Since the films that have inspired me the most are overwhelmingly dramas, usually darker ones, editing comedy is something I never imagined I’d be doing. But perhaps my forays into comedy not have been without reason. As it turns out, I really enjoy editing comedy and discovered I have a natural instinct for it. Maybe this isn’t so surprising since comedy and drama are really flip sides of the same coin. After all, it’s no accident that the theater masks of ancient Greece represent both comedy and tragedy—comedic moments are frequently precipitated by tragedy (however minor) and tragedies are often incited by absurd, even laughable acts. That said, good comedy is as hard to pull off as drama; in fact, it’s sometimes easier to make people cry than laugh…
The Fountainhead
Since high school people have recommended that I read Ayn Rand. In eleventh grade, and later in college, I remember friends reading The Fountainhead— actually, I remember friends carrying around a copy of the book because now that I think about it I can’t actually recall anyone sitting and reading that hefty tome. Mind you, I’m not averse to reading long books; one of my favorites is Haruki Murakami’s amazing novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. But The Fountainhead never seemed inviting; the cheap paperback version reminded me more of a brick than a book, and Rand’s dry, repetitively dull writing didn’t even make me want to turn the first page. Writing, for me, is as much about the way a writer uses language as it is about what he or she says. A good writer has a strong sense of rhythm, pacing, word choice; a great writer shows wit and lyricism, writes in a way that’s emotionally honest, and couples intelligence with imagination. With Rand, language seems secondary, a mere tool used didactically to get across a point. Since I couldn’t make it through her book, I figured why not a movie. After all, two hours trumps 752 boring pages anytime…
