Imagining [The Wizard of Oz] without Judy Garland is a bit like dancing on wet cement: you can do it, but why would you want to?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the integral role Judy Garland played in 'The Wizard of Oz' and suggests that her absence diminishes the work's value.
Pauline Kael's quote reflects on the significance of Judy Garland's performance in 'The Wizard of Oz', highlighting how her talent and presence made the film iconic. The comparison to dancing on wet cement suggests that while it is technically possible to imagine the film without her, doing so detracts from its essence and impact, much like attempting to dance on a surface that hinders movement. This reinforces the idea that certain artists are essential to masterpieces, and removing them alters the entire experience.
In practice
During a film class discussion about classic cinema.
I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
The romance of movies is not just in those stories and those people on the screen but in the adolescent dream of meeting others who feel as you do about what youβve seen.
We read critics for the perceptions, for what they tell us that we didn't fully grasp when we saw the work. The judgments we can usually make for ourselves.
The worst thing about movie-making is that it's like life: nobody can go back to correct the mistakes.
It seems likely that many of the young who don't wait for others to call them artists, but simply announce that they are, don't have the patience to make art.
What this generation was bred to at television's knees was not wisdom, but cynicism.
On the whole, dialogue is the most difficult thing, without any doubt. It's very difficult, unfortunately. You have to detach yourself from the notion of a lifelike quality. You see, actually lifelike, tape-recorded dialogue like this has very little to do with good novel dialogue. It's a matter of getting that awful tyranny of mimesis out of your mind, which is difficult.
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
In performance capture roles, it's not a committee of animators that author the role, it's the actor. I think that's a significant thing for people to understand.
What I'm trying to do is just sing what comes to my body in the context of the song. And if you go by the emotion of the song, it's almost like stepping into a city. Cities have certain customs and rules and laws you can break, and that's what I was doing.
And I think as long as a song has beautiful lyrics, I'm so happy.
So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.
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