Werner Herzog on Chickens
February 17, 2012 2:44 PM Subscribe
Yeah, actually it appears I'm totally wrong.
posted by koeselitz at 2:47 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by koeselitz at 2:47 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
Oh no, it's Werzog. I think it was an advertising bumper for the original version of More4 before it became a lifestyle channel.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:48 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by feelinglistless at 2:48 PM on February 17, 2012
"The enormity of their stupidity is just overwhelming" not only is that phrase hilarious, but his delivery is spot on - gotta love him. I think I'll go watch him eat his shoe now.
posted by Bron-Y-Aur at 2:50 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Bron-Y-Aur at 2:50 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Two of my favourite things: Werner Herzog, and proper use the Metafilter 'chickens' tag.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 2:50 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 2:50 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
The intensity of stupidity. Meta... nah. Not going there.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:51 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:51 PM on February 17, 2012
I love Werner Herzog in general, and now I have a new specific thing I love about him: the way he swallows the second syllable in the word "chicken" so that it sounds more like "chick'nggh."
Ia chick'nghh wgah-nagl fhtagn.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:56 PM on February 17, 2012 [6 favorites]
Ia chick'nghh wgah-nagl fhtagn.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:56 PM on February 17, 2012 [6 favorites]
He's got form on this topic too:
“Look into the eyes of a chicken and you will see real stupidity. It is a kind of bottomless stupidity, a fiendish stupidity. They are the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creatures in the world.”
posted by Greener Backyards at 2:58 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
“Look into the eyes of a chicken and you will see real stupidity. It is a kind of bottomless stupidity, a fiendish stupidity. They are the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creatures in the world.”
posted by Greener Backyards at 2:58 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
I read an interview with him years ago in Rolling Stone. In it, he said pretty much the same thing. He was asked about why chickens were used in his films. He said they were a symbol of evil, as stupidity was the worst evil he could think of.
Here is the chicken dance scene from his 1977 film Stoszeck. Interestingly enough he reprises this theme in the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans.
posted by dougzilla at 2:58 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
Here is the chicken dance scene from his 1977 film Stoszeck. Interestingly enough he reprises this theme in the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans.
posted by dougzilla at 2:58 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
Yup, IIRC he talks extensively about the horror that is the stupidity of the chicken in the director's commentary for his Even Dwarfs Started Small, which has shots of chickens in a farmyard pecking at/tearing apart the pieces of a dead chicken interspersed with the main action throughout the movie.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:09 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:09 PM on February 17, 2012
Just one more reason David Boreanaz will never be in a Herzog movie, I guess.
posted by kmz at 3:24 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by kmz at 3:24 PM on February 17, 2012
I'd like to get Werner Herzog's opinion on brainless chickens hung on a feeding armature being raised for food.
posted by chimaera at 3:24 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by chimaera at 3:24 PM on February 17, 2012
Here is the chicken dance scene from his 1977 film Stoszeck
God forgive me, but I read that as "chicken lap dance scene." I blame Mark McKinney.
posted by maudlin at 3:29 PM on February 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
God forgive me, but I read that as "chicken lap dance scene." I blame Mark McKinney.
posted by maudlin at 3:29 PM on February 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
Two of my favourite things: Werner Herzog, and proper use the Metafilter 'chickens' tag.
So I now need examples of the improper use of chickens tag on Metafilter. Please.
posted by Fizz at 3:31 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
So I now need examples of the improper use of chickens tag on Metafilter. Please.
posted by Fizz at 3:31 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
I know...I should have replaced 'proper' simply with 'application'. I still like it.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:39 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:39 PM on February 17, 2012
Aagh. 'Proper use'. That should've been replaced with 'the application of'.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:42 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 3:42 PM on February 17, 2012
Right, i think dougzilla has it -- this has been making the rounds, but it feels familiar, as if he's been railing against chickens for a long time.
posted by muckster at 3:44 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by muckster at 3:44 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh no, it's Werzog. I think it was an advertising bumper for the original version of More4 before it became a lifestyle channel.
