Mortensen, the Antichrist...

[analoguey]

That's a great link! I just now figured how to borrow the books too!

[redrockcoulee]

Sorry, but the gold standard is the original Nosferatu silent film, which rings spooky to this day, and there shadows told the whole story. Some somebody got it right. Even certain still frames from that movie would probably hit the mark.

Noseratu is certainly a masterpiece. At university I had a part time job running a projector for a film studies class and that was one of the films I had to show, the second and third times for me to see them. Students were very quiet through the screening.

[Mark Sawyer]

Speaking of spooky, I just started another little thread on the Diableries, just in case anyone hasn't heard of them...

After all, it's almost Halloween!

[John Kasaian]

Nosferatu is a classic! Max Schreck--what an appropriate name!
I like Fritz Lang's circa 1921 Destiny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDO3r192kwo

[Jody_S]

Brilliant. Wish I could see prints in person.

[cowanw]

I like to play "Nosferatu" and "Shadow of the Vampire" side by side on two TV's, Pausing and viewing, on and off, to compare the two.

[John Kasaian]

OK I've been mulling the Mortensen pix over, wondering exactly why I find them so objectionable compared to, say the stereo views.
It is the perceived treatment of women by Mortensen which I find objectionable. Must the macabre be exclusive of the female form? No, that's not what I am saying. Take for example The Rape of The Sabine Women---certainly not a "fun" image but it illustrates a historical episode and it portrays the indignity with artistic legitimacy
Mortensen OTOH illustrates his own nightmarish fantasies with real models, projecting a sadistic pall which the viewer has to deal with.
Maybe it is the medium of photography which emphasizes that supposed reality? I didn't find those stereo views of Life in Hell objectionable.

[Tin Can]

OK I've been mulling the Mortensen pix over, wondering exactly why I find them so objectionable compared to, say the stereo views.
It is the perceived treatment of women by Mortensen which I find objectionable. Must the macabre be exclusive of the female form? No, that's not what I am saying. Take for example The Rape of The Sabine Women---certainly not a "fun" image but it illustrates a historical episode and it portrays the indignity with artistic legitimacy
Mortensen OTOH illustrates his own nightmarish fantasies with real models, projecting a sadistic pall which the viewer has to deal with.
Maybe it is the medium of photography which emphasizes that supposed reality? I didn't find those stereo views of Life in Hell objectionable.

I already posted that I read 'The Model' backwards and in the back Mortensen shows the highest regard for women, children, their rights and parents rights. He has specific advice concerning studio behavior and even decor to avoid exploitation lawsuits. He includes model release forms and payment considerations.

[Tin Can]

Received the reprint of 'The Command to Look' today from Amazon. Evidently from reading the forward, the book cover picture has been changed from baby to someone much older. Baby was better.

I like how Mortensen's preserved content is very simply delivered, as he originally intended with picture and comment.

I don't like that a satanic appendix is 36 pages of propaganda was added. However, one could just remove those pages almost en masse, except they sprinkled a few good Mortensen plates amongst the BS. The appendix is a heavy handed attempt to use Mortensen's influence to give satanism credence. Not silly, but stupid and irritating.

The book's original content is there and complete as far as I can tell.

[cyrus]

Those are some pretty powerful images. Shock value, horror, gore, sex and violence are the coin of the realm these days. Mortensen would fit right in.

Alas now days it would be ho hum.

Interesting that no one mentions the racism of images like the Barbary pirate. "White" women being forcibly taken by "Middle Eastern" types is a consistent theme that has continued to this day. The Orientalist fascination with harems and sheikhs ... Rudoplh Valentino made a career out of it, but in his movies it was "OK" for his character to be the subject of female lust despite being an "Arab" since the plot lines made it clear that he was actually a Euripean who had grown up in the East. But even today you can find an entire genre of bodice rippers on Amazon dedicated to that genre.