Burlesque girls were alchemists. They were steel-tough performers who were willing to use kitchens as dressing rooms, haul their costume bags through the snow, and go into debt over fake diamonds, all for the five minutes onstage when they were goddesses.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the dedication and resilience of burlesque performers who endure hardships for a fleeting moment of glory on stage.
Molly Crabapple's quote emphasizes the transformative power and commitment of burlesque performers, who, despite facing significant challenges such as difficult working conditions and financial struggles, embrace their craft with fierce determination. The metaphor of alchemy illustrates their ability to turn hardship into momentary beauty and empowerment, emphasizing the contrast between their everyday struggles and the ephemeral exhilaration of performing.
In practice
In a speech about the resilience of artists in tough times.
MORE CONSISTENTLY THAN EVER I WAS TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT CINEMA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF ART HAS ITS OWN POSSIBILITIES WHICH ARE EQUAL TO THOSE OF PROSE. I WANTED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW CINEMA IS ABLE TO OBSERVE LIFE, WITHOUT INTERFERING, CRUDELY OR OBVIOUSLY, WITH ITS CONTINUITY. FOR THAT IS WHERE I SEE THE POETIC ESSENCE OF CINEMA.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems.
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven; and as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name; such tricks hath strong imagination.
I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.
Poetry is written with tears, fiction with blood, and history with invisible ink.
My art springs from my desire to have things in the world which would otherwise never be there.
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