Yeah, stupid chickens now make up the majority of the viewing audience for the 12-hour marathons of Come Dine With Me that are on More4 every fucking weekend.
posted by afx237vi at 3:52 PM on February 17, 2012
Yeah, stupid chickens now make up the majority of the viewing audience for the 12-hour marathons of Come Dine With Me that are on More4 every fucking weekend.
posted by afx237vi at 3:52 PM on February 17, 2012
Herzog is just holding a grudge against chickens for their many actions against him in support of the llamas, who justifiably do not like Herzog.
Also, if you type Herzog often enough it stops looking like a name or even a word.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:55 PM on February 17, 2012
Also, if you type Herzog often enough it stops looking like a name or even a word.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:55 PM on February 17, 2012
Who can think of chickens (and dancing) without thinking of Arrested Development? Answer: Not I.
Also, I am going to hear him (WH) speak at the end of the month. Will have ears open for any stupid/evil chicken references.
posted by bquarters at 5:10 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, I am going to hear him (WH) speak at the end of the month. Will have ears open for any stupid/evil chicken references.
posted by bquarters at 5:10 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ok Orme, I WILL learn to preview! ...I have made a BIG mistake!
posted by bquarters at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by bquarters at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2012
Herzog is just holding a grudge against chickens for their many actions against him in support of the llamas, who justifiably do not like Herzog.
HARPER
It’s not as if they’re the Canadians, the Venezuelans and the mosquitos.
TODD
It’s not as if they’re the engineers, the chefs, the children under five, the musicians.
HARPER
The car salesmen.
TODD
Portuguese car salesmen.
HARPER
Russian swimmers.
TODD
Thai butchers.
HARPER
Latvian dentists.
TODD
No, the Latvian dentists have been doing good work in Cuba. They’ve a house outside Havana.
HARPER
But Latvia has been sending pigs to Sweden. The dentists are linked to international dentistry and that’s where their loyalty lies, with dentists in Dar-es-Salaam.
TODD
We don’t argue about Dar-es-Salaam.
HARPER
You would attempt to justify the massacre in Dar-es-Salaam?
posted by nathancaswell at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2012
HARPER
It’s not as if they’re the Canadians, the Venezuelans and the mosquitos.
TODD
It’s not as if they’re the engineers, the chefs, the children under five, the musicians.
HARPER
The car salesmen.
TODD
Portuguese car salesmen.
HARPER
Russian swimmers.
TODD
Thai butchers.
HARPER
Latvian dentists.
TODD
No, the Latvian dentists have been doing good work in Cuba. They’ve a house outside Havana.
HARPER
But Latvia has been sending pigs to Sweden. The dentists are linked to international dentistry and that’s where their loyalty lies, with dentists in Dar-es-Salaam.
TODD
We don’t argue about Dar-es-Salaam.
HARPER
You would attempt to justify the massacre in Dar-es-Salaam?
posted by nathancaswell at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2012
Awakened: "Wow, he wasn't kidding."
2nd use of "Eponysterical" today!
But in all seriousness, this link is excellent. I googled and watched some vids, but the comment of the uploader brought me to Tonic Immobility.
(the wiki page, not the state itself).
My first thought upon watching all this (and I guess still is, now, even though there's more of an explanation)...
Who the FUCK decided one day to sit a chicken down and then drag a line from it's beak outward to see if it would enter this catatonic state? I mean, really? It's like who discovered smoking? Or injecting something? It's just... Where the fuck do we humans come up with this shit?
posted by symbioid at 7:34 PM on February 17, 2012
2nd use of "Eponysterical" today!
But in all seriousness, this link is excellent. I googled and watched some vids, but the comment of the uploader brought me to Tonic Immobility.
(the wiki page, not the state itself).
