How “The New Yorker’s” Richard Brody Misses the Point

In just 2 days, I get to go watch “A Complete Unknown”, a movie I have anxiously awaited for weeks. I purchased tickets online the first day that I could. With that said, I hope the movie doesn’t disappoint.

Here’s the thing……

It’s a shortened, romanticized excerpt in the long, fantastic career of folk artist Bob Dylan who I have channeled for years in my own “unknown” life in Central Texas. How possibly could a small town Texas girl ever truly “get” the bigger essence that is Bob Dylan? Or the rebellious music scene in New York years before she was even born?

Here’s the thing……

Music (an extension of literature) is interpretive. This means that each person who encounters it will do so through his / her own lens (perspective). This is one of the main reasons that English class in school is difficult for so many. The biopic “A Complete Unknown” is one producer’s vision (perspective) of Dylan’s life. It is not the movie’s job to somehow cram all the “truth” into a movie designed to make money.

Richard Brody’s editorial review of the movie and of all that it lacks is his opinion, just as this rant of mine is my opinion. I have been a supporter / reader of “The New Yorker” for years. The journalist in me has always sought out perspectives different from those of Central Texas to help me further my deeper understanding of the world around me.

Maybe I’m putting too much “hope” into this short little biopic. I feel that viewers who grew up during the 60s and those of us in Gen X who were born at the height of the chaos, will find some connections to what Bob Dylan is trying to say in his music and in his life. The movie is not supposed to be “the truth”, all encompassing, because the fluidity of history, of life itself, is that every person gets to interpret it through his / her unique lens. I hope that viewers will be intrigued enough to dig deeper, to find the bigger stories that the movie so obviously “evades and elides”.

Here’s the thing……

Even if the movie sought to actually include every “important” detail for one movie critic, it would not mean that viewer actually experienced the same truths as that movie critic. Again, this is what makes English class so difficult.

Since my mantra is “find the solution instead of making the complaint”, here’s a very quick solution for Richard Brody. Don’t criticize the movie’s fault in “cramming 4 years” into a short biopic. Instead, outline in bullet points what you think the highlights should have been.

By the way, I just looked up Richard Brody, and I feel a bit like David.

I fully intend to return here to post my own movie review since I have hurled my little stone.

Mitchells in the Revolutionary War

The next line I tackled was the Mitchell family. My great grandmother was Artha B Mitchell (1883 - 1977). I can barely remember her. I was ten years old when she died. She was the daughter of Francis Marion Mitchell (1855 - 1904). It is Francis's grandfather, Andrew Mitchell, Jr. (1760 - 1824) who served in the Revolutionary War. It is truly a story worthy of legend. Andrew was one of 3 sons born to Irish immigrants Andrew and Mary (McGowan) Mitchell. The young family came to the colonies in 1752. They began their journey in a Scottish - Irish community in Eastern Pennsylvania before migrating to Orange County, North Carolina. Besides the boys, Andrew and Mary had 2 daughters, Margaret and Nancy. At the time of the Revolution, my 5th great grandfather, Andrew, Jr was just starting his family. He had married Mary Tate in 1781. He was in service but took furlough to be with his ill wife. This informa...

Revolutionary War beginnigns

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