Yes!!! You really dropped the fish in the percolator for this one.
Controversial counter-manifesto in the comments:
I think it's interesting to contrast Lynch and your call against over-reliance on inauthentic homage/pastiche (which I absolutely agree with!) vs invoking what "French New Wave" did... If you think about what the Cahiers de cinema gang did, wasn't that mostly just cinematic rehash, homage and pastiche!?
(the above is my in-progress submission to comment-jam 26)
Viewing post in KILL CONVENTION KILL CLICHE comments
Thank you for reading!!
Counter-counter-manifesto: That’s bad phrasing on my part! The French New Wave as a movement formed to fight against the decadent pedestrian films the commercial French film industry was pumping out, so one of their main engines was subversion, meaning that many of their own films were subverting OTHER films in the same movement, and this basic attitude of constantly questioning is what I actually want to encourage.
And as for their constant homaging, referencing, etc, you can take that or leave it. At their best the FNW references films to relate them to the real world, statements about spectacle itself, and the state of modern French politics. At its worst it’s lame homage-for-the-sake-of-homage stuff. Very hit and miss for me.
If it helps I’m very wishy-washy on the French New Wave anyways. I’ve seen like 8 Godard films and only liked 1, lol. As you are the only current submission to the Comment Jam, I declare you the winner.