall in love with the culture, language, and ways of the Fremen, as well as falling in love with Chani. It becomes her story as much as his (FINALLY an adaptation where we get to see Chani really become an interesting character in her own right! I don't really remember her from the miniseries; she has an active role, but clearly didn't really stand out to me. And she barely has any lines in the Lynch movie).

Part 2 lets us see the anti-colonial struggle for independence and autonomy and protection of the planet and native culture from the perspective of its native people, and also the harm of outside cultures like the Bene Gesserit co-opting and exploiting the desire for freedom and independence to spread religious zealotry.

The debates between Chani, Stilgar, Lady Jessica, and Paul regarding the messianic prophecy and the counterpoint that the Fremen should save themselves is so compelling and rich!

I was reminded throughout the film of the story (and movie) of Laurence of Arabia. Which I now want to rewatch. In interviews Villeneuve pointed to the film as a direct cinematic influence on not just Dune but his entire process as a film maker. And Frank Herbert cited the real events of Laurence's time with Arabic Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in WW1 as a direct influence on the first novel in the Dune series.

A couple friends and I all started listening to the audiobook recently and have started an accidental book club. I really love the prose and the richness of the world Herbert creates and his focus on the environment and ecology of the planet Arrakis as well as the political intrigues and critique on colonialism and extractive capitalism.

So the other day I was curious about the social context of the novel and other inspirations Herbert may have had, so I consulted my favorite scholarly journal Wikipedia (as the hilarious hosts of the podcast the Bechdel Cast call it. If you like movies, intersectional feminism, and funny people, give it a listen. It's so fun!) and was quite surprised that one of the major influences that inspired the novel (published in 1965) was that in the 1960s that state of Oregon in the USA where Herbert was living was having a crisis of sand dunes shifting and moving, due to the native grasses that anchored them dying out. Herbert had several Native American friends who grew up on reservations in Oregon who were actively writing about ecology and environmental protection and who were activists. He was inspired by the notion of these sand dunes potentially swallowing up whole cities and the crisis of an environment becoming uninhabitable due to human destruction of the environment.

I was fascinated to learn that Dune is regarded as one of the early examples of novels tackling themes of climate change and ecology and environmental protection, along with Silent Spring. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Anyhow, this is a really long and rambling post so I'll wrap up. But I encourage anyone who's interested in really rich, complex sci-fi or fantasy which grapples with real-world issues like colonialism, capitalism, and the environment as well as the hero's journey to give Dune a watch and/or read. It's such a rich world! And the new films are a stunning sensory experience! The aesthetics alone are captivating. Good shit.

[sparklyslug]

Just saw Laurence of Arabia for the first time since I was a wee one and my GOD I don’t know what exactly was going on between Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole but they had me feeling like I was INTRUDING

[silkwyrm]

laurence of arabia is returning to theaters for two days in august.......

[denimbex1986]

'When Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” crossed the $910 million mark at the worldwide box office, it surpassed “Bohemian Rhapsody” to become the highest-grossing biopic in history (unadjusted for inflation). To date, the “Oppenheimer” box office tally stands at $942 million. But for Nolan, his biographical drama about theoretical physicist and father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer was never designed as a “biopic.” That’s not a genre Nolan’s brain operates in.

Nolan recently joined his producer and wife Emma Thomas and author Kai Bird, whose book “American Prometheus” served as the basis for “Oppenheimer,” for a City University of New York event in which he rejected the concept of the “biopic.” Bird asked Nolan why “Oppenheimer” doesn’t dabble in its title character’s childhood.

“There is a tendency in biography post-Freud to attribute characteristics of the person you’re dealing with to their genetics from their parents. It’s a very reductive view of a human being,” Nolan answered. “If you’re writing a book that’s 500 pages or 1,000 pages, there’s a way to balance that with their individuality and experiences. When you compress and strip down to the necessary simplicity of a screenplay, it’s incredibly reductive.”

“This is where the concept of a biopic fails you completely as a genre,” Nolan continued. “It’s not a useful genre. I love working in useful genres. In this film…it’s the heist film as it applies to the Manhattan Project and the courtroom drama as it applies to the security hearings. It’s very useful to look at the conventions of those genres and how they can pull the audience and how they can give me communication with the audience.”

Nolan added, “Biopic is something that applies to a film that is not quite registering in a dramatic fashion. You don’t talk about ‘Laurence of Arabia’ as a biopic. You don’t talk about ‘Citizen Kane’ as a biopic. It’s an adventure film. It’s a film about somebody’s life. It’s not a useful genre the same way drama is not a useful genre. It doesn’t give you anything to hold onto.”

“Oppenheimer” stars Cillian Murphy in the title role opposite Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves Jr., Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and Emily Blunt as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. The supporting cast also includes Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and more.

“Oppenheimer” will be available on digital platforms starting Nov. 21.'

[shakespearenews]

Over his first two decades in film, Branagh’s signature work was Shakespearean, beginning with his 1989 directorial debut, Henry V.

In this respect, he followed in the footsteps of Laurence Olivier, whose directorial debut was his wartime Henry V (1944), and Orson Welles, another wunderkind with Shakespearean credentials.

Olivier and Welles created three Shakespeare films apiece. Branagh has, so far, directed five: Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000) and As You Like It (2006)...Even Branagh’s self-aggrandising autobiography opens each chapter with lines from Shakespeare.

In addition to courting association with Shakespeare, Branagh’s choices cultivated association with his stage and screen precursors. Like Olivier, he has played both Henry V and Hamlet. Branagh even portrayed Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2012).

...My PhD, completed in 2009, considered Branagh’s self-fashioning through Shakespeare, little anticipating in the subsequent 13 years he would direct films as disparate as Marvel’s Thor (2011), the Tom Clancy action movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), Disney’s Cinderella (2015), the intimate All is True, children’s fantasy Artemis Fowl (2020), his Poirot trilogy and autobiographical Belfast (2021).

...Branagh genre-hopped even within his Shakespeare films. His dramatic entrance in shadow in Henry V evokes Darth Vader; his arrival on horseback in Much Ado about Nothing summons The Magnificent Seven (2016); the musical numbers in Love’s Labour’s Lost echo classic Hollywood musicals.

Hamlet, in particular, invites association with Hollywood epics. At 242 minutes, it was the longest commercial release since 1963’s Cleopatra, the first 70mm British production since 1970’s Ryan’s Daughter, and shot by Lawrence of Arabia’s focus-puller Alex Thomson.

...The film’s palatial wintry setting recalls Doctor Zhivago, as does Julie Christie’s casting as Gertrude. Charlton Heston’s casting evokes his popular biblical epics. Placing Hamlet’s “How all occasions” soliloquy before intermission mirrors Gone with the Wind’s famous pre-intermission speech.

Branagh’s staging of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” monologue even suggests Taxi Driver, where anti-hero Travis Bickle likewise fantasises dangerous courses of action before a mirror.

[thiziri]

Tim can be Laurence of Arabia if they do go camel riding, same question and person. I mistakenly send it. Have a fantastic day and we hope that Tim's standing in for Anne at the rugby this afternoon

Thank you, have a fantastic day as well 🥰