In retrospect, the Memorial is loved by all, but at the time, so many people found it distasteful, like a "scar" in the earth. Maybe that was Maya's point? We'll have to wait and see............
...tomorrow night at the screening.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Maya Lin
I'm excited to see the Maya Lin documentary tomorrow. When I decided to take an Art History course as my Fine Arts credit for the RTF degree, we spent several class periods talking about Maya Lin and her Vietnam War Memorial. I am familiar with a lot of the controversy that surrounded her design, but I didn't know how much effort there was to actually prevent her design or have it changed.
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For the most part, I really liked this film. I felt the film making in general was very good. I loved how the film maker was able to get all of the media coverage footage from the Vietnam Wall Memorial controversy. Maybe it's because I am really interested in that era, but that footage was some of the most powerful to me. I also really liked how we were able to see Maya in her element, examining the work she had done before and after it was completed. Her intensity during these scenes was very moving.
ReplyDeleteThe things I didn't like had to do with structure. I wish that we would have known more about her personal life earlier in the film. To me, the place where it was incorporated was a bit awkward. I think if this would have been placed earlier I may have also sympathized more with Maya during the controversy over the Vietnam War Memorial (Not that I didn't the way it was, I just think it could have been stronger) Another thing I didn't like was the use of Broll concerning her monuments, which to me was a bit excessive. I think it is definitely necessary and very important, but at some times I was really tired of looking at all of the close ups and wanted to see more of Maya herself. Overall though, great film!
Overall I enjoyed the film. I must say though, this stemmed mostly from Mia herself. I found myself amused by just listening to her talk, her voice and diction was extremely captivating throughout. In regard to structure, I particularly enjoyed the fact that we got to revisit the Vietnam piece one last time and the placement of her personal history within the greater story worked for me as a viewer. The story thread of her roots within the greater story of her battle with prejudice during the Vietnam monument erection was appropriately weaved together in a way that flowed naturally.
ReplyDeleteThe pinnacle of the film, for me, was within the anniversary of the Vietnam monument scene. One particular shot, in which a line of injured vets were being wheeled across screen under some very epic music, truly evoked the film’s ability to be more than just about Mia herself. In a way the film was just as much about Mia as it was about the historical struggles of the U.S
If I had to point out an aspect of the film I didn’t like, it would definitely be the soundtrack. Something about the film’s overall choice of music really dated the film. The soundtrack didn’t stand the test of time for me and I essentially was put off by some scenes because of this.
I thought Maya Lin had a really interesting subject and that Mock obviously had very priveleged access and devoted a lot of time to the documentary. But it was really too long and the structure was not well thought out. I saw the structure as: biggest accomplishment, lesser accomplishment, lesser accomplishment, biographical information, lesser accomplishment, lesser accomplishment. Each time she introduced the next structure that Maya Lin had conceived, she gave them less and less time and they ended up taking away from the original Vietnam Memorial story. Maya Lin is amazing and should be honored, but the film tried to cram too much in. Some pictures of her other structures and text or voice over would have kept a better tempo in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEven still, I really liked it the first half. She had so much important footage and powerful interviews that I really felt as though I was living through what Maya Lin had. I liked how she kept returning to shots of Lin drawing her plans on her drafting board, and how she eventually returned to the Vietnam story with the 10 year reunion. I think the film would have been a lot better if she focused on two or three of the most important accomplishments and maybe used a montage to honor them so as not to lessen the impact of the most compelling story.
Indeed, the key to a great doc is FIRST OF ALL to find a great character!
ReplyDeleteI was a huge fan of this Documentary. I fell in love with the Documentary "My Architect" last semester, and I think they have a lot in common which I appreciate so much. Of course the documentary had an interesting character, because any successful documentary is going to have a compelling subject. But I thought the film got me due to what it documents: Art in a very complex form. There is something about seeing these amazing architecture structures on a big screen that are shot in a way that you can see the absolute beauty that the artist was trying to project. I think documentaries like this is one of those that have my mind running like crazy thinking about how I can go out with a camera and shoot so many things that are natural, man-made, or man-made natural and make something aesthetically appealing.
ReplyDeleteI like how the structure was set up. The film started with her biggest accomplishment, later in the film showed you other important career milestones, but then ended on a piece of hers that leaves you asking yourself; what else has she done? I know I left the screening wondering what this amazing artist is currently working on, what she has done and they didn't include, and what is her future ambitions? I like a documentary that can leave me actively seeking something after I saw it, and believe me I did. I researched more of her stuff, it blew my mind, and now I feel even better about watching the doc.
Good choice for a screening.
As some of you have already mentioned, there are a lot of great elements about Maya Lin but there were also some things that were not as great. I too didn't like the structure as much, I think that there were a lot of moments were I felt that there was too much silence, or too slow. I would have to say that part was the music. I also wish like some of you that there was less of Maya just talking and more showing...but I'm a little bit iffy about this too for several reasons.
ReplyDeleteFirst that as an artist myself, its really hard to articulate in words what does your artwork mean, or why you do certain things in a particular way, or why you picked that color..etc. For artist its so much easier to put their thoughts in their artwork rather than on paper, otherwise we would be great writers. But I like how they show that even Maya had a problem on her essays and trying to explain all of that. Also, I was impressed to se the access that the director had to her studio and her creative time. Most artist for not saying all, do not like when people are watching them. Its really hard to get into "the ZONE" and be creative and usually only the artist knows when he really is into something. Its a really intimate time with one's self and its work, and I was impressed to see that they show those aspects.
As an overall, I'm glad that they did a documentary about not only a great artist, sometimes the new artist get very little attention. Hopefully they keep making more, only this time, hoping they will make it this time with a faster passe
I have to also agree with Lauren on the structure of this documentary. I definitely enjoyed the first part of the film much more than the second; the very last scene of the film kind of felt rather anti-climactic in fact, and maybe that is because the climax of this piece was really the Vietnam Memorial. So I would also suggest that it may have been better to only deeply go into that segment alone so that it would leave the audience’s interest piqued enough to look at her other works. A montage of her later works would have been great I think.
ReplyDeleteI found her a very eloquent and compelling character though. It’s really interesting that she used to have trouble describing her first design in an essay…and now it seems like she has such ease expressing her motivations for creating a new work of art. I thought the early difficulty she had when receiving so much criticism for her work strengthened herself significantly and brought a lot of respect to her character on screen. I really appreciated the coverage and commentary of this time in her life the most when I was watching this documentary because it felt all the more personal. She wasn’t just an insightful architect; she was someone who had left strong messages in her work that would challenge and provoke people’s thoughts and perceptions.