Dina M Wilks
Writer
Moments of Joy
Seeing and touching my first starfish - Malibu, CA
You're all grown up, your kids have flown the nest, you're educated, skills polished, and updated portfolio tucked under your arm, but you've forgotten one major detail - your wardrobe and your own personal style.
My first revelation about my own personal style, or lack there of, came in middle age, after a writer's throw down about a year after moving to Hollywood. A meeting of the minds for writers, a networking outlet in the industry, the throw down was more important than I ever imagined.
Sweeny Todd is not a hero. Americans thrive on heroes: Batman, Spiderman and Terminator all of these films have strong, delineated heroes. But as the success of National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets shows, Americans are turning to a more flawed hero, more complex characterizations than the traditional stereotypes, even Spiderman became a dark figure in its latest box office extravaganza. Sweeny Todd is a dark figure, tragically flawed, morphed by hate and revenge; his salvation is his love for his wife, his devotion to his daughter. We can relate to his tragedy.
In the tragic southern tradition of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, Gonna Lay Down My Burdens, is a richly layered literary novel. In a world of drugs and abuse, Lee, Kyle and Grady must carve out a life, but they have no life skills, having coped by creating their own world on the banks of the Trinity River since childhood.
My Philosophy on art is simple; it should provoke emotion and thought, then lead to discussion. It should soothe yet disturb on some level. It should pay homage to the past, yet inspire the future. True artists/writers have been given a great gift, and in having such a gift, comes a strong sense of responsibility, for often it is art that has changed the world by opening minds.
In 1907, Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian, experimented in use of linear movement and bright color mixes; oranges, violets, blues and reds. Known for breaking down his subject matter into it’s most basic forms, it’s not surprising that he and his colleagues founded a new art periodical De Stijl which fused the ideas of artists, sculptors and architects, as well as a new art movement by the same name a decade later.