Delusion: The Spartacus 24/7 Project
I saw Spartacus the first time just a few months ago. Happened to catch part of it on Turner Movie Classics and I decided to rent it. Which was a mistake for someone like me. As a by-product of Catholic schools, I've long had a problem with arbitrary authority. And I'd never seen a movie that so closely insinuates cruelty and brutality with the trappings of class and hierarchy. For a few weeks after watching it, I found myself more pissed off than usual at the self perpetuating and aggrandizing hierarchies that we often find ourselves in.
And I thought that it would be cool to have Spartacus playing somewhere in Memphis, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a years. A public performance and protest.
Then I saw this television:
I passed it by coming home from work about 2 weeks ago. It was facing Sam Cooper Boulevard, on the cusp of the Broad Avenue Arts District. Unfortunately, the day I first saw it, I was sick and didn't feel like turning around to take a picture. But it made an impression. It was turned as though for the viewing pleasure of the passing cars on Sam Cooper. And it was a console TV. Like TV trays and Lazy-Boys, console TVs really hearken back to the golden age of TV watchin'.
A TV fit for Spartacus.
Nothing like a console TV playing a movie about the struggle against hierarchy and brutality for the citizens of Memphis as they drive by.
24/7/365/Binghamton/Kubrick.
But I figured it would be gone the next day.
But it was there when I drove by a week later. No one had carted it off. Amazing. That's when I got these pictures.
Sadly it was gone the day after. Ending my Spartacus 24/7 projectdream delusion.
And I thought that it would be cool to have Spartacus playing somewhere in Memphis, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a years. A public performance and protest.
Then I saw this television:
I passed it by coming home from work about 2 weeks ago. It was facing Sam Cooper Boulevard, on the cusp of the Broad Avenue Arts District. Unfortunately, the day I first saw it, I was sick and didn't feel like turning around to take a picture. But it made an impression. It was turned as though for the viewing pleasure of the passing cars on Sam Cooper. And it was a console TV. Like TV trays and Lazy-Boys, console TVs really hearken back to the golden age of TV watchin'.
A TV fit for Spartacus.
Nothing like a console TV playing a movie about the struggle against hierarchy and brutality for the citizens of Memphis as they drive by.24/7/365/Binghamton/Kubrick.
But I figured it would be gone the next day.
But it was there when I drove by a week later. No one had carted it off. Amazing. That's when I got these pictures.
Sadly it was gone the day after. Ending my Spartacus 24/7 project
Labels: 38112, Broad Avenue Arts District, delusion, geotagged, Latitude 35.147109, Longitude -89.975110
posted by gatesofmemphis at 9:13 AM
4 Comments:
well, it's not quite 24/7 spartacus, but the good folks at cinema memphis told me last night that they were working on bringing a kubrick film fest to the city for this year...
I saw that they were going to do that.
I'd always assumed Kubrick's in-Hollywood efforts would be inferior but I think I like them better. I still haven't seen all of Paths of Glory, but what I've seen is incredible.
i finally saw paths of glory last year and it completely blew me away. it fits nicely alongside dr. strangelove, and has a very similar feel. if they do this kubrick film fest, they had better show that movie. if i could only find some ridiculous way of pretending it was relevant to either of my classes, i'd offer my students extra credit as an enticement to attend!!
btw where did you see they were going to do that? i couldn't quite tell from my conversation with them (i talked to some people at their booth at the volunteer expo) if it was really likely to happen, and when i checked out their web site, it was still advertising the 2005 retrospective of howard hawks!
still, i emailed them and offered to help out in any way possible with the film fest or any other history of film type things they might do in the city - hope to hear back from them...
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