DENNIS HOPPER: A REMEMBRANCE

Dennis and I met through a mutual friend, both of whom had an interest in emerging artists.  Dennis collected unknown artists such as Lichtenstein and Warhol, while our friend collected Johns, Stella and Bengston. 

On a particular summer day when we were both in our early thirties, we gathered in a patio bordering our friend’s tennis court and quaffed beer and ate nachos.  Dennis challenged me to a tennis game.  I was a moderately adequate player.  However I didn’t know that Dennis was a very good player. 

The game commenced and he played with a racket in one hand and a can of beer in the other whereas I, determined to do my best, smashed balls back.  I was a head taller than Dennis and in my hubris thought I could overpower him.  With laid-back insouciance, he commenced to take me down one set after another.   He never broke a sweat while I looked as if a waterfall had poured over me.

He forgave me for my lousy game and we spent the rest of the afternoon talking about art – never about film or the film industry.  It was another time and another place.

Sigmund Freud coined the phrase “Oedipus Complex” based on the Greek 
legend of Oedipus and the subsequent plays by Sophocles.  The legend 
introduces one of the great archetypes in literature as well as 
psychology.  If nothing else, literature – whether for the page or the 
screen – deals with universal archetypal dilemmas placed in 
particularistic settings. 

Archetypes take us beyond Oedipal predicaments.  They lead into 
existential predicaments of birth, marriage, divorce, sibling rivalry, 
as well as the breakdown of societal and familial taboos. 

Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” derives from the story of Cain and Abel and 
conveys the terror of sibling rivalry ending in jealous rage and 
fratricide.  The story of Joseph in Genesis furnishes a powerful 
message of paternal favoritism and reconciliation. 

Greek mythology often has the intercession of the gods in human 
affairs.  Classic westerns use the archetype of intercession when the 
mysterious stranger arrives in town or at the ranch much like the deux 
ex machina of Greek tragedy and helps the downtrodden battle an 
implacable foe. 

Symbolic death and rebirth themes reminiscent of wisdom literature and 
classic myths can be found in “The Blind Side”.  The character of 
Michael Oher is a cypher, a non-entity abandoned by his mother, one of 
the living dead.  With the help of a ministering angel he is 
resurrected and brought back to productive life. 

The list of films highlighting life cycle events seems never ending. 
“It’s Complicated” portrays marriage, divorce, resignation, rebirth. 
“A Serious Man” explores faith, familial responsibility, delinquent 
behavior, academia, mortality, and religion tied to a man who sees his 
life and marriage falling apart. 

The point of all this is that archetypes and mythology become the gear 
in a writer’s tool box that can help create memorable characters and 
memorable stories.