Gesturing in the Backyard

What is Epic Theater? Illuminations Walter Benjamin

The quotable gesture

After being confused in the last segment I looked up epic theater and found this was not something observed by Benjamin. Once again wikipedia was much more straight forward about it. Or at least it was more sincere that it was an actual 'thing' as opposed to Benjamin's way of speaking which also seems to take into account that it might not actually be a thing. But after doing this I'm somewhat resolved at the moment to take into account Benjamin's description and not to search for a satisfying explanation for epic theater.

The quotable gesture is again masked with confusion. It's not clear to me what it encompasses. Benjamin seems to set it in opposition with the written text of a script. I don't know if this is explicitly like hand gestures, or even intonation of voice, or if it refers to gestures that come from gimmicks of the play in a elevated vaudeville shtick.

But these gestures are described by Benjamin as 'interruptions'. And this is imperative to the weaving of the play which the viewer is conscious of in the way he has described the epic audience. Perhaps it is more simply, and less interestingly, put as a device to promote thoughtfulness in a way that appears destructive.

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

In a gritty but vibrant English city we circle through love affairs, market places, domestic life, and crime. In people's houses there are cosy decorations but also psychological tension. He marketplace is a carnival scene where prices are negotiable and goods are have a tincture of desire. The goods themselves are produced from innocent urges but their circulation combines as we contemplate people's complicated life that is a combination of wanting a stable domestic life and giving way to bacchanal urges.

People are trying to live life to match their dreams but they are also poor and have obligations to support a family. They are bound by money but also neglect the parts of life that aren't influenced by cash. The characters that are more pure in their heart have trouble navigating the corrupt world around them while those who chase pleasure see corruption with clarity and try to find their niche in the traffic of nastiness being directed around them.

The mother figure seems to be the most complex. See is wise but aggitated. Her conflict comes from the backyard as a old lover tempts her to obstruct the family she also yearns for. Her presence disturbs the daughters she married into. The daughters also unknowingly become part of her complicated love life.

When the rouge lover is recaptured from his escape from prison, it is not sure if he'll stay behind bars or if his precence will  divide the family order again while the father seems devoted ambiguously not letting us know he is aware of the affair or not. The movie ends in a chase in a coal yard and in a hospital leaving us with a lingering grit and sense that we are ill and recovering from desire's nature to get the best of us.