Educational Media Reviews Online

Loaded Gun begins with a dream the video’s narrator says he had. The dream takes place on a baseball field, and the narrator is the coach of one of the teams. Suddenly, he is approached by the poet Emily Dickinson, who asks him if she could play. He’s doubtful of her ability, but he finds it hard to say no to Emily Dickinson, and lets the poet cover second base. A runner from the other team comes charging into second, and the narrator is sure Miss Dickinson will be knocked down. But she not only stays on the base, she tags the runner out. How could such a notoriously reclusive 19th century women be so good at baseball, the narrator wonders.

It turns out the narrator is this video’s writer-director and co-producer, James Wolpaw. Wolpaw says he’s fascinated by Dickinson’s poem “My Life Had Stood – a Loaded Gun.” He doesn’t know what it means, but he can’t get it out of his mind, and decides to explore Dickinson’s life and work in a documentary, hoping to “solve the mystery of how this sheltered 19th century spinster was able to produce poetry that still seems ahead of the times in the 21st century.”

Wolpaw describes how he went about shooting the video, using a tone that’s reminiscent of Ross McElwee in his documentaries such as Sherman’s March. He starts out with a conventional documentary approach, using an educational-toned narrator providing facts on Dickinson’s life, shooting in Dickinson’s hometown of Amherst, Mass., and interviewing Dickinson scholars and poets such as U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. He also talks to Julie Harris, famous for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, and psychiatrists who offer their views on Dickinson’s mental health.

Then he gets more provocative. He interviews an artist who uses Dickinson’s words in her art and a man whose back is tattooed with a Dickinson portrait. He also shows a rock band that uses Dickinson’s poems as lyrics for its songs. Still not satisfied he’s gotten to Dickinson’s essence, he ponders giving Emily the Hollywood treatment, and tries to find the poet’s embodiment during a casting call that brings 1000 responses, including 100 from men.

The actresses that are auditioned (we never see any of the men who applied) are given a series of questions that they are supposed to answer in character as Emily Dickinson: “Why don’t you ever leave your house?” “Are you in love with death?” Do you have a problem with God?” “Describe what would be, for you, a truly wild night?”

None of the actresses’ responses prove to be startling, but this technique provides a way to tie together all the previous approaches Wolpaw used. The questions were inspired by the content and themes of Dickinson’s poems. We hear the poems read and then get often conflicting views on Dickinson’s life and work from the various interviewees. The stereotypical view one may initially have of Dickinson is replaced by a multi-faceted one. The viewer learns the New England spinster had a wicked sense of humor and could be quite strong-willed and courageous in her views.

By the end of the video, Wolpaw realizes Emily Dickinson’s nature still proves elusive. “Maybe I should just forget about the movie and read the book,” he says. And getting people to “read the book” of Dickinson’s poems is one of this video’s great accomplishments. Some high schools may be understandably reluctant to purchase a video with the title Loaded Gun, and the provocative talk about death, religion, and Dickinson’s sex life will raise some eyebrows. But the slightly iconoclastic viewpoint of this video provides a great introduction to the poet for high school students or any other Dickinson neophyte.