[2 articles]
The World of Buckminster Fuller
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/43555/world-of-buckminster-fuller-the/
by Nick Hartel
May 3, 2010
THE PROGRAM
To say "The World of Buckminster Fuller" was a crushing
disappointment is a vast understatement. I first heard of the man,
during my undergraduate studies in chemistry. In the field, a C60
molecule is called a Buckminsterfullerene (or informally,
Buckyballs), due to it's striking appearance to the geodesic domes
created by Fuller. His name stuck in the back of my mind for years,
and one a handful of occasions, I looked up information about him
online, never fully learning much about the man. What I did find, was
Fuller was an absolute genius, decades ahead of his time (and still
ahead of our own) in the field of design. He sought not only to
revolutionize how we live, but also how we view our own existence.
The one constant that did pop up, whenever I decided to read up on
Fuller, was the existence of a 1971 documentary, "The World of
Buckminster Fuller." Clips online showed Fuller, in the flesh
relaying his thoughts on life, science, and design. When the chance
to review the documentary on DVD, there was no hesitation.
Robert Snyder must be commended for taking a huge risk in their
approach to creating a documentary on this remarkable man. For the
documentary's 80-minute length, with the notable exception of footage
featuring Indira Gandhi introducing Fuller to a crowd, Fuller is
controlling where the documentary goes. There's no visible or
invisible narrator providing segues, nor is there anyone to ask
questions of Fuller. He's left to his own devices to discuss what are
obviously, topics that greatly interest him. He's enthusiastic, but
ultimately very rambling. When he's discussing his radical designs,
including a car that got 22mpg and could, almost literally, turn on a
dime, all decades before such automobiles existed, he's captivating.
It's a rare glimpse into the mind and thought process of a genius.
Fuller discuses his approach to design, which he calls dymaxion, a
portmanteau of dynamic and maximum, which he applies this theory to
automobiles, housing, maps, and ultimately life. Fuller is quite
convinced he has elegant solutions to the problems of humanity, and
there are times when he convinces me of some of his solutions. Other
times, his ideas are still brilliant, but ultimately flawed in common
sense. He mentions that scientists spend their times and efforts
making weapons better, but leave common necessities such as plumbing
untouched. Fuller then shows his design for a revamp of the household
bathroom; like I said, it's a noble theory, but plumbing strikes me
as something that has worked for years, and such a radical change in
design completely ignores the time and effort of retraining all
plumbers to work with these new innovations.
Ultimately, I am not a genius, and to criticize Fuller's ideas is
arguably misguided, but I highly doubt "The World of Buckminster
Fuller" was made solely for those on the same intellectual level of
Fuller; that group would be a very tiny party. What viewers are left
with, when Fuller delves into his more abstract thought, discussing
life and human nature, is an itchy head. Snyder's approach to
filmmaking just doesn't work for Fuller; he cries out for wrangling
and re-direction that the noble job of editing performed here just
can't provide. While some of these moments are still insightful, most
memorably Fuller, providing a rare moment of reflection of a deceased
child and how he feels all children are born with genius potential,
many jump all over the pace in terms of focus. Fuller's mind is
obviously working faster than his mouth can translate and the longer
Snyder leaves the camera on Fuller to deliver a stream of
consciousness (15-minutes by my watch at one point), the more it does
to undermine Fuller's genius and portray him as a scatterbrained madman.
Ultimately what I was looking for and likely many others, was a more
standard documentary on the life of Fuller. What of his early years?
What of his experiments with "dymaxion sleep" which Fuller claimed to
have survived and functioned normally on two hours of sleep a night
for two years? These questions will only be further raised when we
see footage of a dome in Montreal similar to his most famous geodesic
dome creation at Epcot Center, but learn nothing more of it. I
suppose Snyder feels we've learned all we need to know about it,
through Fuller's discussion of the domes earlier in the film, but
this just doesn't cut it for me. I'm very mixed on my feelings for
this documentary; on one hand I'm very glad to hold in my hands, the
raw thoughts of a true genius, but ultimately disappointed at how
unfocused the presentation was; if I had the time and energy, perhaps
a re-viewing would bring new light to Fuller's words, but that's
merely hopeful speculation. Too often Fuller strayed from a new
thought to rehash an old tangent; to repeat myself, Snyder deserves
great commendation for taking a risk, but in the end, prevent the
program from being viewed as merely average overall.
--
THE DVD
The Video
The 1.33:1 original aspect ratio transfer was quite strong for a
nearly 40-year-old documentary shot on 8mm film. Snyder don't appear
to have used any external lighting, so color and contrast vary from
shot to shot. It's never a highly aesthetically pleasing
presentation, despite how well filmed the entire project is. Grain
levels appear natural and fortunately the transfer to DVD is free of
compression artifacts.
The Audio
The 2.0 English audio track is perfectly serviceable; Fuller's voice
has a bit of distortion to it and the overall quality largely depends
on where the filming took place, at times, it's takes a bit more
focus to follow what he's saying. Subtitles would have been greatly
appreciated but are nowhere to be found.
The Extras
The lone extra is 15-minute short film titled "Modeling the Universe"
by Jaime Snyder. It's similar to the feature presentation and
utilizes some of the same footage and narration. The most fascinating
aspect of it, isn't Fuller, specifically but the footage of various
object found on Earth, that exhibit the patterns of design discussed
by Fuller.
Final Thoughts
For those wanting a deeper look at Buckminster Fuller, this program
will not answer your questions. You'll get the man, largely
unfiltered, with all his strengths and weaknesses on display. His
ideas are likely to be polarizing at times, but as a man still ahead
of his time, they should be appreciated for their daring and innovate
nature. The ultimate sin of the filmmakers is not following the
dymaxion ideal of Fuller himself. Rent It.
--------
Buckminster Fuller's Dome Home in Carbondale, IL opens to the public:
Soon to be museum
http://www.examiner.com/x-43100-Buckminster-Fuller-Examiner~y2010m5d4-Buckminster-Fullers-Dome-Home-in-Carbondale-IL-opens-to-the-public-Soon-to-be-museum
May 4, 2010
The only dome home that Buckminster Fuller ever own was recently
opened to the public after years of restoration as part of the Fuller
Dome Transformation Initiative event. The 1,200 square foot,
40-foot-diameter dome in the college town of Carbondale, Illinois has
two bathrooms, a kitchen, one bedroom, a living room and the somewhat
famous circular balcony library.
Brent Ritzel is president of the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome
Not-For-Profit board that is administering the project. Commenting on
the project, he said that the project has done its best to restore
Bucky's dome home as realistically as possible.
Ritzel also said,
"We really can put it back to the original condition, the original
look and style. Ultimately, what this place is intended to be is a
living museum, a dome where artists or visiting dignitaries can
actually stay as if it was a bed and breakfast, which would make it a
very special museum."
"I've had people tell me they've stayed in domes for a while and
they feel a sort of higher state of consciousness. Bucky was kind of
touching on that; he tried to keep everything grounded and technical,
yet he didn't reject the metaphysical."
May we all come to live out our dreams in our dream homes. And may
Bucky's dream of a world that works for everyone soon come to fruition.
.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Sixties-L" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
