I've Never Seen Much Photography (and Neither Have You)

Jack Nicholson and Will Sampson in Milos Forman's
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

To enliven my Friday night, I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time in many years. Unlike many movies I re-watch, it was just as good as I remembered it, maybe even a little better. That led me to reading a bunch of reviews, both contemporaneous and retrospective. Which led me to wonder how many Jack Nicholson movies I had seen; I identified with his R.P. McMurphy as an irrepressible rule-breaker. Which led me to a filmography.

My background impression in my mind was that I had seen "most" of Jack Nicholson's movies. At least, I imagined, a majority of them. When I was young and impressionable he was one of the top actors. I remembered seeing him in a bunch of very different things, from The Missouri Breaks (oddball anti-western yoking gay themes and brutal violence together) to The Shining (Stephen King horror flick, complete with famous Diane Arbus meme) to As Good As It Gets (old-guy-gets-young-girl rom-com). Well, guess what? Turns out, when I count, I have seen a grand total of ten Jack Nicholson movies. Out of...

...What?!? SEVENTY-TWO.

Wow. I would not have guessed that.

But it brought to mind one of my favorite points from Barthes, which is that I've hardly ever seen any photographs.

Yep. Barthes pointed out that of all the photographs that have ever existed, each of us has only seen an infinitesimally small fraction. This is hard to fathom; we've been looking at photographs literally all our lives, virtually everywhere, and each one of us no doubt has the impression that if we added up all the photos we've ever so much as glanced at, it would make a relatively large pile. Yet we're wrong. None of us has seen very many photographs at all. A few million or tens of millions amongst the numberless billions.

Consider this: even if you're a loyal and religious reader of this blog, someone who follows every link, there's still very little overlap between the set of "all the photographs I've ever seen" and the set of "all the photographs you've ever seen." Our common ground is a remarkably slender strip between territories.

Given the withering blast of these facts, their tendency to obliterate a sense of common, shared experience, I cling to my beloved photo books as a bulwark against utter nihilism! I'm half kidding with these overblown words. Still, the books that I lovingly page through are my rock. They form a corpus of concrete work that constitutes my connection to the practice of this art and its great accomplishments. Yet it's easy to imagine not just one library the size of mine (~600 books), but many, with not a single volume in common between them. Alas.

I'm not crazy, I'm a fisherman
This was meant to be a tiny, brief post to throw out like chum on the waters before I get back to work finishing up the "Camera of the Year 2017" post, which might take a few hours, and which I will now return to doing. But before I do I thought I'd bring up a thought about Cuckoo's Nest, which is really one of the best movies I've ever seen. (Maybe the novel it's based on should be my annual classic novel for next year—I have the nifty First Edition Library facsimile of the first edition. Somewhere. I'd have to make a fishing expedition to the attic of the barn.)

One big point of contention among critics, and between critics and audiences, is the fishing expedition interlude in the middle of the movie. Roger Ebert, in his famously disapproving review, cited it as a major misstep in the film; other critics take a dim view of it as well. Yet for many audience members, it's their favorite part of the movie. I believe this is because many of us identify not with the hero, nor with the un-villainous (she's merely rigid and controlling) villain, nor with the Zen-inflected Native American who, in the film's exquisitely bittersweet ending, flies over the cuckoo's nest. Not really. We identify with the inpatients. In some corner of our Everyperson psyches, most of us sometimes idly wonder if we're quite sane, and long for a lighthearted jaunt in which everyone gets to be just a person and one of the gang no matter who they really are or what their state of inner sanity. As McMurphy says to Martini near the peak of the hilarity, "You're not a goddam looney now, boy, you're a fisherman!"

Personally, I think the scene serves a crucial purpose I've never seen mentioned. Like the daylight scenes at the very beginning and ending of Asphalt Jungle, another cinematic masterpiece, which otherwise takes place entirely at night, it serves to let a little fresh air and daylight into the movie, which would otherwise take place entirely on the mental wards and fenced-in grounds, which might have asphyxiated the film with an overdose of claustrophobia. It also serves to offer to the audience a sharp sense of freedom and relief, the better to contrast with the scenes at the end of the movie when McMurphy has literally opened the window to freedom but casually neglects to step through it while he can, thus dooming himself to his fate.

