Say yes. At least say "Hello"

Watching Metallica's music video of their song 'The Memory Remains' I was struck by the image of an aged woman singing in a broken voice whilst the whole room around her rotates creating a scene of chaos and a sense of being ungrounded. The strange period style the room and the woman are decorated in suggest some sort of dream like sequence or metaphorical 'inner space'. Her voice sounds broken and one can see that she is a beautiful woman who was shurly stunning in her youth. I discovered that this woman is Marianne Faithful, a singer and actress who's personal life possibly over shadows her career. I admit I did not really know who Marianne Faithful was, and her name only rang a distant bell for me. Faithfull's involvement with the song is interesting as the song is about a woman who looses her fame and is driven mad by the memory of her past success, something which at some moments may have been a reality for Faithfull herself. The meaning of the song, Faithfull's life, raspy voice and aged looks along with a rotating room all come together to create a powerful image of being ungrounded whilst remembering faded potency of past youth and success. This image is at points within the video allegorically referenced, as in such moments as Faithfull standing in front of a coffin and in another scene singing a tune whilst stood alone as money rains down inside a rotating room.



Near the end of the video Faithfull says the words "Say yes, at least say hello" a line from the film 'The Misfits' where Roslyn Taber is asked by Guido "Will you give me a little time? Say yes...at Least say hello Guido". The line is a desperate reach for acknowledgment and human affection, the word 'Hello' is of particular importance. 'Hello' between two people who have been spending a whole evening together and mid way through a convocation is noticeably out of place. In this scenario the word which is used for acknowledgment and announcement is used to acknowledge a deeper meeting between the two characters, in this case as Guido is drunk and revealing personal depths, Roslyn gains some deep insight into his character and history. 'Hello' defines a new meeting between two people, separating two modes of socialising, Guido is making a transition from the normal everyday convosation and engagement to one which is deeper and more revealing. For these reasons the line seems appropriate for the song.

Whilst researching 'The Misfits' I read the script and found that the written dialogue worked extremely differently to being spoken. The broken convention of convosation and language by Guido in this scene whith Roslyn already mentioned read like some patchy telephone call, and I thought this to be the case as to begin with I skipped to this part of the script as I was looking for one line in particular.



Say... Say hello to me, Roslyn.

Hello, Guido. Please, huh?

Will you give me a little time? Say yes.
At least say "Hello, Guido."

Yes, Guido. Hello, Guido.

Hello, Roslyn.