Creativity Then
When I said that it would be a while before I got around to posting anything about the Tokion Conference, I was not at all kidding. A brief overview:
Saw Todd Haynes, one of my favorite filmmakers, speak. He talked a lot about the gay film scene in NYC in the early/mid 1980s, the primitive power of the image to affect human emotions, and told a story about one of his films, Poison, which I didn’t know. Apparently, it was part of the dust-up over the NEA in the 1980s: government funding smut, “I know pornography when I see it,” that whole deal. Was so involved that conservative senators actually organized screenings of it in the capitol specifically to be offended by it. He also, very proudly, recounted for us a story about “Far From Heaven” making a three-year-old cry. Was supposed to illustrate the power of the image, and the gay community’s general hatred of breeders and their dirty, wailing bellyfruit.
Other super kewl shit included the comedy panel (David Cross!!Michael Showalter!!David Wain!!!This guy who used to write Chapelle’s Show!!), which managed to be both ridiculous, hilarious, and marginally informative. I was pretty afraid that they would feel pressure to be funny and completely refuse to answer questions straight. This turned out to be more of a problem during the Q&A, when audience members trampled each other death in the rush to ask the most absurd question. “How has the photographing of a giant squid affected your comedy? Everyone should answer,” and others, which I can’t remember.
Finally, the last panel of the weekend was Mercury Prize Winner Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons, natch) leading us all in a songwriting workshop. He actually had substantial help from his good friends and perhaps the people who have said “nigger” in the most precious way ever, CocoRosie. Also a female performance artist covered in red makeup, a truly massive wig, and thigh-high boots, whose name I’ve forgotten at this late date. This workshop was really the one most truly and consistently about creativity and being creative, supposedly the theme of the entire weekend. Antony lead the audience in several wail-alongs, giving us advice like: “I like to pretend that there’s a ghost behind me, and just get out of the way and let the ghost say what it wants. Let’s all let our ghosts talk, okay?” and “So, just think about those lines shooting out of you, or like a giant spinning ball of light, and as it spins, its ego falls away, and you have to support it with your voice. Let’s all do that now, okay?” The panel was supposed to end with all of us making a song together, but the Italian phrase record they’d chosen for us to “repeat after them” turned out to have phrases that were too complicated. In true creative spirit, we all gave up and had coffee.
Saw Todd Haynes, one of my favorite filmmakers, speak. He talked a lot about the gay film scene in NYC in the early/mid 1980s, the primitive power of the image to affect human emotions, and told a story about one of his films, Poison, which I didn’t know. Apparently, it was part of the dust-up over the NEA in the 1980s: government funding smut, “I know pornography when I see it,” that whole deal. Was so involved that conservative senators actually organized screenings of it in the capitol specifically to be offended by it. He also, very proudly, recounted for us a story about “Far From Heaven” making a three-year-old cry. Was supposed to illustrate the power of the image, and the gay community’s general hatred of breeders and their dirty, wailing bellyfruit.
Other super kewl shit included the comedy panel (David Cross!!Michael Showalter!!David Wain!!!This guy who used to write Chapelle’s Show!!), which managed to be both ridiculous, hilarious, and marginally informative. I was pretty afraid that they would feel pressure to be funny and completely refuse to answer questions straight. This turned out to be more of a problem during the Q&A, when audience members trampled each other death in the rush to ask the most absurd question. “How has the photographing of a giant squid affected your comedy? Everyone should answer,” and others, which I can’t remember.
Finally, the last panel of the weekend was Mercury Prize Winner Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons, natch) leading us all in a songwriting workshop. He actually had substantial help from his good friends and perhaps the people who have said “nigger” in the most precious way ever, CocoRosie. Also a female performance artist covered in red makeup, a truly massive wig, and thigh-high boots, whose name I’ve forgotten at this late date. This workshop was really the one most truly and consistently about creativity and being creative, supposedly the theme of the entire weekend. Antony lead the audience in several wail-alongs, giving us advice like: “I like to pretend that there’s a ghost behind me, and just get out of the way and let the ghost say what it wants. Let’s all let our ghosts talk, okay?” and “So, just think about those lines shooting out of you, or like a giant spinning ball of light, and as it spins, its ego falls away, and you have to support it with your voice. Let’s all do that now, okay?” The panel was supposed to end with all of us making a song together, but the Italian phrase record they’d chosen for us to “repeat after them” turned out to have phrases that were too complicated. In true creative spirit, we all gave up and had coffee.
posted by Chris Chafin at 2:29 PM
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