Conniption (fit)

conniption







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–noun 

Often, conniptions. Informal. a fit of hysterical excitement or anger.

Also called conniption fit.





　

Maybe it should happen more often—a willful auteur, after his/her mega-epic has been released to mixed critical reaction and audience indifference, is forced/encouraged to trim his monster's fat and release it again. 



Shouldn't Terrence Malick be thankful for the chance? It's difficult not to argue that most Hollywood films should in fact be shorter, and this project in humility could be seen as the counteragent to the bloated "director's cut"—which is by now a beloved factor in our moviegoing lives. 



The track record isn't good, however: The recut rereleases of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America were notorious insults that dominate a narrow field (otherwise taken up by reissues such as Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, from which the director [lopped] off scenes he'd hated for 20 years). 



Malick's The Thin Red Line—still rumored in its heart-stopping present form to be an editing experiment necessitated by the studios' conniption over the director's original and more orthodox six-hour cut—is its own whacked paradigm, destined to become more coherent and less "personal" with any future rejiggering. 





conundrum 

tantrum

but in childhood, plays with toys and [throws] temper tantrums,

huff

Just because you disagree, don't walk [off] in a huff. 

to huff [glue].

but onstage, [huffing] her way through Shaw, she’s stiff and unsure of herself. 



pique

to affect with sharp irritation and resentment, esp. by some wound to pride

She was greatly piqued when they refused her [invitation]. 

Kaufman’s venturesome dramaturgy and compelling writing scene-by-scene are enough to keep one’s [curiosity] piqued. 

Insouciant