Plus, I would really not want to have gone without the touch in which McMurphy introduces the crew as being from the mental institute: "...This is Dr. Cheswick, Dr. Scanlon, Dr. Taber...."

Man, when you're a blogger it's like you get trained to go on and on about anything. This was almost literally written at the speed I type. But to return to the point, we might not be on common ground here: have you seen both Cuckoo's Nest and Asphalt Jungle? How about Ebert's review of Cuckoo's Nest, ever read that? Common ground among us is always shaky under our feet. Even Roger Ebert, whose appetite for watching feature-length films was protean, saw only 3% of the films released in the U.S. in his adult lifetime. (And, poignantly, none released since 2013.) We all need to choose wisely and zero in on the good stuff as best we can. Art, like history or the world, never mind photography, is large, large indeed.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Tom Burke: "I remember seeing One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest at the cinema when it was new, so that's a long time ago. Never read the book (although I did read the book about the author, The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test, and boy did that have an impact on me), never read the review (I'm in the UK), never seen Asphalt Jungle.

"The other Jack Nicholson film that really influenced me, for a while, was Easy Rider. As regards apparently-inconsequential bits of movies that actually make a huge difference, my favourite has always the 'building the barn' sequence in Witness. Doesn't advance the plot one iota, but it certainly changes your impression of the Amish, or Mennonites, as portrayed in the film."

Mike replies: I do very well remember that lyrical passage in that excellent movie. Around here, Mennonites will show up to help even mainstream neighbors rebuild their barns if the barns were destroyed by natural disasters like fires.

A little punctum moment (speaking of Barthes...) that grabbed me was the plastic bag dancing in the vortex of wind in American Beauty.

Eolake: "OK, here is a funny thing: 1. Everybody always, always, always wants others to follow rules. 2: Every story always, always, always is about a hero who breaks rules. What the heck is that about? Are all of us really that blind and hypocritical that we want others to always follow rules, but for ourselves we want no rules? I suspect so."

Mike replies: Many of Freud's hypotheses have been superseded because he was early, but he's still a genius, and a surprisingly fine writer. The one book of his every literate person should read [follow my rule or you're not a literate person  :-) ...] is Civilization and Its Discontents, which is about the tension between the unfettered Id yearning to be free and the demands of society's rules, conventions, and laws. Maybe everyone won't read it, but you might appreciate it, Eolake. It has a spiritual dimension I'd say.

Note that it's six days till Christmas and I've just linked to a book by Sigmund Freud. Oy, vey.

Thomas Osborne: "Your mention of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest leads to another work of art rooted in the Oregon State Hospital—photographer David Maisel’s 2008 book, Library of Dust. Maisel photographed the corroded copper canisters that held the cremated remains of the forgotten souls Ken Kesey had brought to life in his novel."

Mike replies: Just the very brief writeup and single picture at that link is very poignant. Thanks for that.

Jimmy Reina: "Re '...of all the photographs that have ever existed, each of us has only seen an infinitesimally small fraction,' Mose Allison said, 'The smartest man in the whole wide world really don't know that much.'"

Comments

[John Cecilian]

talking about an old Nicholson movie brings back lots of memories for me since he always seemed to play iconoclasts and I always felt that was me...which I guess is a weird admission for a blog post comment. Nicholson did angry better than anyone I think....if you compare his on screen anger to for example to a Nikolas Cage, who has many youtube videos devoted to him, Cage is always made fun of for his crazy angry rants, over the top acting but Nicholson does it and it is totally believable in their context of the movie. Cuckoo's Nest was great, but my favorite is Five Easy Pieces. The diner scene is very special.

