Carney-vàle!

[lefeufollet]

Rappaport further responds to Carney.

[matrixschmatrix]

Rappaport certainly seems to have better foundation for whatever terms he uses- assuming he's not actually fabricating documents, it certainly does appear that Carney dramatically changed his story from one to the other. Though admittedly I'm inclined to read Rappaport's side more favorably, since Carney seems like such an asshole.

[whaleallright]

I think we should all be able to agree that Boston University violating their contract with Carney over accusations that have yet to be admitted or proven in open court would be cause for great concern. I have no love for Carney at all, and I'm inclined not to believe his version of events, but I'm neither an arbitrator nor a member of a jury nor a judge.

[whaleallright]

n/a

[Mr Sausage]

Once again, I say this as someone who thinks Carney has done more harm than good as a film scholar.

I'm not really up on Carney's actual scholarly work. Would you mind expanding?

[Mr Sausage]

The rest of your post does not merit a response.

Sausage he boasts of never having seen Citizen Kane and one of his central platforms is to "hate Hollywood."

Really? I remember reading some tirade against that movie's "fakeness" on the one brief scan I made of his website years ago.

[whaleallright]

...

[Michael Kerpan]

Frankly, folks on both sides of this debate are behaving like children.

Perhaps, but denying someone access to their own work (for quite a long time now) is pretty seriously problematic. I don't think one treat the two sides as equally culpable.

[matrixschmatrix]

That said, I think he deserves due process like anyone else caught in a controversy that is, of now, just volleys of hearsay. If Jost and Rappaport did indeed try to get him fired, that's contemptible.

I don't think there's any reason to believe that's the case. The topic came up because david hare suggested that this situation might constitute grounds for breaking tenure, not because any of the concerned parties mentioned it. I honestly don't see any reason to believe Rappaport's done anything wrong, here.

[Gregory]

Frankly, folks on both sides of this debate are behaving like children.

On behalf of a couple of billion children, I'd like to say that comparing them to Ray Carney is unwarranted and unfair.

[onedimension]

I'm not big on Carney's work now, although I was a fan as, I guess, a teenager- age 18 or 19, read his website publications and took a lot of his film recommendations (most of them good, to his credit). But now what I remember of his site- indulgent interviews that feel like Carney wrote the questions, too, simplistic anti-Hollywood screeds (he had one 'heroic' anecdote about yelling at a secretary who called wanting him to prepare copy or something for the Academy Awards), and a cult of personality sprung up through his fan letters- he doesn't strike me as the same kind of Truth-Telling Outsider..

That said, whatever his biases and personal tendencies, and however melodramatically he and Jost/Rappaport/etc. have behaved, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to envision an alternative version of events that's not as simple as Carney-the-deceiver victimizing the naive filmmaker..

[Mr Sausage]

That said, whatever his biases and personal tendencies, and however melodramatically he and Jost/Rappaport/etc. have behaved, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to envision an alternative version of events that's not as simple as Carney-the-deceiver victimizing the naive filmmaker.

Consistency tells you a lot. Whose account has remained consistent? Jost/Rappaport have been very consistent with each one of their charges. Ray Carney, on the other hand, has provided nothing but shifty, hazy, changing accounts of what happened. I know immediately who to trust, and it's not the person who alters their story bit by bit to keep consistent with the facts as they come out..

[albucat]

If Jost and Rappaport did indeed try to get him fired, that's contemptible. Frankly, folks on both sides of this debate are behaving like children.

I'm not really sure what people think Jost and Rappaport and their many supporter should do to actually get the films back at this point. Pretend that this isn't happening? Not become increasingly angry as time goes by and the films in Carney's hands? Not try to get the public on their side? Getting Carney fired seems like a last resort... but what other recourse do they eventually have? I put myself in Rappaport's place and, frankly, I'd do whatever I could at this point in the insanity to get my materials back. It's not like this is a situation that seems to be resolving itself, and the idea that this should be emotionless seems pretty ridiculous to me.

I'm also not very clear on how losing a job, when you could easily find employment at many other universities (as someone of Carney's stature, both despite and perhaps because of his infamy, could do) is as bad as large-scale robbery and repeatedly lying to a "friend." I guess I also don't understand how a person could feign that both sides are equally in the right here, so I'm not going to pretend I'm unbiased here.

[whaleallright]

...

[Perkins Cobb]

Then there's the problem of him having cobbled together his Cassavetes on Cassavetes from quotes unsourced, taken out of context, mashed together misleadingly, etc.

Are there any good sources that go into detail on this? (Does Marshall Fine's book challenge Carney's work directly?) I'll have to do some writing about Cassavetes soon and it'd help to have a map for the Carney minefield.

