Video Essay: 'Americana on the Road to Paris, Texas'| FILMADRID & MUBI: The Video Essay

Video essay by Catherine Norton Selected for "The Video Essay," a section at FILMADRID Festival Internacional de Cine presented in collaboration with MUBI.

"Americana on the Road to Paris Texas" by Catherine Norton.
Americana on the Road to Paris, Texas, looks at the influences American culture, politics and imperialism had on the world as a whole through nostalgia, with a focus on Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (1984) which embodies Americana and the culture surrounding American ideals such as ‘the American Dream’.

The Video Essay is a joint project of MUBI and FILMADRID International Film Festival. Film analysis and criticism found a completely new and innovative path with the arrival of the video essay, a relatively recent form that has already its own masters and is becoming increasingly popular. The limits of this discipline are constantly expanding; new essayists are finding innovative ways to study the history of cinema working with images. With this non-competitive section of the festival both MUBI and FILMADRID will offer the platform and visibility the video essay deserves. The seven selected works will be shown from the 7th till the 13th of June 2021 on MUBI's cinema publication, the Notebook. The selection was made by the programmers of MUBI and FILMADRID.

[tfarrell]

Thanks, Catherine. Your essay is beautifully done. I played the Screaming Man in Wim's film.

[andrewpanebianco]

"Nostalgia for something that isn't real" is a perfect encapsulation of America.

This was great. :)

[Kedarreal]

Loved the review, this videos needs to be famous

[frecklesandgingerella]

Absolutely brilliant 👏🏻👏🏻 I’ve grown up in Australia and never been to Palm Springs or America but like you as a 90s kid growing up on American cartoons, sitcoms, music and movies, everyone loved “maccas” where you get your Big Mac, fries and cola and a Disney toy for the kids once a week as a reward and as Australia is spread out and very vast, everyone would go on road trips with the neon fast food signs the only real landmarks that you are approaching another town apart from the BIG THINGS - the super kitsch giant sculptures like “the big banana” or the “giant prawn” which little towns make themselves and use as a reason for tourists to stop to use the toilet, stretch their legs and take photos with the people in the car of their road trip with dorky souvenirs and icecream or giant coke in hand. Summers at the beach, surfing and bbqs are also the mainstays of Australian culture we hold very very dear . the US culture was/is OUR national culture despite us being a tiny country of 20 million the other side of the world near Antartica, we also have the main events in US politics and celebrity gossip on our news more so than what’s going on in our own political sphere which is rather scary especially when George Bush said we were “their deputy” and our conservative PM gladly put his hand up on the first day America announced it was going to invade Iraq like giggly excited to show how much we can prove the US meant to us despite myself being about 13 at the time and skipping school to protest with 500, 000 other ordinary Australians in Sydney and the belief that we live in a democracy and “power to the people” would prevail - which is also a scary myth we live with because Australians don’t have a bill of rights or any enshrined humans rights in our constitution apart from common law so our “freedoms” can be taken away in an instant but nobody believes this will happen as we have all grown up with tv and movie characters having to “recite the bill of rights” or “the right to remain silent” “plead the 5th” etc if Australians get arrested, thousands of Australians also call “911” instead of “000” because when you are panicked in an emergency your brain reaches for that nostalgia and safety too so your brain recalls all the tv characters yelling “quick call 911!!”
We think we are like number 2 or 3 in power in the world where we are so tiny you can travel to any country and tell someone you are “Australian” and 99% of them say “oh! Do you ride kangaroos down the street to work?!” “Ahh so scary with all the snakes and sharks!” And always “ throw another shrimp on the barbie / you call that a knife?!” Which are quotes from Crocodiledundee the big 80s movie about an “true blue” Steve Irwin type that goes to America and looks like a fish out of water - but thrives - because he also grew up on American nostalgia, that quote is really hard for aussies to hear because the most famous line “ shrimp on the barbie” is not something aussies would ever say as we have PRAWNS and we get very defensive - thanks to road trips every year just like this - to the giant prawn!! 🙌🏻
I didn’t mean to write an essay myself I just absolutely adore this film
I am obsessed with the 60s, look like Jon Hamms secretary wife, saved up all my pennies to save a 60s original mid century house - because it looks like it belongs in Palm Springs and I even sew novelty print dresses as a job that pays homage to kitschy Route 66 / Palm Springs things and last 12+ years I’ve pretty much been super super obsessed with Lana Del Rey feeling like we are the same person thanks to her storytelling and aesthetic videos

Fun fact! I rewatched this movie when season 3 of Narcos came out and I was obsessed with Pedro Pascal - as I felt his character was so so depressed and hurting inside and I was really really happy he got to visit his dad a Hispanic man in a cowboy hat and they went to a local party where everyone was wearing tight Levi’s like agent Peña, wearing cowboy hats and he saw his childhood sweetheart he was hoping to start his new life with you could tell when he finally got away from Colombia but she was married with kids and then his sadness just kept getting bigger and bigger and it was all about him being disillusioned with the CIA/ DEA and being promoted into a system he absolutely hates because it’s not about catching bad guys
And there is even a new “love interest” he flirts with at the bar who is EXACTLY the mirror image of the blonde curly haired mum but she hates him and he ends up alone - and I can’t be the only one that didn’t get this connection to Narcos and Paris Texas right?!! I was so so sad that Agent Peña would kill himself and I would self soothe by listening to Lana to get to sleep - absolute madness!!

The fact Lana then released a song called Paris Texas that uses the montage film perfectly at a time Pedro Pascal is hollywoods leading man is also the biggest mind f$&k to me!!
Insta is @frecklesandgingerella if you want to see all these influences have shaped my life 🤣🤣

[joemobbslolz]

beautiful video about a beautiful film, you really articulated the same feelings i had growing up but could never quite put into words, a longing for a time i never lived in a culture i'll never know

[shortminute]

Thanks for the essay. Yes there’s nostalgia, and it’s dealt with in the film but this film has more to it.

Family, extended family, the influence of cinema and advertising on family.

Old country and new country, nature and city.

How we communicate between family members and the audience.

I teach in post secondary and nostalgia is a boogeyman word / concept to deride a shared past. To remind the audience that reality is more “visceral” and “raw” than our longing for something dream up by corporate advertisers… and so on and so on.

Yes this film critiques nostalgia but there’s so much more to it.

[stephenkeen]

Fantastic video. Thanks. It really helps me understand the film more. I'll pay more attention to the colour next time. ❤

[HAMTV]

I love this video, very well done, she should do more video essays.

[luishernandez-hsks]

What a garbage analysis of the greatest country to ever exist in all of history. The older i get the more nostalgic i get about my grandfather who used to say "You have to be highly educated to be that stupid".