Reconstructing Woody: Art, Love, and Life in the Films of Woody Allen (review)

Book Reviews | Regular Feature cultural eras which—like Frankenstein's monster—becomes both frightening and awesome, is intelligent but frequently misunderstood , and shockingly reflects our own cultural images. In essence films parodied are aboutus. The recently releasedAmerican Beauty is a case in point. When I saw this picture for the first time, I was one ofthe few in a packed house laughing! Was suburbia afraid to recognize itself up there on a screen? Because parody pokes fun at what we have created, fear of recognition can be diminished by laughter, but laughter should not make the vision less relevant. Whether or not we warm up to the parody (Frankenstein's monster) or turn against it, remains the jurisdiction of the viewing audience (the mob). Film parodies are much more than superficial guffaws! Beam me up, Wes. I'm ready for the Dark planet! Ron Briley Sandia Preparatory School Snrbrile@nedcomm.nm.org Mary P. Nichols. Reconstructing Woody: Art, Love, and Life in the Films of Woody Allen. Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. 240 pages; $22.95. Human Condition InReconstructing Woody, FordhamUniversity political science professor Mary P. Nichols offers a reading ofWoody Allen films that will delight his fans, but may be less pleasing to those who simply do not gethis dramas and appeal. In fact, the ranks of these detractors seem tobe growing with the NewYorker's troubled personal life and adverse critical and box office response to his most recent titles, Deconstructing Harry and Celebrity. While Allen might find the academic discourse ofNichols analytical and serious, the director would probably appreciate the professor's argument that he is perceived as an artist using film to commentupon the human condition. Nichols agrees with Allen that too many critics interpret his work as autobiographical statements. Woody Allen the person should not be confused with the filmmaker. The Nichols' text is not necessarily an easy read, but the author does not rely upon the deconstructionist vocabulary of postmodernist film and literary criticism. Instead, Nichols turns to her political science discipline for an analytical lens to view Allen's cinema. Socrates dismissed poetry as an artificial device for the pursuit ofpleasure, while philosophy was a more noble undertaking in its search for the truth. Yet, Socrates held out hope that some artist might present a defense of poetry, demonstrating how it could benefit society and humankind. This defender emerged with Aristotle, who in his Poetics maintained that poetry was even more philosophical than history, because it narrates events that might happen with their underlying truths. Thus, Nichols concludes that Allen's film art fits Aristotle's definition of poetry. Rather than inhabiting a pessimistic or amoral universe— as some of Allen's detractors claim—Nichols asserts that the filmmaker's vision embraces life rather than death, championing moral choices. According to Nichols, Allen recognizes that there are limitations to art and the possibilities of individual choice. However, the recognition of such limitations does not lead to despair. Nichols writes, "Virtue lies in making choices that will lead to a better life while avoiding the hubris of attempting absolute control of our lives and those of others. It is such an understanding of human life and virtue that makes possible a Woody Allen comedy." (16) Nichols supports this argument in a series of essays which analyze a dozen of Allen's films, beginning with Play It Again, Sam (1972) and concluding with an examination of Mighty Aphrodite (1996). Earlier comic photodramas—such as Take the Money and Run or Bananas—are dismissed in favor of his later cinema reflecting greater moral complexity. In her study, Nichols also considers the more serious dramatic efforts of Allen such as Interiors (1978) and Another Woman (1988), but the film which best illustrates Nichols' thesis is StardustMemories (1980), a work which the author weaves consistently into her research. In Stardust Memories, Allen portrays film director Sandy Bates, who wants to abandon his comic pictures in favor oftragedy . But these efforts at more serious filmmaking are blocked by studio executives, who insist upon a happy ending to his most recent drama. While Bates prefers to conclude his art with a trainload of strangers heading for a junkyard, the studio holds out...