Movies and Fighting
In fact, I am back right where I've started. Here again, trying to memorize things. But now that'll be just a bit more than that - that will be practicing. So, don't bother yourself with reading it if you don't feel like doing that. Be free !
Today I've watched ‘The Dreamers’ (2003) by Bertolucci. That's a fine movie, and I've watched it just in time. Several years ago when I tried to see it, those sexual deviations of the twins gave me the creeps which didn't let me watch it to the end. Now, on the contrary, these mentioned deviations made the movie nicier. I'm definitely not a Pitt's fan (though, I guess I should see ‘Last Days’) but Louis Garrel and Eva Green are adorable. The soundtrack was also surprisingly fine - Bertolucci must have gone out of his way to reproduce these exciting times. I liked the message he wanted us to get - every rebellion, every revolution comes to nothing. Everything is in vain. We’re doomed. ‘No returning, no non-returning/No karma, no non-karma’ (Kerouac).
Nice picture with its Zeitgeist, though. Worth seeing it once. Btw, made me think about Antonioni’s ‘Blowup’ (1966) - also a movie with its atmosphere.
And last night I saw ‘SLC Punk!’ (1998) by James Merendino [tagline : 'God bless America...they're going to need it'.], and had a lot of fun. Wonderful soundtrack (The Stooges, the Doors, Velvet Underground, smth else - everything that fit in it), nice actors, diverting things discussed - the movie contains many things I agree with. How to live when you’re grown-up and not betray what you have longed for as a youngster? Naturally, says life. The transition from one state to another doesn’t take long, but causes much pain. Life is pain, so don’t think about it.
Reminded of ‘Sid and Nancy’ (1986) by Alex Cox [tagline : 'Love kills'], just ‘SLC Punk !’ is very optimistic. Btw, its’ characters are alive, I knew people like them !
Here’s the monologue from the movie about
“The fight. What does it mean, and where does it come from? An essay.
Homo sapiens. A man. He is alone in the universe.
A punker. Still a man. He is alone in the universe. But he connects. How? - They hit each other. Ooh!
No clearer way to evaluate whether or not you're alive.
Now, complications. A reason to fight: somebody different. Difference creates dispute. Dispute is a reason to fight. Now, to fight is a reason to feel pain. Life is pain. So to fight, with reason... is to be alive with reason.
Final analysis. To fight: a reason to live.
Problems and contradictions: I am an anarchist. I believe that there should be no rules, only chaos. Fighting appears to be chaos, and when we slam in a pit at a show, it is. But when we fight for a reason, like rednecks, there is a system. We fight for what we stand for - chaos. But fighting is a structure. Fighting is to establish power, power is government, and government is not anarchy. Government is war, and war is fighting. The circle goes like this: our redneck skirmishes are cheaper versions of conventional warfare. War implies extreme government because wars are fought to enforce rules or ideals, even freedom. But other people's ideals forced on someone else, even if it is something like freedom, is still a rule. Not anarchy. This contradiction was becoming clear to me in the fall of '85. Even as early as my first party, why did I love to fight? I framed it, but I still don't understand it. It goes against my beliefs as a true anarchist, but there it was. Competition, fighting, capitalism, government, the system. It's what we always did. Rednecks kicked the shit out of punks, punks kicked the shit out of mods, mods kicked the shit out of skinheads, skinheads took out the metal guys, the metal guys beat the living shit out of new wavers, and the new wavers did nothing - they were the new hippies.
What was the point? Final summation? None.”
Ok, time to go to bed, life is beautiful, see you soon !