Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.
Orson WellesRead
The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the image of a refined gangster is a creation of cinema rather than reality.
Orson Wellesβ observation highlights how Hollywood has romanticized and glamorized the figure of the gangster to the point of presenting an ideal that rarely aligns with real-life criminality. By portraying gangsters as 'classy', filmmakers create a narrative where crime is intertwined with style and sophistication, ultimately blurring the lines between morality and allure in popular culture.
Themes
GangsterHollywoodInventionClassyArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a film studies lecture, I referenced Orson Welles' quote to discuss the representation of crime in cinema.
More from Orson Welles
All quotes βWhen people accept breaking the law as normal, something happens to the whole society.
Orson WellesRead
A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.
Orson WellesRead
I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
Orson WellesRead
Old age is the only disease you dont want to be cured of.
Orson WellesRead
Movie directing is a perfect refuge for the mediocre.
Orson WellesRead
Similar quotes
I consider space to be a material. The articulation of space has come to take precedence over other concerns. I attempt to use sculptural form to make space distinct.
Richard SerraRead
I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this; was it done with enjoyment, was the carver happy while he was about it?
John RuskinRead
They say that to be a writer you must first have an unhappy childhood. I don't know if unhappiness is necessary, but I think maybe some children who have suffered a loss too great for words grow up into writers who are always trying to find those words, trying to find a meaning for the way they have lived
Cynthia RylantRead
I think there's a lot of similarity between what people try to do with religion with what they want from art. In fact, I very specifically think that they are same thing. Not that religion and art are the same, but that they both tap into the same need we have for surrender.
Brian EnoRead
Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time.
Jean CocteauRead
The role of a museum of modern art is to make a good selection and identify what we believe to be the coming movements, and that requires taste.
David RockefellerRead