"There must be real people"
July 29, 2016 2:31 AM   Subscribe

The Verge interviews Werner Herzog, a passionate German film maker with his own version of cynical seriousness. Topics discussed include the value of film schools by negating their value, the inherent violence of Pokémon Go and the role of technology in extreme situations [TW: rape, violence].
posted by katta (27 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Do they bite each others' hands?" Amusing read!
posted by eisforcool at 5:33 AM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


Now somebody needs to redo the David Attenborough Pokemon narration with Werner Herzog. I'm envisioning a documentary about a mentally-unstable guy who leaves his life behind and goes to the Kanto region to live among the wild Snorlaxes; the documentary ends with one of his sleepy friends using Body Slam on him, and it's super effective...
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:54 AM on July 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


That was a total bait and switch, only the interviewer was interested in talking about pokemon go.

It'd be cool to see an outsider take on the connected world, though I'm down on Herzog these days.
posted by subdee at 6:14 AM on July 29, 2016


In the same series - Orson Welles asked whether he can solve a Rubik's cube, Stanley Kubrick on trading pogs and Darren Aronofsky's favorite Beanie Baby
posted by Molesome at 6:42 AM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


Well maybe this is an appropriate place to share my annoyance at people describing Pokemon Go as "augmented reality". It's degrading the concept of augmented reality, if not of reality itself, to call it that. Using photoshop to insert pokemons into your real-life photographs is not augmenting reality, it's augmenting your photographs. Video taken on your phone is no more reality than is a still image. One can of course question the reality of vision itself, mediated as it is through glasses and eyeballs and nervous systems, but in any case the view through the tiny rectangle of a mobile phone display is a poor imitation of even that. It's no more augmented reality than previous pokemon games were virtual reality. It's less like augmented reality than would be, for example, listening to some recorded segments of Werner Herzog narration that play depending on what GPS reports as your location, like one of those museum audio guides.

Disclaimer: I have never played Pokémon Go and therefore have no idea what I'm talking about.
posted by sfenders at 6:44 AM on July 29, 2016


Video taken on your phone is no more reality than is a still image.

Here's the thing though: the pokemons are a shared reality between all players, bound to a specific point in space. They meet many of the criteria for an objective, real thing. You can only see them on your smartphone, but it's almost like that makes the smartphone into a microscope or telescope or some other instrument for measuring the normally invisible.
posted by dis_integration at 6:53 AM on July 29, 2016 [9 favorites]


I don't have the slightest idea if the world we experience in common is "reality" or not. What could I compare it to, to find out?
posted by thelonius at 7:27 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


Herzog has directed some of my favorite movies, and the reputation for grim, self-serious philosophizing is at least partially deserved. But the guy's also got a hilarious, self-effacing sense of humor, and he's more than willing to show up and make fun of his persona.

Article A: Werner Herzog appears on Rick and Morty

Article B: Werner Herzog appears on Parks & Rec

Article C: Werner Herzog appears on American Dad (somehow this one is my favorite. that whole episode is over the top, and his closing narration at the end -- totally out of the blue -- made me lose it)

Article D: Werner Herzog appears on The Boondocks

Oh, and he's also willing to totally turn heel in a schlocky Tom Cruise action movie
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 7:33 AM on July 29, 2016 [10 favorites]


I met Werner Herzog once, in the break room of the firm I worked for at the time. He was having trouble with the vending machine.

Europe and LA were two places where, at the time, Shoes Mattered. I can tell you that Herzog did not give a damn about his shoes at all.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:08 AM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


Herzog might not give a damn about how his shoes look, but I bet he cares a lot about how they taste
posted by oulipian at 8:30 AM on July 29, 2016 [8 favorites]


VMPV, you forgot Article E: Directing Nicolas Cage in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans, the colon-happy non-sequel/non-remake to a 1992 movie that Herzog famously claimed never to have seen or heard of.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:47 AM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


I challenge anyone to read the phrase "the inherent violence of Pokémon Go" and not do so in Herzog's voice.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:48 AM on July 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's less like augmented reality than would be, for example, listening to some recorded segments of Werner Herzog narration that play depending on what GPS reports as your location, like one of those museum audio guides.

Tell me this app exists.
posted by praemunire at 8:50 AM on July 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


From the article: " Who would trust someone who didn't grow up dazzled by Star Wars or Spielberg to teach filmmaking?"

I'm sorry, author, how old do you think Herzog is?
posted by humboldt32 at 8:52 AM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


In the same series

hitchcock is presented with a tamagochi
posted by poffin boffin at 9:15 AM on July 29, 2016


I'm sorry, author, how old do you think Herzog is?

Age? I'm sorry, but time, with its delusion of progress, means nothing to Herzog. Whenever people have silently screamed at the nightmarish chaos of life, there has been Herzog.
posted by happyroach at 9:30 AM on July 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


And what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the Bulbasaurs that I ever caught, I discover no valor, no instinct, no mysticism. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of Pokémon. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in Razz Berries.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:32 AM on July 29, 2016 [13 favorites]


Bad Lieutenant is unironically one of my favorite movies ever.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 9:42 AM on July 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


It's less like augmented reality than would be, for example, listening to some recorded segments of Werner Herzog narration that play depending on what GPS reports as your location, like one of those museum audio guides.

Tell me this app exists.


The Playful Systems group at the MIT Media Lab is doing stuff like this. Inspired by Janet Cardiff's audio walks, they're developing really interesting narrative AR audioscapes. So for example, you can go to a museum, walk around, and stop off to a listen to an invisible tour guide talk about the art. But then you might hear a couple whisper-fighting in the back of the group, and if you want, you can follow them as they break off and eavesdrop on them. The directions you walk influence the development of the stories, and the stories also get updated based on whatever information they can cull from the supercomputer in your pocket: the day of the week might determine what's open, if it's raining outside people might complain about it, etc. It's like an invisible Sleep No More. I'm pretty excited about it.
posted by painquale at 10:17 AM on July 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


I could listen to Herzog read from the phonebook, and read his thoughts on pretty much any subject. His pressing questions about the level of real-life violence in Pokémon Go gave me a much-needed chuckle.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 10:39 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


I could listen to Herzog read from the phonebook

Yah.

One of my many, many "I thought of it before someone else made millions of dollars on it" ideas, years ago, was talking car GPS units that featured the voices of people from popular culture (movies, TV, Presidents, comedians). Tom Cruise, Bill Clinton, Judy Greer, Bobcat Goldthwait, etc.

Warner Herzog would be my #1 choice.

Just imagine it.
posted by sidereal at 10:59 AM on July 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


There were two fiction films by Herzog that came out in 2009. Bad Lieutenant is a glorious masterpiece, but My Son My Son What Have Ye Done is also worth checking out.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:03 PM on July 29, 2016


Warner Herzog would be my #1 choice.

Do you really think people operating a ton or so of metal hurtling down the highway should suddenly realize the futility of existence?
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:07 PM on July 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


For anyone hankering for a Herzog-narrated GPS, see Meatbomb's amazing comment from a few years back.
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:40 PM on July 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Was it the movie or the making of Fitzcarraldo where Kinski fought Herzog over a Blastoise?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:56 PM on July 29, 2016


katta, thank you for posting this, I've just found out Herzog runs an online masterclass! Here's a free 1.5 hour class, while this is the "full" masterclass which costs 90$ for 6 hours of content. I'm tempted to abandon everything, take this class, and go make a documentary...!

---

In case anyone is curious, custom voices for GPS are/have been a thing, see this past example with Colbert as your guide.
posted by vert canard at 1:12 PM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]




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