Chumblog

Chumbacca is a Shrimp

Some fish are fast, some fish are slow. Chumbacca, who's never read Moby Dick, is a shrimp. Should I try to explain?

In retrospect, Pygmalion was a bit depressing. I mean — it wasn't then and it's not like memories of it have gotten bitter. I still like all the people involved. But coming back to this after two months of doing other work, I begin to see more clearly why Chumbacca couldn't fit the current (and possibly perennial) partitions of the Entertainment Industry drive.

I have successfully worked against institutional and/or corporate consensus before, so I thought that could still be the right approach, but here's the difference: I knew what I was doing in those previous instances, whereas with Chumbacca, the key is not to know what you're doing. Chumbacca needs friends.

Another thing: Chumbacca's strength is in the margins. You're doing something else and Chumbacca happens to be there. Because he (obviously) can't substantiate his claims to fame, as soon as you direct the spotlight to him, all meaning is gone. This calls for a serious re-thinking of the process by which the commissions are assigned. "Works about Chumbacca" was a mistake. It's Chumbacca who needs to make the rules. He will.

We need more time. I'll be busy until the end of the month. Then we are all (Chumbacca included) going to London for the Holidays. Then I need to work on a script until at least February. There will be news by then.

Posted by huili at December 8, 2004 02:13 AM