by coincidence i picked up a copy of the book accompanying the Victoria and Albert show of Arbus’s work that is up now in London… you all over there should check it out, i certainly would if i were there… coincidence being this weird ass film about Abus starring Nicloe Kidman that is out about now… i have nothing too much about fantasies portraying real peoples lives but Arbus is still quite an enigmatic hidden figure and for her to be ‘introduced’ to the mainstream in this fashion just feels wrong to me… i checked out the Fur the movie site and the most bothersome thing to me in the synopsis of the film is the usual portrayal of a powerful female as a tentative uncertain almost victim… the difference between my personal vision of her and the one described is extreme to say the least… as in the Francis Farmer film that ran some years ago we have an imaginary male character spurring the female protagonist on, creating and inventing her, this underlining the same standard dumb concept of the woman being incapable of action without the dude to point the way… “much as an actual Arbus photo transports us into strange and unfamiliar worlds” says the movie’s hype sheet; again from my way of seeing really off base as her photos showed us glimpses of our very familiar mundane world with totally unique insight and vision, i would always see one of her images and be amazed at seeing something familiar from another alien angle again i would urge any of you in the UK to see the real deal, the V&A site is at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1355_diane_arbus/index.php its apparently only up through January… what is the point here? why must we have history glossed over and made into something its not… i cant go too far in complaining about this particular film here, it just seems completly crazy, her ‘real’ life is/was amazing enough… as a lifelong fan of her work and as a photographer i just think she didnt deserve such a cheap shot, leave it to hollywood again merry Xmas