3 quotes from Orson Welles

Fact Checked

Under review

What could Orson Welles have done if he had had creative freedom to unleash his genius? We will never know, but we will always have his mythical phrases left, echoes of a tortured soul full of talent.

Before making one of the best films in the history of cinema, Welles had already dazzled with a famous radio program capable of scaring all the inhabitants of the United States, who believed that their country was being invaded by Martians.

At only 25 years old, Welles made Citizen Kane. It was 1941 when this work was premiered, as misunderstood in its day as it was revered over the years. A film that reflected all the talent of a true genius of nature to direct cinema.

However, as Welles himself once said, He had to spend 98% of his life fighting with business people who had the money. His true talent, his passion, which was directing films, was overshadowed by a certain lack of understanding at the time.

Few trusted him because his work was not understood by the public. mainstreamand, as such, received little success at the box office, which led him to die without much money in his pocket and many ideas that he could not project on the big screen.

Welles was a force of nature. A tortured and misunderstood mind that perhaps was ahead of his time, or perhaps there will never be a time for someone like him.

The best phrases of Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ phrases reflect his peculiar and powerful personality. Faithful follower and reader of William Shakespeare, Welles not only had talent, he was also capable of discovering, adapting and enhancing it.. In fact, their versions of Macbeth (1947) and Othello (1952) were surprising. Let’s get to know him a little better.

Read Also: Do you know how to ask for forgiveness?

Loneliness

“We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the momentary illusion that we are not alone.”

A clear example of what has been stated so far. For Welles, Loneliness is the palpable reality of every human being.. Friendship and love take us out of that loneliness, but they are momentary.

Maybe it’s a very negative and dark view of the world. However, based on what we know of Welles’s life, the misunderstanding he suffered and the multiple rejectionsit seems logical to think that his mind would reach a conclusion of this type.

Human contradictions

“I hate television the same way I hate peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts.”

Many in their day believed that television would end cinemas. Over the years it has been discovered that both options were not only compatible, but also complementary.

Even so, many movie people still don’t watch movies on television very well. They consider the experience of going to the room, the darkness, the big screen important… This has been stated by directors such as Martin Scorsese or David Lynch.

Welles shows in this sentence his love-hate feeling towards television. It is a medium that he does not want, as he prefers cinema, although no matter how much he resists, he does not have the ability to stop watching television. One more of the many contradictions that marked his life.

Editorial credit: Hayk_Shalunts / Shutterstock.com

Art and censorship

“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”

The famous Spanish director, Luis García Berlanga, commented on more than once how The censorship of the dictatorship in Spain forced him to sharpen his ingenuity to pass the inspectors’ evaluation. The aim was to overcome this obstacle without giving up criticism of the established regime and its consequences. In many cases, more than saying, it was a matter of insinuating.

Read Also: Forensic neuropsychology: definition, objectives and fields of application

Welles had a way of seeing art similar to Berlanga’s. Both considered that compromising situations sharpened ingenuity. Thus, while the Spanish director was forced to look for ways of expression that would allow him to say certain things without it being noticeable at first glance, the American director had to do something similar, but in his case, fighting against producers, lack of financing , limited means, etc.

It is true that, in its origins, Welles had high budgets for filming. However, his constant box office failures forced him to look for new narrative methods to shape his messages without having the desired or required means. This may have been the way Orson Welles He came to the conclusion that art with limitations ends up producing great works.. Creations that, without those limitations, would not have that ingenuity, and ultimately, that value.

By reading these phrases by Orson Welles we can better understand a brilliant mind, but also a tortured one.. A man who stood up to the powerful, but who did not always come out well. However, he left a wonderful legacy that we can continue to enjoy today.