My first thought upon watching all this (and I guess still is, now, even though there's more of an explanation)...
Who the FUCK decided one day to sit a chicken down and then drag a line from it's beak outward to see if it would enter this catatonic state? I mean, really? It's like who discovered smoking? Or injecting something? It's just... Where the fuck do we humans come up with this shit?
posted by symbioid at 7:34 PM on February 17, 2012
Who the FUCK decided one day to sit a chicken down and then drag a line from it's beak outward to see if it would enter this catatonic state? I mean, really? It's like who discovered smoking? Or injecting something? It's just... Where the fuck do we humans come up with this shit?
Come on. We're the people who came up with haggis, and American Gladiators, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Stupifying chickens was practically reflexive.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 7:42 PM on February 17, 2012 [6 favorites]
Come on. We're the people who came up with haggis, and American Gladiators, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Stupifying chickens was practically reflexive.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 7:42 PM on February 17, 2012 [6 favorites]
P.S. Little disappointed the clip did not actually show Werner Herzog riding around on chickens. Bareback.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 7:44 PM on February 17, 2012
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 7:44 PM on February 17, 2012
I see no one has bothered to ask a chicken what it think of Warner Herzog. Typical.
posted by staggering termagant at 7:54 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by staggering termagant at 7:54 PM on February 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
I had never heard Herzog before and had no idea Paul F. Tompkins impression was only slight.
posted by munchingzombie at 8:05 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by munchingzombie at 8:05 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
I had a pet chicken that I bonded with. Albeit it was a very lonely time.
posted by JohnR at 8:25 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by JohnR at 8:25 PM on February 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think Woody Allen pretty much nailed the whole chicken thing at the end of Annie Hall and other directors are just catching up.
posted by twoleftfeet at 8:46 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by twoleftfeet at 8:46 PM on February 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
God forgive me, but I read that as "chicken lap dance scene." I blame Mark McKinney.
If you want a chicken lap dance try Pink Flamingos.
posted by clarknova at 11:19 PM on February 17, 2012
If you want a chicken lap dance try Pink Flamingos.
posted by clarknova at 11:19 PM on February 17, 2012
Maybe the basis for Wrath of God was constructed as a metaphor for the chicken so artistic commitments are at stake?
posted by Meatafoecure at 1:31 AM on February 18, 2012
posted by Meatafoecure at 1:31 AM on February 18, 2012
"They are the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creatures in the world."
They're fucking dinosaurs. What do you expect?
posted by sneebler at 7:39 AM on February 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
They're fucking dinosaurs. What do you expect?
posted by sneebler at 7:39 AM on February 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Typical looking-down-one's-nose of an alpha male at the top of the food chain. They take care of their young, they feed themselves, they avoid predatory creatures like the plague, and they are not prone to the crippling, pointless despair we humans so love to wallow in. Give them a little credit for what they do right.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:31 AM on February 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:31 AM on February 18, 2012 [2 favorites]
Crippling, pointless despair is where I'm a Viking.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:31 AM on February 18, 2012
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:31 AM on February 18, 2012
They take care of their young, they feed themselves, they avoid predatory creatures like the plague, and they are not prone to the crippling, pointless despair we humans so love to wallow in. Give them a little credit for what they do right.
And sometimes they even take care of other critter's young. I don't know if it's smarts exactly, but chickens are friggin' tenacious when it comes to finding a way into a vegetable garden to completely strip it of all vegetation. Chickens are exactly as smart as they need to be.
posted by echolalia67 at 12:57 PM on February 18, 2012
And sometimes they even take care of other critter's young. I don't know if it's smarts exactly, but chickens are friggin' tenacious when it comes to finding a way into a vegetable garden to completely strip it of all vegetation. Chickens are exactly as smart as they need to be.
posted by echolalia67 at 12:57 PM on February 18, 2012
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posted by koeselitz at 2:45 PM on February 17, 2012