[Benjamin Marks]

I have seen both movies you mention. Heck, I even own a DVD of "Asphalt Jungle" (also notable for the being the first -- rather dewy -- performance of a young Marilyn Monroe). But I have never read Roger Ebert's piece about "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Funny, I only read movie reviews after I have seen the picture, really to see whether the reviewer got it "right" -- horrifically arrogant on my part, but there it is.

*And man is the photography in "Asphalt Jungle" something to behold! Those exterior shots of rain on asphalt and slick black cars' somber reflections in the night . . .

I don't lose any sleep from seeing only an infinitesimal fraction of the world's (or any given year's) photography. Most of what I actually do see doesn't appeal to me anyway. But the fact that there is always the possibility of an undiscovered gem keeps me looking. And that dopamine hit from seeing something really interesting? That's what keeps the search lively (and part of what keeps me coming back to TOP, as I can generally rely on Mike's excellent recommendations -- there is a comfortable overlap of taste here).

By way of excusing Ebert, I do feel that a work's contemporaries are not always best suited to define an age's excellence in a lasting way. Consider Christopher Marlowe. More famous than Shakespeare in his day, he is read by almost no one now save Eglish Professors and (some, not all of) their benighted pupils.

For me, I think that Cartier Bresson will survive the next century. Ansel Adams? Not so much -- a Christopher Marlowe in the making. Just one man's opinion of course and, after all, what do I know?

;)

[mike plews]

When we talk about photographs we have looked at we tend to limit ourselves to pictures in books or on walls or on a screen. All instances when we actively look at a photograph.
But what about all the photographs we are exposed to each day that we process without considering them as photographs?
Walk into a supermarket and start counting photographic images being used to entice you into cracking your wallet. There isn't a gallery on the planet with a tenth as many pictures.
As a lifelong hack I am left in awe of what food photographers can do. Somewhere out there a photographer is making a house payment taking pictures of Spam. Hats off to them.

[Brian Taylor]

Its so long since I saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest that I wouldn't want to say much about it. But your reference to the fishing trip episode reminded me of something that happened when I was working for a service user/psychiatric survivor led voluntary organisation ('non-profit', is the American term, I think?)

Several of us had been invited up to the local hospital to consult on a development plan they were hatching. As we were settling down in the manager's office she asked us if everyone was there yet. At which point our chairperson, a lovely man - tall, conventional looking, but with a wicked sense of humour, replied - poker faced - "no, the others'll be along in a minute, they're just parking the coach". Without a moment's hesitation the manager got up from her desk and went over to the window to see what was happening in the car park below. Her expression when she realised there was no coach was something to behold!

My colleague went on to work in advocacy for many years, and would no doubt have been very effective in the role. The people I worked for and with were quite an impressive crew. I used to say, only half joking, that we'd be a lot better off with them running the country.

[Daniel]

Time once again to watch the old Christmas movie favorite DIE HARD. A great Christmas tale of the selfless Bruce Willis helping a group of people held in bondage to be free. Happy Holidays.

[Simon Griffee]

Pigs on the Wing parts 1 and 2 on Pink Floyd’s Animals serve the same purpose as the fishing expedition in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

I am glad there is art in the universe even if I will only ever experience a fraction of it.

[Chuck Albertson]

You left out Chinatown. How could you leave out Chinatown?!

[Anthony Shaughnessy]

Yes, but on the other hand if you've seen one cute kitten picture you've seen them all :-)

[Bill Cowan]

One of the problems of seeing different photographs is the tendency for many writers to repeat the same photographs of the same photographers. Karsh was a bad example of a photographer endlessly reprinting the same "greatest hits". How refreshing would be a book of "B side" photographs.

[Steve Higgins]

"Turns out, when I count, I have seen a grand total of ten Jack Nicholson movies."

More than three times as many as me - just Batman, Tommy and Easy Rider.

He may be a great actor, but he generally just doesn't appear in films I particularly want to see.

[Stan B.]

Gets me to thinking of all the great photography I saw in NYC galleries in the late '70s, early '80s... and of another most memorable film- A Simple Plan.

