Severed Heads: A Meditation
Is there any more arresting image than that of a severed human head? As the search for additional body parts continues in Bronson Canyon, one has to feel particularly sorry for the two traumatized women--a professional dogwalker and her mother--who discovered the head on Tuesday afternoon. Conversely, everyone else in the Hollywood Hills is grateful their canine companions weren't involved. (My own dog not only has a penchant for finding hidden objects--she once pulled an old bra out of a hedge--but for putting mysterious things in her mouth. Needless to say, she would have been all over a severed head.)
Perhaps because no additional body parts were discovered today, the LA Times blog has published a story memorably titled, L.A. has head, hands, feet; Arizona has body, but match unlikely. Yes, a headless torso was found in Tucson, but it's not our torso. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/hollywood-head-arizona-body.html
Which brings us, naturally, to the movies. The strange and horrible cinematic quality of the crime in Bronson Canyon has been noted by journalists and interviewees alike. "My mom and I thought it was a movie prop," said Lauren Kornberg, the dogwalker. Others have alluded to police dramas and "The Sopranos."
Right after the discovery, a neighbor emailed me the following YouTube link to a clip from Roman Polanski's "MacBeth," which I hadn't seen before. Apparently it's considered the best cinematic beheading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gomhWx017Sc
It brought back memories of David Fincher's "Se7en," which ends with the delivery of a box containing a woman's severed head--Gwyneth Paltrow's--to her husband, a police detective played by Brad Pitt. Although we (mercifully) never see the head, the moment is so horrifying that it's as though we did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1giVzxyoclE&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Back at Bronson Canyon, the investigation is coming to a close. The park is due to reopen sometime tomorrow.