Robert Frank – best known by photographers for his photo book “the Americans” depicting the iconography of American life. The book has been first received as a satirical joke on American politics, revealing with shocking truthfulness the illusions of the American dream. However, Frank’s presence in the photographic world could not been denied. The work explored the innermost hidden insanities and contradiction of American culture. Less known are Frank’s directed short films. I would like to talk about one of them: “Pull My Daisy” is a black and white short movie released in 1959 depicting a social gathering of the Beat poets (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Peter Orlofsky) and friends narrated by Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. The party taking place in a closed and private environment reveals both the virtues of private states of imagination and the flaws of public forms of socializing and interaction. It captures the private realm of the Beatniks which they considered to be joyful, fluid and spiritually stimulating and from which their main works have emerged. Being the outcasts of the conservative society of their time they imagined the individual being trapped in the established social rules and norms or alienated by its own higher consciousness and spiritual awareness of being. The film is a powerful piece of cinema like most of Frank’s work, having the ability to penetrate to the very core and truthfulness of the moment.
Bibliography:
Bibliography:
- Carney, Ray (2003) "No Exit: John Cassavettes' Shadows and Robert Frank's Pull My Daisy." Ray Carney's The Beat Goes On. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. available at: [http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/beatmov/daisy.shtml]
- Anon (2012) "Robert Frank." / Biography & Images. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. available at: [http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Robert-Frank.html].
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