tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843701027361292996.post1981919111865838787..comments2018-11-27T20:37:15.611-08:00Comments on The Situation: An Early Mentor's Passing LamentedstEnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03779624344364534059noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843701027361292996.post-91087252394398432972016-08-14T22:07:08.513-07:002016-08-14T22:07:08.513-07:00I was glad to find this while searching "John...I was glad to find this while searching "John Bigby," but also very sorry to hear of his passing, and at such an early age.<br /><br />I was so inspired by John's classes that after graduating SRJC I went on to get a B.A. in theater arts with a film emphasis at UCSC.<br /><br />I remember John dressing up to introduce a series of films. His introductions were wonderful oratory, weaving together lots of disparate ideas in a really entertaining and educational way. There were a bunch of movies about trains. He loved trains and film. He said film running through a projector is a lot like a train in many ways.<br /><br />He showed us films that you just never ever see anywhere else: "Oh Dem Watermelons" by Robert Nelson and "Mothlight" by Stan Brakhage really stood out. The first for its bold polemical attack on the subject of race and the second for introducing me to the concept of non-narrative film.<br /><br />Most of my teachers at SRJC were very aloof, but John was always friendly and tried to draw us out. It's true that he treated us like adults when we weren't really adults yet.<br /><br />I avoided going into the film industry, but I'm a voracious movie watcher. I get asked to do small film projects from time to time. lately I've taken a huge tangent into still photography, but my love of cinema informs my work to a great degree. <br /><br />I always loved film, but it was John who taught me the power of film and expanded my knowledge of what film could be, beyond what was playing at the theaters or on TV. I started seeking out more and more adventure. The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma played a lot of very alternative art house cinema at the time. I really sunk my teeth into that. <br /><br />Isn't it amazing I was thinking about John and ran across this blog tonight? Thank you for providing a place to remember him.Dream Unfoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05451167891963398180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843701027361292996.post-33563564662531218152015-10-06T10:44:43.600-07:002015-10-06T10:44:43.600-07:00Thanks, Stevey!
Nice to know someone else remembe...Thanks, Stevey!<br /><br />Nice to know someone else remembers. I'd like to think most people who came through his world gained so much appreciation for cinema. I started the whole thing as something of a film snob. Watching all the Janus films on rainy Saturdays with my parents and being exposed to movies like The Seventh Seal & Yojimbo before I hit puberty. <br /><br />Seeing films like Two-Lane Blacktop (which I would have dismissed as a crappy exploitation movie before I took his classes) dramatically changed my worldview of cinema. And while I still fondly remember all the classes I took, I am jealous of your exposure through him to Truffaut. I can only imagine what that would have been like.<br /><br />He will be missed. He made cinema magical to me.stEnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03779624344364534059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843701027361292996.post-51704049752411847172015-10-05T23:40:13.954-07:002015-10-05T23:40:13.954-07:00I attended several of John Bigby's film classe...I attended several of John Bigby's film classes at SRJC in the very late 1970s and early 1980s. I am so very sorry to hear that he left us still young and so long ago. After reading your account, I cannot do better at summarizing his classes and their effect on young and old minds. I now share the same critical but accepting eye as you when viewing film. All due to John and my many hours spent at his New Bijou Theatre? at SRJC. I have turned my 19-yr old daughter on to a lot of what I absorbed in John's film classes and she always looks at me funny after we watch a film and asks me.. papa, why do you see that and where did you learn that? If I could only reach into his current dimension and thank him for how he enriched our lives.. Anyway, some favorite Bigby film class themes I enjoyed were Hitchcock and the films on the film industry that included a palette teaser of Erich von Stroheim!!... there was also one other notable and enjoyable theme on François Truffaut... I think I completed at least 4 of his classes just to be blinded by his overview of the industry and film as an art, but also to take the edge off my calculus and physics classes. LOL....I am so thankful to have experienced him and his classes during my tenure at SRJC.. RIP John Bigby... stevey, Los Alamos NM 10/5/2015Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09833605640318810811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843701027361292996.post-59868187407036901002015-10-05T22:58:05.736-07:002015-10-05T22:58:05.736-07:00I attended several of John Bigby's film classe...I attended several of John Bigby's film classes at SRJC in the very late 1970s and early 1980s. I am so very sorry to hear that he left us still young and so long ago. After reading your account, I cannot do better at summarizing his classes and their effect on young and old minds. I now share the same critical but accepting eye as you when viewing film. All due to John and my many hours spent at his New Bijou Theatre? at SRJC. I have turned on my 19-yr old daughter to a lot of what I absorbed in John's film classes and she always looks at me funny after we watch a film and asks me.. papa, why do you see that and where did you learn that? If I could only reach into his current dimension and thank him for how he enriched our lives.. Anyway, some favorite Bigby film class themes I enjoyed were Hitchcock and the films on the film industry that included a palette teaser of Erich von Stroheim!!... there was also one other notable and enjoyable theme on François Truffaut... I think I completed at least 4 of his classes just to be blinded by his overview of the industry and film as an art, but also to take the edge off my calculus and physics classes. LOL....I am so thankful to have experienced him and his classes during my tenure at SRJC.. RIP John Bigby... stevey, Los Alamos NM 10/5/2015Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09833605640318810811noreply@blogger.com