NP - Agalloch - Falling Snow
I seem to be getting back into this blogging thing. I know what it is: for me personally, I cant plan posts. They have to be spontaneous. If theres a thought in my head I want to blog about, there has to be a computer nearby. Otherwise I either lose interest or forget what it is.
Anyway, I was reading 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', and theres this bit where one of the characters is describing life in the army. It threw my mind back to 'Jarhead' which I read about a month or so ago. Its pretty interesting how they describe life in the army, both of them. One of the biggest aspects they talk about is the lack of women, and the almost obsession soldiers have with them. It seems, without exception, they all start to see women as being objects of sexual fantasy. It also seems that they all have unfaithful girlfriends back home. Jarhead is really interesting in that it really delves deep into the psychological aspect of it. It paints a picture that left in me an impression of total despair and destitution. That these soldiers are resigned to their fate. That everything is screwed. If anyone's seen the Jarhead movie, I'd have to say that it doesnt even come close to describing what the book is trying to describe.
The character in Captain Corelli's Mandolin casually mentions that the soldiers come to love each other, one of the reasons being because they need each other, and they're "in the same shit together". Its interesting because I thought a lot about this yesterday, after watching this movie called 'Sorry, Haters'. If you dont want to know what happens in this movie or what the twists are all about, you might want to stop here, cause the rest of this blogpost is about that.
Its a pretty interesting movie, I'll just say that. Anyway, the antagonist/protagonist in the movie is this woman who feels totally unwanted, unloved, unneeded. The one time she meant anything to anyone was on september 11th, when her totally dominating friend turned to her for consolation. At that time in her life, she felt needed.
One of the DVD extras was a round-table discussion about the themes of the movie, and they discussed this. One of the participants didnt believe it was a true phenomenon, but I think it is. I think you can always see it: after sept 11, everyone put aside their differences and pulled together. Same with the tsunami. An overwhelming sense of 'community' comes over people, which fades after the tragedy has passed somewhat. Relating this to the line in Captain Corelli's Mandolin about soldiers at war, it just seems to make sense to me. But its an interesting thought: do we need tragedy? Does it serve some purpose in our communal lives?
Hmm.
Posted by illogicist at 1:14 AM
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