[Serrart]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

I like Von Trier too, but I oftentimes am left wondering about his ethos in filmmaking...where is he coming from? What is he really trying to do? And to what ends is he trying to do it? As a Dane who has never stepped foot on U.S. soil, I find it hard to really "get with" the "claims" about U.S. history and culture as presented through his films. I like that he shakes things up, but I wonder how informed he really is, or for that matter cares to be. From what I've heard, he gets his opinions and obserations of U.S. culture and politics from the news, pop culture, t.v., etc. and then weaves narratives out of those sources. While that would make for an interesting po-mo, metalevel, fantasy it does nothing for the serious subjects (race relations, slavery, capitalism) he tackles in utmost seriousness and earnestness.

That said, I think Von Trier is a very smart, very enigmatic director, and I love the fact that he inflames, I just question his motives behind the flaming I guess.

I don't think he cares much about America's history or Danish history. He "uses" America because is the stage of the world, as a quite smart man said and the fact that he used a typical, overly symbolic Brechtian setting seemed a declaration of self irony to me. USA is a recognizable symbol for everyone. His characters aren't politic, are moral (Ibsen, Strindberg, Dreyer's ghosts make quite dark jokes in his cinema) and those fit everyone in every Country. The rest is a smart marketing tool to sell the movie, letting to Europeans (who see his movies much more than Us citizens) a comfortable and fake sense of superiority.

Romy