Tom Wesselman, Hal Hartley, Roy Lichtenstein

I've been watching Hal Hartley's movies, and sending facebook emails to some friends about his movies, about how off-kilter they are, and I've been getting back some insightful responses.  In case I make it sound like I've been doing some major, protracted thinking about this, the truth is that this business has only been on my mind for maybe a week.  In any case, tonight I was taking screen shots (screen grabs) of Hartley's movie, "Trust," you know, kind of looking at the scenes, the mise en scene, etc and so forth, and Tom Wesselman's classic Americana collages came to mind.  Here's a very famous Wesselman:

There aren't any obvious paralells going on.  I mean, there isn't anything in this image that screams HAL HARTLEY.  Nor the other way around.  But I think their works vibrate at similar frequencies.  The combination of staged trashiness, trashy Americana, and the curious mixture of delight and horror about their subjects...

(discussing the heroine's abortion in the diner)

Of course, the more obvious (pop art) comparison to Hartley would be Roy Lichtenstein.  Here's a very famous Roy:

The text in the thought-bubble might as well have been ripped straight from a Hartley film.  But of course, it's the other way around, historically speaking...