After the Deluge

Sometime after the horror of 9/11 had turned into something like reflection, I began to wonder how this catastrophic event would eventually be represented and interpreted in literature, film and art. I've since read some wonderful short stories in The New Yorker, and 9/11 has edged it's way into film, but often only as a set piece and certainly not with any lasting resonance that I'm aware of.

In the aftermath of 9/11, and in the face of another catastrophe, this time Hurricane Katrina, artist and graphic novelist Josh Neufeld decided to leave New York for Mississippi to volunteer with the Red Cross. He has turned some of the true stories of the survivors he met there into the unlikely form of what many consider to be comic books.

In a review for online magazine, smithmag.net, David Eggers writes:
"One of the best-ever examples of comics reportage, and one of the clearest portraits of post-Katrina New Orleans yet published. An essential addition to the ongoing conversation about what Katrina means, and what New Orleans means."

I haven't read it yet, but it's exactly the kind of thing I hoped to see.

Quotable

I'm not even a huge Hughes fan, but this page of iconic video clip quotes from his films on NYTimes.com is irresistible.

Hughes

John Hughes is dead. The films he'll be remembered for were largely teen comedies, but somehow always managed to mean something in the end.

My wife (who shared her love of Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club... with me many years ago) and I were recently discussing that no one was making movies like John Hughes anymore. Apparently, not even John Hughes.

From The Breakfast Club, (with a tip of the hat to Locomotion):

40. INT. LIBRARY - DAY

We see Vernon pick up Brian's essay and begin to read.
                     
                          BRIAN (VO)
            Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact
            that we had to sacrifice a whole
            Saturday in detention for whatever
            it was we did wrong.  But we think
            you're crazy to make an essay
            telling you who we think we are.
            You see us as you want to see us...
            In the simplest terms, in the most
            convenient definitions.

                                               CUT TO:

41. EXT. FOOTBALL FIELD - DAY
We see Bender walking towards us as Brian's monologue
continues.
                       BRIAN (VO)
                 (CONT'D)
            But what we found out is that each
            one of us is a brain...
                     ANDREW (VO)
            ...and an athlete...
                      ALLISON (VO)
            ...and a basket case...
                      CLAIRE (VO)
            ...a princess...
                      BENDER (VO)
            ...and a criminal...
                       BRIAN (VO)
            Does that answer your question?
            Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.