Author Topic: "Versimmilitude"  (Read 7836 times)

Offline fontaine

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"Versimmilitude"
« on: June 26, 2006, 11:04:28 am »
I read an article by a noted cognitive psychologist that talked about two kinds of thinking and rhetoric. In the first, one tries to convince another through logic and in the second, (characterized by narratives), one tries to convince through versimmilitude--creating realistic characters in realistic settings.

It occured to me that there aren't too many opportunities in life to fully explore the lives of people (particularly inner lives). Good fiction provides that opportunity because while characters can be very life-like and realistic, they're not real. Thus, Ennis's and Jack's feelings are not going to be hurt (nor will we get sued!) by being analyzed and discussed because they're characters, not real people. By better understanding them, we're able to better understand ourselves.

Maybe one of the true achievements of this story was rendering such life-like characters and creating such a high degree of versimmilitude. What do you think?

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2006, 11:14:20 am »
I think your observation is ver' good, fontaine! Proulx' forte is a kind of hyper-realism about rural lives and characters, people who are in most of our backgrounds. Those characters ring true--their dialogue, their actions, and most of all what they do not do that would be out of character. That's what grabs us like no logical treatise ever could! Compare Brokeback Mountain and the Kinsey Report. The former brings the latter to life!
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2006, 01:05:18 pm »
In her essay "Getting Movied," Annie addresses this very subject. She lists a bunch of realistic details from the movie: Ennis dirty fingernails in a love scene, the old ENTERING WYOMING highway sign, the splotch of nail polish on Lureen's finger, Mrs Newsome's Texas hair, the speckled enamel coffee pot ... then says,

" ... all accumulate and convince us of the truth of the story. People may doubt that young men fall in love up on the snowy heights, but no one disbelieves the speckled coffeepot, and if the coffeepot is true, so is the other."

(Thanks to F-R for her generous loan of "Story to Screenplay"!)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2006, 01:19:12 pm »
In her essay "Getting Movied," Annie addresses this very subject. She lists a bunch of realistic details from the movie: Ennis dirty fingernails in a love scene, the old ENTERING WYOMING highway sign, the splotch of nail polish on Lureen's finger, Mrs Newsome's Texas hair, the speckled enamel coffee pot ... then says,

" ... all accumulate and convince us of the truth of the story. People may doubt that young men fall in love up on the snowy heights, but no one disbelieves the speckled coffeepot, and if the coffeepot is true, so is the other."

(Thanks to F-R for her generous loan of "Story to Screenplay"!)

Dang, I love that sentence about no one disbelieves the speckled coffeepot!  ;D Thanks for quoting it, Katherine, little darlin'! Just brightened up an otherwise excessively gloomy Monday!
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2006, 01:59:38 pm »
My pleasure!  :-*

When I met Front-Ranger a few weeks ago, she graciously allowed me to borrow her copy of "Story to Screenplay" and now, just like you, I keep it right by my computer for quick reference! How did I get along without it for so long?

Offline Rayn

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2006, 02:08:24 pm »

Maybe one of the true achievements of this story was rendering such life-like characters and creating such a high degree of verisimilitude. What do you think?

Absolutely!  The characters are so real that they are life-like.  They reflect the truth of many real lives past and present.  Fiction does allow us to see the inner lives of people/characters, it's true, and don't forget poetry.  Poems can do the same thing, especially some of more Confessional Poets like Ginsberg, Plath, Sexton and even Frost or Dickinson.  It's a bit more difficult to understand poetry because it can be like a "different language", but poetry very often reveals the inner lives of very intense people.

Rayn
« Last Edit: July 09, 2006, 12:03:21 pm by Rayn »

Offline fontaine

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2006, 07:41:01 pm »
Absolutely!  The characters are so real that they are life-like.  They reflect the truth of many real lives past and present.  Fiction does allow us to see the inner lives of people/characters, it's true, and don't forget poetry.  Poems can do the same thing, especially some of more Confessional Poets like Ginsberg, Plath, Sexton and even Frost or Dickinson.  It's a bit more difficult to understand poetry because it can be like a "different language", but poetry very often reveals the inner lives of very intense people.

Rayn

Poetry is an interesting idea. I've been focusing most on stories--written and filmed. In one classification I saw, it mentions epic poems as a type of story, but I think you've hit on something in mentioning these short poetic moments. It's like Annie says in "everyone believes a speckled coffeepot!"

BTW, Frost is my favorite poet. I "get" his poetry (and can even recite "Stopping by Woods" by heart) but don't get most of it. Maybe a feeling, but it's so fuzzy, I feel more confused than inspired.

If you'd like to wax on about this idea of poetry and versimmilitude, I'd be very interested in hearing it!

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2006, 10:36:44 am »
Yer welcome, latjoreme! I'm glad you're putting the STS book to such good use! BTW, our wordy friend Toast uses that quote from AP as his signature. I love that quote, and it has inspired me to spend several afternoons rummaging around in antiques stores and flea markets for the perfect spatterware coffeepot. It's amazing the variety of styles there are; I found one that was perfect but no top. Another one had a different style of handle, others were too gray or too blue. I'm also constantly searching for the perfect picture of a coffeepot, see below for an example. My search continues!!
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Offline fontaine

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2006, 11:48:49 am »
Looking at that picture of the coffee pot made the word "metaphor" spring to mind. Specific images and details invite associations through metaphors. Now that I think of it, this movie was saturated with metaphors, some of which were explained (Texas women don't get older, they just get blonder) and some, like the coffee pot, that don't--nor do they need to.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the kind of deep emotional response people have to Brokeback (and other movies like Titanic and Harold and Maude), rely on metaphor and people making connections between the film and their own emotional life.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "Versimmilitude"
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2006, 02:05:38 pm »
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the kind of deep emotional response people have to Brokeback (and other movies like Titanic and Harold and Maude), rely on metaphor and people making connections between the film and their own emotional life.

That's interesting, Fontaine. Do you mean that people respond, not only in the obvious way to the plot and characters, but in a more subtle, Jungian way to the metaphors?