[Frameworks] Saul Levine & MassArt: resources

Mon Apr 2 14:56:15 UTC 2018

I have talked with Saul about the situation as it’s unfolded the past few
days and months. It’s too complicated to explain in full here and not
really the forum for it but all the stories that have been reported so far
haven’t been the full truth. The Globe article being the furthest from it
and an example of lazy journalism where the one woman quoted from Massart
had personal axe to grind and paints an unfair picture of him and the
situation. Saul is 74 and regardless of the events that did occur was gonna
retire in the next few years anyway but chose to leave at the end semester.
How any competent film teacher could think showing Notes After Long Silence
to a class of senior film students be considered sexual harassment is
honestly ridiculous. If you really want to support Saul tho watch his
films. Show them. Rent them. Talk about them. Most of his films are
available for free on his Vimeo page and their in distribution at Canyon
Cinema, Filmmakers Coop, Lux, and Lightcone. Also for those in the New
England area come to the final Massart Film society screenings and hear him
publicly share his cinematic wisdom. There’s a great line up this month:

April 4th - Jennifer Saparzadeh
April 11th - Bruce Posner
April 18th - To Be Announced
April 25th - Adam Paradis

Also check out the one and only book written about Saul by Marjorie Keller:

http://saullevine.com/section/439716-THE-BOOK-OF-SAUL.html

On Monday, April 2, 2018, Scott MacDonald <smacdona at hamilton.edu> wrote:

> *If Notes After Long Silence needs a warning, it's certainly not because
> of sexual content. *
>
> *Big Stick is rather stroboscopic--and so I could imagine a warning about
> visually-instigated epilepsy. *
>
> *But these are just aggressive, in-your-face, films, not unusual for the
> time when they were made. *
>
> *Being made uncomfortable by a film is not being harmed.*
>
> *Scott*
>
> On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 10:42 PM, John Muse <jmuse at sonic.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi, Scott.  Cryptic!  I’m sure the situation is more complicated than we
>> know, and am here only sharing information as I find it.  The only counter
>> narrative I’ve discovered so far is the one published in the Boston Globe:
>>
>> > Kim Keown, a former MassArt student who said she first saw the film
>> years ago with no warning about its graphic content, said cautionary notice
>> is the critical issue.
>> >
>> > “Saul has bullied and abused other faculty and staff at MassArt for
>> years,” said Keown, who now works as a studio manager in the school’s film
>> area. “I have nothing against the film or this kind of artwork being made
>> or shown, but with [no] warning [it] can make one uncomfortable and unsafe.
>> I was his student; and I did not speak out. If I had, back then, I would
>> have been ridiculed.”
>>
>>
>> See https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/31/massart-profess
>> or-says-school-ousted-him-after-student-complaints/rY0bK
>> t12T1DrhJZ8ocYKJP/story.html
>>
>> I see two issues that are entangled: 1., Title IX and due process, which
>> is worthy of serious exploration, and according to Saul’s report is at
>> issue here.  And 2. changing standards for “good” vs. “bad” provocation,
>> which you gloss with "things that seemed passionate and committed to one
>> generation now seeming outrageous to another.”
>>
>> I’m equally interested in how both matters play out in this case.  But my
>> emotions are all on Saul’s side.  Admittedly, I’m using the latter to
>> understand the former.  For now, that seems ok, but I’ll certainly try to
>> be cautious until I learn more.
>>
>> j
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Apr 1, 2018, at 10:01 PM, Scott MacDonald <smacdona at hamilton.edu>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > PS John,
>> >
>> > I'm hearing (and of course this would have to be the case) that the
>> situation with Saul and MassArt is more complicated than I'd originally
>> understood--and I suspect that there's an element here of things that
>> seemed passionate and committed to one generation now seeming outrageous to
>> another.
>> >
>> > Like, I expect, most everyone who teaches film these days, this feels
>> like a strange and uncomfortable time (trigger warnings, etc.). It's easy
>> for anyone to jump to conclusions.
>> >
>> > I don't know anything about Saul's resources, but hopefully retirement
>> will be good to him, even if it's been reached in a painful and stressful
>> way.
>> >
>> > Scott
>> >
>> > On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 6:42 PM, John Muse <jmuse at sonic.net> wrote:
>> > Surprised that I haven’t read anything here on the recent news that
>> Saul Levine "was pushed out of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design
>> after administrators accused him of 'harming students' by showing his film
>> Notes After Long Silence, 1989, to his senior thesis class.”
>> >
>> > Here are a few resources:
>> >
>> > Saul’s original post detailing his decision to “[retire] from MassArt,”
>> as he says, and his reasons: https://www.facebook.com/story
>> .php?story_fbid=10215932754649479&id=1165322620
>> >
>> > The Artforum article: https://www.artforum.com/news/
>> filmmaker-saul-levine-leaves-massart-following-dispute-over-artwork-74844
>> >
>> > Indiewire article: http://www.indiewire.com/2018/
>> 03/saul-levine-mass-art-notes-after-long-silence-1201945678/
>> >
>> > Saul’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/saullevine
>> >
>> > Films mentioned in the Artforum article include "Notes After a Long
>> Silence" https://vimeo.com/73242778 and “The Big Stick / An Old Reel”
>> https://vimeo.com/89886468
>> >
>> > j/PrM
>> >
>> > *************************************************
>> >
>> > john muse
>> > visual media scholar
>> > haverford college
>> > he/him/his
>> > http://www.finleymuse.com
>> > http://www.haverford.edu/faculty/jmuse
>> > http://haverford.academia.edu/JohnMuse
>> >
>> > *************************************************
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>>
>> j/PrM
>>
>> *************************************************
>>
>> john muse
>> visual media scholar
>> haverford college
>> he/him/his
>> http://www.finleymuse.com
>> http://www.haverford.edu/faculty/jmuse
>> http://haverford.academia.edu/JohnMuse
>>
>> *************************************************
>>
>>
>>
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