Fran and Fern
I watched via YouTube a behind-the-scenes of the movie Nomadland (see my review, https://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/2021/02/nomadland-review.html). Readers of this blog, both of you, are aware that I like to explore the fuzzy edges of meta fiction. Nomadland is a perfect example of this genre.
Ahh-ha, of course, Fran and Fern, just a casual rearrangement of a name. In this short clip Frances McDormand pointed out instances where she blended real-life details with her character. Such as when she is explaining to Linda May the significance of her plates, the pattern Autumn Leaf, This is all real stuff—which is why the movie resonates so much with all of us, even if we don’t live in a van. We realize we are one degree away from slipping sideways.
Fern/Fran describes how her father gifted her with the tableware, collecting them randomly at yard sales. It references a hard-scrabble background, yet one filled with love and attention. There were people in her past who cared for her, and these fragile plates were her link to them. Small tangible memories she didn’t want to lose—or let go of, hence, the old fishing tackle box that had once belonged to her husband, now retrofitted in her van to hold one solitary place setting.
I’m looking forward to more films that delve into the murky
world of meta, Tom Hanks playing Tom Hanks in Australia when he discovers he
has tested positive for Covid-19—and the world changed. I think there are all
moments in everyone’s life film-worthy. In the past we have fantasized which
movie star would play us, now imagine you acting out your best/worst/tragic episodes
once more. How would they be reconstructed?
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