Hollywood & Meaning Of Life
It would be crazy to look to Hollywood or Madison Avenue for meaning in life, but Luky comes up with some pretty profound insights sometimes - and often based on the most inane movie and advertising examples. For example, we were watching the 1998 New Line Cinema movie, Pleasantville, and Luky just had to comment on the implications for our lives.
First of all, we'd seen this movie before - maybe a couple of times - so I sort of knew the scenes and could anticipate some of the dialogue and action. That made it all the more annoying when his analysis seemed to open my eyes to additional symbolism. How is it that I could have watched this movie enough to know it this well and still be missing these ideas?
Anyway, Luky says that when the individuals turn to color from black and white in the movie, it's NOT because of sex or even, as I tried to argue, strong emotion. He pointed out that Jennifer (Resse Witherspoon's character - who also turns into Mary-Sue) who admittedly and overtly engages in all sorts of carnal sport, finally wakes up in "technicolor" (as Jennifer/Mary-Sue describes it) after reading a novel all night long. Granted, it was D.H. Lawrence, but the specific title was not mentioned so obviously the subject matter was not the point.
Luky says the color transition resulted from the respective character's discovery of a new aspect of his personality - a new passion, or capability, or even fault. Of course, I argued that movies are rarely that philosophically consistent. I explained I was certain I could take whatever theory he ascribed to the entire movie and find at least one or two counter examples. In spite of my confidence on that point I was hard pressed to find any as I thought through his notion of "new aspect of personality."
When David (Tobey Maguire, who turns into Bud after Don Knotts sends him and his sister into the Twilight Zone-esque world of a Mayberry-like fictional TV show . . . oh well, I guess you have to watch the movie to get all of this, but) returns to his real world from Pleasantville he finds his mother (played by Jane Kaczmarek) crying in their dining room. David, freshly wiser from his fantasy adventure, then advises his mom on the meaning of life. As she recalls having had (and apparently having lost) the perfect house, the perfect car, etc., etc., David tells her (in that uniquely Tobey Maguire voice of lilting authority) that there is no perfect house, or perfect car. So, I told Luky that there was, indeed, a subtheme to the whole movie - that being there are no "rules" with which we can comply, or "possessions" we can obtain, that will then place us into some sort of harmony with "what it's all about."
Maybe I was just trying to contribute something original to the conversation, but I thought I made a good point.
Anyway, Luky sat up and pushed his ears straight back. He didn't say a word. He was clearly going to give me the point, but he let me know it was a gift! When he turned and walked over to his rug I heard him muttering something like it was still a scene of personal revelation.
I'm not sure what he has planned for this afternoon, but I really hope we can just relax and not work so hard watching old movies!
First of all, we'd seen this movie before - maybe a couple of times - so I sort of knew the scenes and could anticipate some of the dialogue and action. That made it all the more annoying when his analysis seemed to open my eyes to additional symbolism. How is it that I could have watched this movie enough to know it this well and still be missing these ideas?
Anyway, Luky says that when the individuals turn to color from black and white in the movie, it's NOT because of sex or even, as I tried to argue, strong emotion. He pointed out that Jennifer (Resse Witherspoon's character - who also turns into Mary-Sue) who admittedly and overtly engages in all sorts of carnal sport, finally wakes up in "technicolor" (as Jennifer/Mary-Sue describes it) after reading a novel all night long. Granted, it was D.H. Lawrence, but the specific title was not mentioned so obviously the subject matter was not the point.
Luky says the color transition resulted from the respective character's discovery of a new aspect of his personality - a new passion, or capability, or even fault. Of course, I argued that movies are rarely that philosophically consistent. I explained I was certain I could take whatever theory he ascribed to the entire movie and find at least one or two counter examples. In spite of my confidence on that point I was hard pressed to find any as I thought through his notion of "new aspect of personality."
When David (Tobey Maguire, who turns into Bud after Don Knotts sends him and his sister into the Twilight Zone-esque world of a Mayberry-like fictional TV show . . . oh well, I guess you have to watch the movie to get all of this, but) returns to his real world from Pleasantville he finds his mother (played by Jane Kaczmarek) crying in their dining room. David, freshly wiser from his fantasy adventure, then advises his mom on the meaning of life. As she recalls having had (and apparently having lost) the perfect house, the perfect car, etc., etc., David tells her (in that uniquely Tobey Maguire voice of lilting authority) that there is no perfect house, or perfect car. So, I told Luky that there was, indeed, a subtheme to the whole movie - that being there are no "rules" with which we can comply, or "possessions" we can obtain, that will then place us into some sort of harmony with "what it's all about."
Maybe I was just trying to contribute something original to the conversation, but I thought I made a good point.
Anyway, Luky sat up and pushed his ears straight back. He didn't say a word. He was clearly going to give me the point, but he let me know it was a gift! When he turned and walked over to his rug I heard him muttering something like it was still a scene of personal revelation.
I'm not sure what he has planned for this afternoon, but I really hope we can just relax and not work so hard watching old movies!
posted by RAM at 10:26 AM
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