Bunuel

Oct. 28th, 2007 08:01 pm
porphyry: (Default)
[personal profile] porphyry
I’ve been instructed to post these anecdotes so that someone can refer to them here and read them whenever she wants.

1. When Bunuel was in college (he studied entomology) he would frequently ride the public streetcars dressed as a nun. Tarted up this way (if that is the right expression), it amused him to feel up strange men.

2. During the civil war Bunuel acted as a courier between certain officials in Barcelona and the Soviet embassy in Switzerland. In this capacity he frequently had to drive across the Franco-Catalan border, where the checkpoints were sometimes controlled by Anarchist troops. They would often harass those who had papers issued by the Communist government, rather than their own party. On one occasion, Bunuel grew tired of this and when asked for his papers he simply said, “I shit on God!” and was let past without further incident.

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Date: 2007-10-29 03:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stefanie-bean.livejournal.com
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence before there even were any!

Date: 2007-10-29 12:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] malkhos.livejournal.com
As a lifelong Roman Catholic, I shouldn't find such blasphemies hilarious, but I do.

Date: 2007-10-29 03:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petrusplancius.livejournal.com
One wonders whether it's actually true, though, or whether this was just something that the old rogue thought that he ought to have done when dreaming in later years over his dry Martini.

Date: 2007-10-30 01:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] malkhos.livejournal.com
True. One thing he was famous for saying, though, in his dotage, was, "Thank God, I'm still an atheist." He was asked about that so many times he grew weary of it.

What interests me about his non-theological theology, though, is that while he maintained spirituality is an important component of being human, he didn't approve of the guilt it inculcated. I assume he was speaking in particular of Roman Catholicism, a religion which has raised making one guilt-ridden to an art form. What good is religion, then, if it doesn't attempt to tell you: "Here are your ethics by which to live a good life. In order to lead a good life, you should do this and this and this; and if you do the opposite, you should at least have enough conscience to feel guilty about it."

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