Is not the most erotic part of the body wherever the clothing affords a glimpse?
Roland BarthesRead
As a language, Garbo's singularity was of the order of the concept, that of Audrey Hepburn is of the order of the substance; the face of Garbo is an Idea, that of Hepburn, an Event.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts the artistic essence of two iconic actresses, Garbo and Hepburn, highlighting their differing impacts on film and culture.
In this quote, Roland Barthes distinguishes between the abstract qualities associated with Greta Garbo and the tangible presence of Audrey Hepburn. Garbo represents an idealized, conceptual approach to femininity and mystique, whereas Hepburn embodies a significant moment or event that resonates with audiences. This suggests that Garbo's allure is rooted in an idea or concept, while Hepburn's influence stems from her active engagement in the cinematic world, marking significant moments in film history.
Themes
GarboHepburnFilmArtBeautyConceptEvent
In practice
Example use cases
In a film studies class discussing the contributions of female icons to cinema.
More from Roland Barthes
All quotes →If I acknowledge my dependency, I do so because for me it is a means of signifying my demand: in the realm of love, futility is not a "weakness" or an "absurdity": it is a strong sign: the more futile, the more it signifies and the more it asserts itself as strength.)
Roland BarthesRead
The gesture of the amorous embrace seems to fulfill, for a time, the subject's dream of total union with the loved being: The longing for consummation with the other.
Roland BarthesRead
The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.
Roland BarthesRead
I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.
Roland BarthesRead
All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death.
Roland BarthesRead
Similar quotes
A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.
Robert FrostRead
There's a marvelous sense of mastery that comes with writing a sentence that sounds exactly as you want it to. It's like trying to write a song, making tiny tweaks, reading it out loud, shifting things to make it sound a certain way... Sometimes it feels like digging out of a hole, but sometimes it feels like flying. When it's working and the rhythm's there, it does feel like magic to me.
Susan OrleanRead
Writing as writing. Writing as rioting. Writing as righting. _x000D_ On the best days, all three.
Teju ColeRead
I don't want to analyze myself or anything, but I think, in fact I know this to be true, that I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing, and continue to believe, that I am a screw-up, that growing up with my family and friends, I had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there was something that I brought to the party that was at a high-enough level.
Aaron SorkinRead
Fine music without devotion is but a splendid garment upon a corpse.
Charles SpurgeonRead
I am a novelist. I traffic in subtleties, and my goal in writing a novel is to leave the reader not knowing what to think. A good novel shouldn't have a point.
Teju ColeRead