[hugh crawford]

"We all need to choose wisely and zero in on the good stuff as best we can. "

The trouble is that you miss a lot of good stuff if you only zero in on the known good stuff, the greatest hits. The trick is to figure out how to "zero in" on what is of value without knowing about it first. I think there is a potential Zen archery digression here but...

re Jack Nicholson movies, Roger Ebert and editing the good stuff.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/easy-rider-1969

The first cut of Easy Rider was over four hours long. Dennis Hopper decided that since everyone knew what a motorcycle movie was about he could divide the movie into the parts that told the story and advanced the narrative and all the other stuff. The genius move was that instead of getting rid of all the other stuff, Hopper got rid of the story.

A really interesting thing about Jack Nicholson's acting career is that for a long stretch he thought of himself as a producer who would sometimes jump in as an actor.

[Speed]

Essays like this make me glad that Patreon is sending a few of my dollars to Mike every month.

[Chris]

TOP isn't an echo chamber. It's because the common ground is so slender (but just enough) that I love it! Thank you and Merry Christmas, Mike... :-)

[Steve Rosenblum]

Among my favorite less famous Jack Nicholson movies are "The Last Detail" and "5 Easy Pieces" which was tied up in litigation for decades and only became available again a few years ago. He's not a very likable guy in 5 Easy Pieces, but the scene in the restaurant as well as the scenery around the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound make it worth watching.

[Speed]

WNYC/Studio360 did a very interesting podcast about One Flew Over ... in 2013. No direct url to it but it’s easy to find if you start at wnyc.org and search inside Studio360’s American Icons series.

[Tomwf]

Check out "About Schmidt" funny and sad.

[John Krumm]

Regarding not seeing much photography, I had a great example show up in the mailbox today. Last week I met a current candidate for Minnesota Governor at a fundraiser, Tina Liebling, and she told about her childhood growing up as the daughter of a documentary photographer. I ordered her father's book, Jerome Liebling: The Minnesota Photographs. This has to be one of the best photo books I own, and I don't recognize any of the photos. You can find plenty of used copies, but it's out of print.

https://www.amazon.com/Jerome-Liebling-Minnesota-Photographs/dp/0873513541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513639743&sr=8-1&keywords=Jerome+Liebling%3A+The+Minnesota+Photographs

[Tom M]

If your going to read Ken Kesey, then you really got to read Sometimes a Great Notion.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I think it is worth a link to "Asylum
Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals"
By Christopher Payne
Introduction by Oliver Sacks
which is by MIT Press and surely available at Amazon and the Book Depository.

Payne made it his business over a period of multiple years to research and photograph many of the huge hilltop complexes that flourished and provided a comfortable world for the mentally handicapped of the first half of the 20th century. Great pictures and very informative essays by both the photographer and by Oliver Sacks, who started his career there (so did Ken Kesey). I remember them, north of Boston and up the Hudson valley, but they are all prisons or vast condo expanses now. Payne caught the period of the transition.

[Ken Tanaka]

Heresy Alert:

I wish I could recover the hours of my life I spent slogging through the pointless bucket of navel-gazing nonsense that is Barthes’s “Camera Lucida”.

/heresy

[Chris Y.]

Easy Rider- Nicholson's turn puts that film in a whole new gear the minute he appears, waking up in that southern jail cell.. ("I promised these people... I promised these people..." ) that and the surprisingly good acid trip-montage section near the end were my most memorable takeaways from a recent re-viewing..

[Rube]

Read the book, it too is a classic. Reading it will, however, provide completely different images on McMurphy, the Big Nurse, and Chief Broom.

[Dave New]

When someone mentions common experience, in either book or film, I think of either "Lord of the Rings" (both book and film) or "Star Wars" (film).

I've found it difficult to find anyone I talk to that has not either seen or read both of the above.

Even if your cup of tea isn't fantasy or science fiction, these classics have engaged the imagination of entire generations, and are likely to for some time to come...