Subject: Re: Sons & Mothers
From: Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Date: Fri Jul 05 2002 - 18:52:27 EDT
On Fri, Jul 05, 2002 at 08:29:57AM +0100, Scottie Bowman wrote:
> It does occur to me, though, that while we could, perhaps
> & to some extent, blame his mother for the way Woody
> turned out, we can hardly ask Margaret to carry the can
> for Jerome.
I can't help slipping in this off-topic topic, but for anyone who wonders
about Allen and the influence of his mother, I can only refer you, with
hilarity behind the recommendation, to the documentary about Allen and
his jazz band, "Wild Man Blues." We get to see the dominant personality
of his wife, and, better, we see his mother -- truly an epic creation in
the galaxy of mothers. At one point, Allen actually turns and breaks the
fourth wall by addressing the camera when his mother is getting utterly
out of control. It's a direct descendent of the parental figures who
appear at the end of "Stardust Memories" (my candidate for nomination as
his masterpiece) and, of course, goes directly with the mother in "Oedipus
Wrecks," the third piece of the multi-director movie called "New York
Stories." (That's the movie in which Allen's character's mother floats
above NYC, talking to the world about him -- another masterpiece. It
passed the ultimate test for me: I got my own mother to visit me and showed
her the Allen segment, which runs about 25 minutes. She cracked up. And
this was not a woman who responded to most movies.)
As for Jerome and his mother and his attitude toward women, it appears as
if he falls into that camp that sanctifies its mothers. I always thought it
intriguing that he dedicated CATCHER to his mother (thereby, consciously or
not, neatly slapping at the father who never supported his choice to be
a writer). Perhaps he is of the sort for whom no woman can measure up to
the first love in his life....
But while Scottie is a genuinely insightful analyst, I am merely a
crackpot who cannot even be called an amateur, so my observations are
worth as much as one of my business cards -- which is indeed not much
at all.
Best regards,
--tim
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