A.S. Byatt, Magdalen College Auditorium, 3rd Nov 2011
A.S. Byatt spoke about all things related to "The Children's Book"; the most terrifying of which was her belief that the character of Olive Wellwood - a children's story writer - was a typical author-parent and it is not uncommon for children of such writers to commit suicide (like Olive's son Tom does in the book). Kenneth Grahame being one example. She had come into the talk after having finished an excoriating account of Enid Blyton in her daughter's memoirs and was convinced that what made someone a great children's writer made them a terrible parent because that ability to create and imagine only came out of someone who refused to leave their own childhood behind and resented any attempt at making them deal with a reality other than that in their heads. Later on we went up to her and told her about the way we relate to children and she said "I look at them and I don't know what to say to them". It was probably the reason why, she said, she struggled with the language of children and getting it on paper.
It made me think of why moving into my own apartment - after living in halls for so many years - phasing in and out of feeling like home.
Johnny Depp and Bruce Robinson, Oxford Union, 5th Nov 2011
I asked Johnny and Bruce about if they would ever create a politically conscious work that looked at the roles of corporations and oil companies in Africa and South Asia or whether it was a no-go area in Hollywood? Johnny said, yes he would love to and Bruce spoke about past experience in a bitter way talking of how his work on the killing fields in Cambodia went down "like an anvil in the Atlantic". Bruce and Johnny seemed convinced that films don't change a thing; it perhaps creates awareness but you look at the world around you said Bruce and despite work like Battle of Algiers, war continues. Johnny said simply "I don't believe my work changes anything." Which is a fairly bleak reckoning for the film industry. Depp used the word schizophrenic a lot. It made me curious specially in the context of his relationship with people like Hunter Thompson and admiration for Kerouac. He did though come across as someone who was just very good at their profession; there wasn't anything deeper than that, this was a man who was a very good actor. If one had to look for tortured depths, I think Bruce Robinson was more the man.
A.S. Byatt spoke about all things related to "The Children's Book"; the most terrifying of which was her belief that the character of Olive Wellwood - a children's story writer - was a typical author-parent and it is not uncommon for children of such writers to commit suicide (like Olive's son Tom does in the book). Kenneth Grahame being one example. She had come into the talk after having finished an excoriating account of Enid Blyton in her daughter's memoirs and was convinced that what made someone a great children's writer made them a terrible parent because that ability to create and imagine only came out of someone who refused to leave their own childhood behind and resented any attempt at making them deal with a reality other than that in their heads. Later on we went up to her and told her about the way we relate to children and she said "I look at them and I don't know what to say to them". It was probably the reason why, she said, she struggled with the language of children and getting it on paper.
It made me think of why moving into my own apartment - after living in halls for so many years - phasing in and out of feeling like home.
Johnny Depp and Bruce Robinson, Oxford Union, 5th Nov 2011
I asked Johnny and Bruce about if they would ever create a politically conscious work that looked at the roles of corporations and oil companies in Africa and South Asia or whether it was a no-go area in Hollywood? Johnny said, yes he would love to and Bruce spoke about past experience in a bitter way talking of how his work on the killing fields in Cambodia went down "like an anvil in the Atlantic". Bruce and Johnny seemed convinced that films don't change a thing; it perhaps creates awareness but you look at the world around you said Bruce and despite work like Battle of Algiers, war continues. Johnny said simply "I don't believe my work changes anything." Which is a fairly bleak reckoning for the film industry. Depp used the word schizophrenic a lot. It made me curious specially in the context of his relationship with people like Hunter Thompson and admiration for Kerouac. He did though come across as someone who was just very good at their profession; there wasn't anything deeper than that, this was a man who was a very good actor. If one had to look for tortured depths, I think Bruce Robinson was more the man.
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