(no subject)
And the gamers are back from GenCon, and the brother-in-law has gone home! To celebrate both of us being at home, with no imminent arrivals or departures, we had a lazy evening in with the cats tonight. So we put together a good greek-style dinner (roasted lamb and a gussied up couscous salad) and watched a movie--Dead Poets Society, to be exact. We were going through the movie shelf, and I realized I hadn't seen it since we watched it together in the first year that we were dating. Yeah, that's a long time.
It is still a really good movie. I think there are probably meaningful things to say about the cinematography, or some such--all I can say is that it is a visual treat. The actors all look (and are) very young, except of course, for the folks like Norman Lloyd (boggles at the links on his imdb page that link you to different decades of work...you know, 1930's acting, 1940's acting, 2000 acting, 2000 producing, etc, etc).
I think part of what makes that movie so good is its ambiguity. I mean, it makes Keating a hero...but his ultimate effects on those boys are very unclear. With the obvious exception of poor, doomed Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard, back when his cheekbones could cut glass), but there were other factors there as well. My perspective has certainly changed since I first watched the movie--shocking, I'm sure. The first time I saw it, I was still a teenager, and empathized entirely with the students who were being restricted and then asked to think. Now I think about the movie as a teacher potential teacher, as well as someone trying to find their own place in society...and it becomes a very complicated movie. Something like the Dead Poets Society sounds like a wonderful idea, as do Mr. Keatings teaching methods. But somehow, in the hands of those deeply repressed boys, it goes wrong in a way that it (presumably) never did for Keating and cohorts.
No deep thoughts there, I'm afraid. But it was a very nice, cozy evening.
Did I mention that we had an anniversary the weekend before last? We did. 6 years of marriage!
It is still a really good movie. I think there are probably meaningful things to say about the cinematography, or some such--all I can say is that it is a visual treat. The actors all look (and are) very young, except of course, for the folks like Norman Lloyd (boggles at the links on his imdb page that link you to different decades of work...you know, 1930's acting, 1940's acting, 2000 acting, 2000 producing, etc, etc).
I think part of what makes that movie so good is its ambiguity. I mean, it makes Keating a hero...but his ultimate effects on those boys are very unclear. With the obvious exception of poor, doomed Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard, back when his cheekbones could cut glass), but there were other factors there as well. My perspective has certainly changed since I first watched the movie--shocking, I'm sure. The first time I saw it, I was still a teenager, and empathized entirely with the students who were being restricted and then asked to think. Now I think about the movie as a teacher potential teacher, as well as someone trying to find their own place in society...and it becomes a very complicated movie. Something like the Dead Poets Society sounds like a wonderful idea, as do Mr. Keatings teaching methods. But somehow, in the hands of those deeply repressed boys, it goes wrong in a way that it (presumably) never did for Keating and cohorts.
No deep thoughts there, I'm afraid. But it was a very nice, cozy evening.
Did I mention that we had an anniversary the weekend before last? We did. 6 years of marriage!