Once again I feel like deviating from the original topic of this blog to talk about a movie. Memento is a pretty interesting movie. The way that it's made is cool too. Memento is made from the end to the beginning. It starts off with Leonard, the anti-hero, killing the guy who raped and murdered his wife. Or so we believe. As the movie goes backwards we see how he gets up to the point where he kills John Ghammel, AKA Teddy, the guy who killed his wife. Now what also makes the movie interesting is that Lenny, that's his nickname, contracted a memory condition. He can't make any new memories. So to make up for that he takes pictures to remind himself of the people and places that he meets and goes to, respectivly.
In the end (beginning?) we see that things become clear and that everything unfolds (in the reverse order which does make it confusing). We see that Leonard is taken advantage of by various people that are supposed to be helping him. we also see that in his quest to obtain justice, and the end of the movie (the beginning of his story) that he possibly makes up his desire to kill John Gs inorder to just keep on living. The only way to really understand (????) the movie one must watch it though.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Existentialist Movie
During our last Humanities class we learned about a philosophy called existentialism. Existentialism (it's a mouthful to say) is about the purpose of people on earth, which according to the idea is that there isn't one) and about the person's self. By that I mean that part of existentialism is believing that the person's personality comes after the action. For example: a person who believes in Freud's ideas (damn i don't know how to get rid of this black) about the human mind would say that a person does things based on the person's subconscious. The person's Id and Superego governs his/her life. People do things because there is a predetermined mind set based on the person's environment and the person's early life. In existentialism people are born without a mind set. A baby only does what it can to survive. A person does things just because that's what the person wanted to do at the time. these are some of the ideas of existentialism. So now to get back on track. Today I'm deviating from my normal theme because I feel existential (can this word be an adjective???) today. Today's post is about an existentialist film that is very down to earth. The movie is Groundhog Day. I saw it last year and was actually looking for a list of such films. I was trying to find something I saw so that it would be easier and found that Groundhog Day was existential. (Now that I think about it I think that Ms. Seltzer mentioned it).
Groundhog Day is about a guy named Phil. He is a weatherman who dislikes his colleagues and viewers. However he hates the groundhog at a small town called Punxsutawney more. It's Groundhogs Day and he is to go to that town to cover the story along with two others. So he goes and does his thing to try and be done with the job as quick as possible. After he finishes the job his crew and him try to leave the town during a blizzard. It fails and they are forced to go back to town. So when they get to the hotel they go to sleep. The next day Phil gets up and when he leaves the hotel, finds out that the day just repeated. He goes crazy at first and tries to leave or see if it's all a big joke. It's not- he is living the same day over and over again. Its interesting to see how he tries to live the same day over and over again. He starts of depressed and then realizes that there are no consequences in his life since he repeats his day over and over again. You can imagine what he does with that. He starts to rob banks, drink, smoke, and basically just do whatever he wants. After while of doing that he decides that he's had enough and wants to get things moving again. So he tries a number of things. He tries to be a good guy, tries to kill himself and tries to kill the groundhog (which is funnier than it sounds). After he realizes that it doesn't work to do that, he tries to spend his time bettering himself. He still steals some money from the bank, but now he uses it to take lessons in dancing, sculpting, painting, and many other things. And after about a years worth of time of doing all that he wakes up one day and finds that his life is moving again.
At first glance the movie is a classic comedy and tries to teach a basic lesson, but after learning about existentialism it is a bit more. The fact that the day repeats itself kind of symbolizes the fact that Phil feels that there is no meaning in his life. So the day keeps repeating until he finds his meaning in the world.
Groundhog Day is about a guy named Phil. He is a weatherman who dislikes his colleagues and viewers. However he hates the groundhog at a small town called Punxsutawney more. It's Groundhogs Day and he is to go to that town to cover the story along with two others. So he goes and does his thing to try and be done with the job as quick as possible. After he finishes the job his crew and him try to leave the town during a blizzard. It fails and they are forced to go back to town. So when they get to the hotel they go to sleep. The next day Phil gets up and when he leaves the hotel, finds out that the day just repeated. He goes crazy at first and tries to leave or see if it's all a big joke. It's not- he is living the same day over and over again. Its interesting to see how he tries to live the same day over and over again. He starts of depressed and then realizes that there are no consequences in his life since he repeats his day over and over again. You can imagine what he does with that. He starts to rob banks, drink, smoke, and basically just do whatever he wants. After while of doing that he decides that he's had enough and wants to get things moving again. So he tries a number of things. He tries to be a good guy, tries to kill himself and tries to kill the groundhog (which is funnier than it sounds). After he realizes that it doesn't work to do that, he tries to spend his time bettering himself. He still steals some money from the bank, but now he uses it to take lessons in dancing, sculpting, painting, and many other things. And after about a years worth of time of doing all that he wakes up one day and finds that his life is moving again.
At first glance the movie is a classic comedy and tries to teach a basic lesson, but after learning about existentialism it is a bit more. The fact that the day repeats itself kind of symbolizes the fact that Phil feels that there is no meaning in his life. So the day keeps repeating until he finds his meaning in the world.
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