Some of you may know, and some of you may not know, but I was heavily inspired by Le Petit Prince by St. Exupéry for my last film in school. Heavily. I might even say that I wanted to emulate the beauty and depth of the novel so much that I screwed up my priorities in the process. But, haha.
I kind of grew up with a vague appreciation for it because my mother was a big fan of the drawings, and I even made up a green alien character who lived alone on a blue planet when I was 12 years old. (I should dig it up...probably in my childhood home basement somewhere) At the time I'm not so sure I had read the book. Read it again in highschool for my french class, but probably didn't understand too much of it, and then during college I read it through in English. I wonder if I connect to it because I can understand the weird yearning and wistfulness of the narrator, the titular character, and understand that they're all just the author, talking about himself. Maybe he knew that it was only in this way that he could connect to people.
Anyways, so currently at the Morgan Library in Manhattan, there is a small but beautiful exhibit about the beginnings of Le Petit Prince story. It was actually written in New York, and first published in the U.S. Original penciled drafts, really wonderful captions and descriptions, and of course, initial story sketches. The author St. Exupéry wasn't a trained artist, but I think that's what makes the drawings more beautiful. He labored over the writing, and labored over the drawings, paring everything down to the most important pieces. An artwork in the purest form for the most purest of intentions.
It's because works like these exist that I have never wanted to do anything else but make other people feel something, too. I think most of my life I thought I couldn't dare to think I could try, and then suddenly I did, but thinking you can't do something and really really wanting something are two completely different things.
I'm going to go see it again, hopefully on a less crowded Friday. It will be there until April 27.
No comments:
Post a Comment