#beauty in bloodshed

[hiyutekivigil]

excerpt from In Memoriam by David Wojnarowicz, Day Without Art, 1989

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, 2022

[tathrin]

Hey, so do you ever stop to think about how the premise of Lord of the Rings being an in-universe book written by some of the characters who lived through that story means that they decided what parts and perspectives to use to tell that story...?

And when our authors weren't there to experience the events themselves, they have to rely on what they're told about them by the characters who were there, right...?

Okay so stop and think about the Glittering Caves.

We never actually go to the caves in the narrative. Tolkien LOVES describing nature and natural beauty, but we don't actually see the caves described "by him" the way we do other places. Obviously Gimli's words are Tolkien's, yes; but we only see the caves filtered through his words about them, after the fact.

When Gimli and Éomer and the other Rohirrim take refuge there, the narrative doesn't follow them. Obviously from a narrative standpoint this is to keep the focus narrow, and not to interrupt the battle-sequence with a long ode to the beauty of the caves, and to create tension in the reader who doesn't know if these characters are okay or not. Which all makes sense!

But think about it in terms of the book that was written in Middle-earth by the folk living there. Why DON'T we get to have a direct experience of those caves? Gimli obviously related several other parts of the story that none of the Hobbits were there to witness to them, and which were written into the books as Direct Events Happening In The Narrative (think of the Paths of the Dead scene, for one of the more visceral moments!). So why not the Glittering Caves?

Was it because they wanted to keep that narrative focus and tension, and so they didn't include his perspective on that part of the battle? Perhaps, that's certainly a possibility to consider.

But also consider: when we do hear about the Glittering Caves, what we hear is Gimli telling Legolas about the Glittering Caves. THAT is the part of that event that is considered of importance to include in the book: not Gimli's actual experience when he was in them, but rather the part where he relates that experience TO Legolas.

And I kind of just THOUGHT about that today.

And went HUH.

[kidokear]

GabV1el Headcanon:

I'd like to think that, at the start, they get blown away by the smallest acts of kindness given by the other, and will forever be touched by them.

I mean, for V1, it's a whole new experience, a new feeling. Because they are a machine, a decommissioned war machine at that (Not much interactions with good natured humans), I don't imagen they experienced thoughtful small gestures. So when Gabriel does something small but kind for them (and back then probably not knowing if it would be appreciated), it's just so foreign, but also so welcomed because it makes them feel acknowledge as living being.

Gabriel? He's no stranger to kind actions (giving or receiving them), so you'd think he'd be unfazed, but no, he's very taken a back (in a good way). Because, at the start at least, I don't think he'd expect it from V1 (given their history and while he knows that they're alive and capable of expression and personhood, he also knows that machines are different from anything he encountered and shouldn't put expectation of the familiar on them even if there are some overlaps here and there) or at least he won't expect a heartfelt, thoughtful, kindness, and, most importantly, I can see Gabriel coming to terms that once he's cut the Council down, he'd be cut from everything associated with Heaven, and that's involved kindness. So to receive it after the fact, from anyone, and for this person to be the machine that beats him twice in battle and started the domino effect, yeah, it was a surprise. And it's genuine, not an act of worship, no a care for his status, and not something that comes naturally by design. Just V1 wanting and making an effort to do something nice for him.

V1 is given something new. Gabriel is given something he fully believed he lost forever.

[cinematicmasterpiece]

all the beauty and the bloodshed (2022)

[artfilmfan]

Nan Goldin in "All the beauty and the bloodshed" (Laura Poitras, 2022)

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Hey, y’all, I did a thing! And it’s different than my usual thing!

The Silmarillion Writers’ Guild publishes bios for Silm characters but also Second or Third Age characters who don’t really figure into the narratives of LOTR or the Hobbit. You know I love an obscure character, especially one connected to Rohan, and so I got to write a bio for one of my absolute favorite Tolkien ladies, Vidumavi of the Northmen — you can find it here!

If her name isn’t familiar, that’s because she only appears briefly in Appendix A, but she absolutely rules. She was an ancestor of the Rohirrim who captured the heart of Gondor’s crown prince, married him, and then endured a whole load of nonsense that led to a coup and a civil war. If that sounds interesting to you, maybe you’d enjoy the bio!

The timing of this is nice because I’m currently finishing a fictional story that I wrote about Vidumavi’s life as she saw it, but there’s never a bad time to think deeply about a random Tolkien background figure. I’m super grateful to @dawnfelagund at SWG for making the opportunity available, being a wonderful editor in every sense and not being phased when I wrote 4,500 words about someone who only appears in two paragraphs of an appendix! ❤️ (Hmm, nerding out at length about an obscure Rohirrim (ish), maybe this isn’t so different from my usual thing after all!)

[sinsmadeclear]

[sesiondemadrugada]

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras, 2022).

[kingdomoftyto]

[bitter69uk]

Born seventy-one years ago today: fierce American photographer Nan Goldin (née Nancy Goldin, 12 September 1953). Think of her as the bruised, worldly-wise Marianne Faithfull of modern art (or as Variety puts it, “the postpunk Diane Arbus”). I revere Goldin’s hard-edged and unflinching confessional photography and worshipfully attend every retrospective in London. Goldin’s life and work ricochets between London, Berlin and Paris but she will always be synonymous with 70s and 80s New York bohemia. Many years ago, I was on holiday in Paris and walked past Goldin on the street talking to a tall, glamorous blonde transgender friend. Goldin’s shock of frizzy red hair and blunt tough cookie chain-smoker rasp were instantly unmistakable. It was far more dazzling than encountering any movie star! Laura Poitras’ lacerating Oscar-nominated 2022 documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed powerfully weaves together Goldin’s art, activism and history of personal trauma and is compulsory viewing. Pictured: early self-portrait “Nan in the Bathroom With Roommate In Boston.”

[generallynaive]

Os Melhores de 2023 - 25 Filmes

1. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras

2. Aftersun Charlotte Wells

3. Perfect Days Wim Wenders

4. Mal Viver & Viver Mal João Canijo

5. Retratos Fantasmas Kléber Mendonça Filho

6. Roter Himmel Christian Petzold

7. Cerrar los Ojos Víctor Erice

8. Saint Omer Alice Diop

9. No Bears Jafar Panahi

10. Tár Todd Field

11. May December Todd Haynes

12. Killers of the Flower Moon Martin Scorsese

13. Passages Ira Sachs

14. How to Blow Up a Pipeline Daniel Goldhaber

15. EO Jerzy Skolimowski

16. Retour à Seoul Davy Chou

17. Tori et Lokita Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne

18. Showing Up Kelly Reichardt

19. Asteroid City Wes Anderson

20. Não Sou Nada Edgar Pêra

21. Under the Fig Trees Erige Sehiri

22. Syk Pike Kristoffer Borgli

23. Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan

24. Great Yarmouth - Provisional Figures Marco Martins

25. The Killer David Fincher

[fellinesca]

David Wojnarowicz response to the United States about the AIDS crisis - early 90s. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Proitas, 2022)

[hiyutekivigil]

Nan Goldin, All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, 2022

[adelchisem]

"People used to say we were marginalized, and we didn't care. Normal people were marginalized to us."

All The Beauty and The Bloodshed (2022) dir. Laura Poitras

[haverwood]

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras USA, 2022 ★★★★★ Impactful, moving, devastating.

[daughter-of-lethe]

Lord of Bloodshed

Art by: Lisippa (Erika Gentile)