Yet another flaw in Carney's methodology is his creation of his own Cassavetes canon (as if the filmography weren't small enough to begin with), out of which he casts anything that smacks of commercial compromise. Arguably that makes sense with Big Trouble but it's problematic when it comes to Cassavetes's two studio films from the early 60s and the TV episodes he directed, all of which are really interesting. A case could be made that Too Late Blues is a better film than Minnie and Moskowitz or Opening Night, but I think Carney's marginalization of that early work has encouraged other critics to neglect it.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Yet another flaw in Carney's methodology is his creation of his own Cassavetes canon (as if the filmography weren't small enough to begin with), out of which he casts anything that smacks of commercial compromise. Arguably that makes sense with Big Trouble but it's problematic when it comes to Cassavetes's two studio films from the early 60s and the TV episodes he directed, all of which are really interesting. A case could be made that Too Late Blues is a better film than Minnie and Moskowitz or Opening Night, but I think Carney's marginalization of that early work has encouraged other critics to neglect it.

Cassavetes on Cassavetes actually speaks a great deal on Too Late Blues and A Child is Waiting and Carney speaks very positively about the Cassavetes directed episodes of Johnny Staccato. No matter where you're coming from, in terms of personal expression, freedom and the Cassavetes style of filmmaking, you can't really compare Too Late Blues (a compromised, but very good studio picture) with Minnie and Moskowitz and Opening Night (two masterpieces). If it's ignored, blame Cassavetes himself for speaking loudly throughout his career about how he tried playing the game in a Hollywood studio and was burned and jaded from the whole situation.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

That said, I think he deserves due process like anyone else caught in a controversy that is, of now, just volleys of hearsay.

Jost is taking this fight to the web and attempting to endanger Carney's academic reputation in part because of the former's doubts that the courts would find in favor of Rappaport, for a few reasons: 1) There was no written agreement at the outset; 2) the materials have been in Carney's possession for a few years without contest; and 3) Rappaport likely does not have the money to support a convincing lawsuit. It's Jost's belief (and mine, frankly) that "due process" will do nothing to restore those materials to Rappaport. You could say that Rappaport should be punished for his naiveté in lending his life's work without a document specifying the status of the transaction, or you could say that Carney should be punished for exploiting these lapses, knowing cynically that he has a stronger position in court. I agree with you that, aside from what Rappaport and Carney have chosen to publicize on the web, this is all hearsay, that we can only speculate, and that speculation is dangerous recourse, but I have equal doubts that due process will serve Rappaport without driving him deeper and deeper into debt. It shouldn't satisfy our consciences that this matter will wind up in the judicial system.

[whaleallright]

...

[Jon Jost]

Just a little new news:

There is some more news on this matter which I am not at liberty to reveal, but I can say, out of the horse's mouth, is an unsavory "deal" being offered. I await word of whatever is to transpire next.

[Michael Kerpan]

Rather lengthy article on this controversy in today's Boston Globe: http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/ ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(not sure how long link will stay alive).

[Jon Jost]

Yes, the Boston Globe has published an article on the Rappaport/Carney matter.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/st ... ments.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The above includes responses, including mine which notes some omissions in the article - like noting that Carney has committed perjury, and little things like that. I hope to find time soon to post another in the Chained Relations series covering this sad and absurd episode. As with the long item of defense which Carney posted some weeks ago, it seems the more he says, the deeper he digs the hole he insists on occupying. In the Globe article he now asserts he spent $40K to build a special place in his house to hold Rappaport's materials, a picture of which demonstrates it would readily fit under a modestly sized table. For details on that see http://cinemaelectronica.wordpress.com/ ... s-redux-9/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jon Jost]

IndieWire item on Carney/Rappaport case

http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-fi ... eaderPanel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carney now has new numbers and explanations for himself.

It is claimed he has led his students to reading Shakespeare; too bad Carney never learned anything from doing so: then he might let them know that "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" is actually from Sir Walter Scott. Not that it would evidently make any difference to Carney.

[Oedipax]

More Carnage.

http://cinemaelectronica.wordpress.com/ ... ations-10/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[perkizitore]

Someone must really put pressure to BU to fire Carney, that will teach him.

[colinr0380]

Mayor Poopenmayer: Professor Wernstrom, can you save my city?
Professor Ogden Wernstrom: Of course, but it'll cost you. First, I'll need tenure.
Mayor Poopenmayer: Done.
Professor Ogden Wernstrom: And a big research grant.
Mayor Poopenmayer: You got it.
Professor Ogden Wernstrom: Also, access to a lab, and five graduate students, at least three of them Chinese.
Mayor Poopenmayer: All right, done. What's your plan?
Professor Ogden Wernstrom: What plan? I'm set for life. Au revoir, suckers!
Leela: That rat! Do something!
Mayor Poopenmayer: I wish I could, but he's got tenure.