don't dare let those bastards get you down

That One Question

Published on October 2, 2006 By crimson In Blogging

I've been reading books and watching movies lately, and perhaps because of the subject material, or just my own currrent frame of mind, I've had that one question whirling around upstairs.

I like to read, but I sure don't like to spend a lot of money on something that I'm going to tear through in an hour or so. I got Out Of Silence at a reuse store: I should have been out 19.99 Cdn, but instead I only had to drop 3.99. I was in a hurry though, and I really didn't spend much time looking through it. I thought it was going to be more narrative, but it's turned out to be more educational as well.... not that there's anything wrong with that. The book introduces ideas about the formation of language and speech, and discusses autism and the history of understanding it, as well as looking at it from a personal level.

I also rented a slew of movies from Ballbuster, and this was one of them. Some would claim it was a Donnie Darko rip-off, but I've always loved Ryan Gosling and the way he acts. In this story, too, there's questions about how we percieve things, and what we do not remember. A movie about happiness and sadness, light and dark: all the better to tweak my brain.

What makes us individuals? Is it how we percieve things or express them? Is what we understand and how we process information that different from the next person? Is my reality any bit similar to your reality and if not, why not? I wonder if I would have been as impressed with both the movie that I rented and the book I bought, if I had not been involved with the two stories at the same time?

And just to top it all off, I added a late night showing of Dragonfly, which, while not the greatest movie of all time, was the cherry on my existential buffet. Death and the afterlife is always a heavy topic, and one that I usually shy away from. I'm not scared of ghosts, or fear a trip to the depths of Hell, but it keeps me in my head too long when I start to think about it. Take that how you will.

All it takes is six hours of a certain combination of information, and I'm ready to consider that one question.

Comments

MasonM

on Oct 02, 2006

What bastards?

crimson

on Oct 03, 2006

See Camus: Camus's most significant contribution to philosophy was his idea of the absurd, the result of our desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither...

Xythe

on Oct 03, 2006

Im lost?

crimson

on Oct 03, 2006

Basically, both movies and the book forces us to ask the big question "why?" Why do we view the world around us the way that we do, and is human development unique, or are we programmed to be able to understand similarly? The book says that we retrieve and respond to information similarly, regardless of race, gender, and age, although, for those with certain learning disabilities or traumas, we do not.

The movie The United States of Leland, shows disassociation in a young man, and offers the question, not just "why did he do it?" from a narrative perspective, but 'why did he do it?' in a physiological pov.

In Dragonfly, what are the final moments we see before Death takes us? Is it our brain collecting information that we do not understand at a conscious level? Is our life the ends really the end or the beginning of something else much more fabulous and wonderful, and is it just for us alone, or is it different for everyone?

Neither the book nor the movies have complete answers... no one does, No One at all.

foreverserenity

on Oct 03, 2006

In Dragonfly, what are the final moments we see before Death takes us? Is it our brain collecting information that we do not understand at a conscious level? Is our life the ends really the end or the beginning of something else much more fabulous and wonderful, and is it just for us alone, or is it different for everyone?

I've seen the movie and you're right, no one does have the answer, it kind of leaves you hanging.

dynamaso

on Oct 05, 2006

Donnie Darko is one of my favourite movies. I've not seen United States of Leland and I didn't think a great deal of Dragonfly (I am not a Kevin Costner fan). I will have to see if I can find United States... as the subject matter sounds really interesting.

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