Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man.
Jean-Luc GodardRead
If you want to make a documentary you should automatically go to the fiction, and if you want to nourish your fiction you have to come back to reality.
Interpretation
Documentary and fiction are interconnected, with reality enriching the creative process.
In this quote, Jean-Luc Godard suggests that creating documentaries requires a grounding in fiction, highlighting the relationship between the two genres. He emphasizes that to craft impactful fiction, one must draw inspiration and insights from reality, illustrating the cyclical nature of creativity where reality informs imaginative storytelling and vice versa.
In practice
In a film class, to illustrate the creative process, you might quote this while discussing the relationship between documentaries and fiction.
Killing a man in defense of an idea is not defending an idea; it is killing a man.
I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie.
Sometime reality is too complex. Stories give it form.
More or less, I am always saying, 'Give me more. Let's do what has not been done.'
Objects exist and if one pays more attention to them than to people, it is precisely because they exist more than the people. Dead objects are still alive. Living people are often already dead.
Cinema is not a series of abstract ideas, but rather the phrasing of moments.
Good literature can be created only with something that is different from literature.
A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore; itβs to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out. It is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery.
I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline.
Often, especially young artists, you feel like you should be doing something. And I think that can be very destructive because creativity is about connecting with the stuff that's deep inside you and making something out of that.
I believe that Judy Garland's artistry was so fine. I mean, when people say: 'oh, she brought so much of her life to her music', I don't really believe that. I believe that she didn't have to. She just was a moving human being. That was her gift.
I'd say almost that words come first, melody second.
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