When Emmy award winning PBS ie Public
Broadcasting Service producer
Robyn Symon
accepted my request for an
interview,
I told her I wouldn't be bringing a tape recorder, and neither
would I be taking notes. Rather, what I had in mind was to just
be with her, let whatever was going to happen happen,
then transcribe and share the experience on the
internet.
I knew there would be many reviewers and critics, for better or for
worse, of her new film
Transformation:
The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard. So I didn't see writing a
review or a critique of her film as the opportunity at hand. As it
turns out, I eventually did write a review of her film for which
she set up a private screening for me. But the prospect of doing
that wasn't my purpose in flying to meet with her for a few hours,
and then turning around and flying right back again. It was to get
to know who
Robyn Symon
is. Who is this relatively late comer to
Conversations For
Transformation,
this at first skeptical (as I had heard) late comer
who has out of nowhere created what some, fans and begrudging
naysayers alike, are now calling "the best thing done on Werner
- ever"? Who is
Robyn Symon
like a possibility? Would her
exposé be like the evening news: simply a
conduit for historical fact? (and biased historical
fact, at that). Or could her work actually impart the
possibility of transformation,
the work of
Werner Erhard?
I wondered how her vision for her film could possibly succeed. If
she says anything great about Werner, his staunchest
critics will cry foul. If she says nothing great about
him and his work, well ... we don't need another one
of those, I mused dryly. And all that aside, she is, after all, a
journalist in a medium in which the reputation for objectivity,
truth, and integrity weighs heavily. She works in the realm of the
television documentary. If she does a hatchet job, by now
that's not even original. And if she does something great, wouldn't
she then be characterized simply as an award winning journalist who
got influenced by a
cult?
Aside from which, how will she deal with the already
attack mentality that to one degree or another taints
many peoples' listening for
Werner and his work
even if they've never had anything to do with it? It was clear to
me whatever her approach was, the woman had a formidable task ahead
of her. Her work was clearly cut out for her.
|