Addendum: My system wouldn’t let me italicize the second Beauty in the title.
Bad night, which resulted in my late arousal, around 11 AM (Pacific time), which in turn resulted in an fuzzier than usual head as I fired up Word. (Reading and [usually] responding to emails burnt another hour or so. So it’s noon and I’m half tired already and just struggling with the first paragraph. What have I gotten myself into?)
These two were last night as the fog rolled in.
One emailer was upset by the move I pulled with the mechanic’s wife the other day. Grabbing the pens as a ‘reveal’ that I knew they were thieves. They/she might be innocent, the fellow pointed out. This possibility really bothered him.
I appreciated his concern for truth and justice but had to point out that you had to be there… still, I doubted myself for a long moment… then rallied with the realization that ‘Okay, if she was innocent, why didn’t she get outraged when I took all their pens? Her reaction was guilt.’
Also on the bright side, one of you (Rick, by name) reminded me of the movie ending I truly should have picked. (Perfect endings have to be in the context of a great movie, by the way. Although this might seem obvious, I should have mentioned it. We are, after all, drawing a line between ‘good’ and ‘perfect’.)
American Beauty. Of course. Shame on me. And shame on you guys too. Rick also summed up his reasoning, which i appreciated (my comments in bold):
American Beauty is as masterful as any shakespearean tragedy. Categorizing a (screen)play as “Tragedy” gives away the ending. Mmmm. I dunno if this is relevant. The main character, Lester, dies. We know this from the beginning because he tells us as much in the opening monologue. True, but only for those with ‘ears to hear’ (if he had outright told us it would have spoiled the ending) And the audience is left to predict how he dies, but along the way is shown how he comes back to life from a self-description of being “dead already.” Yes yes. While moving from being annoyed or disgusted by him to feeling sorry for and eventually hoping for him to find his groove It is easy to forget at times that he must die according to the script. Again, we must be consciously unaware of his impending death for the ending to work, let alone rise to perfection. But how he dies, in the end, remains unpredictable throughout as the screenplay provides no “why” for the cause of death. I disagree here. Walking out of the theatre you know very well why the father killed Lester. That we didn’t see it coming is part of the writer’s artistry. It provides food for thought, but leaves unexposed the critical thoughts and conclusions of the character responsible for Lester’s death. I dunno (see previous note). The why (of Lester’s death) is obvious, but only in retrospect. The whole subplot of the father (who kills him) screams the ‘why’… but only after the fact. The beauty of Beauty is how every subplot somehow makes the ending secretly inevitable. (Like Lester’s wifes’s sudden love of guns, and how perfectly that came about.) On multiple viewings you see how even little details are woven in to support the inevitability of the ending. And how about the various characters’ reactions to his death?! These were an integral aspect of ‘the ending’ and were likewise…perfect.
Rick also tells us…
I’m 54 and feeling frustrated that life may be simply about enjoying beauty where you can find it, but having to create a contrasting shitshow so that you can spot beauty when it comes in the room.
I do know that feeling. Okay. Enough for today. Thanks for all the thoughtful emails. They are a good remedy for a fuzzier than usual head.
Allan
Just came in: Looks like a football score with the home team unable to mount an offense.