Catching Idle Butterflies

Removing Mystery

A morning word of advice: Never, ever, get in the middle of squabbling friends. That's why I'm writing this entry now. I slept very little (3 hours max) worrying over doing that very thing yesterday. What fun. Sheesh, didn't I graduate high school for a reason?!

Okay, with that little tantrum out of the way, on to more important matters:

One of my favorite all-time scary movies has to be "Psycho", and that's saying a lot because I've seen many scary movies.

Did you know when Hitchcock first presented it to the movie ratings people (or whoever they were called back then), they said it was far too bloody and graphic for audiences? They refused have it released.

Hitchcock agreed to edit the shower scene, changed absolutely nothing, and re-screened it. The same people who said it was too graphic said, "Much better," and released it as is.

Why would that movie still creep me out? Because of what I don't see. The imagination is a powerful thing and can many times conjure up more frightening and horrific images than any movie maker can.

The first "Saw" had much the same impact, especially (this is a bit graphic so beware) the scene when Carey Elwes' character sawed off his own foot to try to escape. All the audience could see was Elwes' pained expression and hear his screaming as he cut through his ankle with a dull handsaw. It still gives me chills just thinking about it.

That's a rarity in movies these days. It's not just in horror films, but in all films. For instance, a few weeks ago, Dave and I watched "The Postman" with Kevin Costner. There was one sex scene, and as the two characters went at it Dave said, "I hate it when they take away the mystery."

I asked him what he meant.

"Why do they have to show all of that? We get the point as soon as she comes into the room and removes her robe. I don't want to watch soft porn, because it takes away from the rest of the movie."

It's that removing of mystery why I didn't care for "Witness" with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. There's one scene where she's taking a sponge bath, and Ford walks in on her. They could have left it at that, but no they had to give the audience a three second shot of McGillis' breasts. Oh, yippee. My life is now complete.

The same goes for "The Piano" with Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter. Lots and lots of nudity in that one, including a full-frontal of Keitel. Definitely took away from the actual story, because I remember little else of what the film was about.

Much of what I learned from other writers is to Resist the Urge to Explain. Trust the reader to fill in the blanks. The same should go for movie makers. I don't need to see the sex act in order to figure out people are having sex.

It also takes away from the romance of it.

To me, mystery is romantic. Take that away, and I get as excited watching two people having sex as I would watching a National Geographic Channel show about the mating rituals of, oh, I don't know, the hippopotamus.

Oh!!! One more thing!!! I hit 8,000 views yesterday!!! I know it's pathetic compared to some, but then I get all the views I deserve (please don't take that serious), so I'm happy (that part you can take serious).