He is about observation and comment. I deal with stuff that's too dumb for people to have bothered to formulate opinions on. There Lurks a Little Richard. They are becoming predictable, not to say evasive. A haunted nostalgia, sometimes sentimental, sometimes irritable, accompanies most quests for America.
Moviemaking is a trick.
Songwriting is a trick. When it doesn't work, it's really offensive. I'm tying to put my finger on some kind ethical center. Maybe it's a wish that people look within themselves and find something, make a decision about what is right and what is wrong, and use that to guide them, rather than returning to traditional values, which seems like grabbing ahold of the raft. The characters in True Stories are trying to establish a system of values of their own, however nutty they might seem and however much clowning they might do.