Unnatural & Accidental Meta (essay)
Timelines, Rita, and who the hell is Aunt Shadie? Making sense of Unnatural & Accidental.
Also known as: a big mess of my thoughts jumbled up on the page, adding up to 2800 words.
Spoilery, of course.
( In which I go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. )
Also known as: a big mess of my thoughts jumbled up on the page, adding up to 2800 words.
Spoilery, of course.
( In which I go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. )
Terrific post and terrific essay. Pointed out things I hadn't noticed and/or hadn't thought about. Very informative with the articles and the background and links. Thank you!
My two cents:
I think I am in the extreme (nonexistent?) minority here when I say, I totally loved CKR as Norman. Not even ironically. I loved him. Completely. And here's why:
Despite the fact that CKR is forever playing 'bad guys', his roles always seem to me to be not quite convincing. He comes off as a) somewhat silly slapstick (e.g. Ben Cutler in "Gunless") or b) evil, yeah, but kind of watered down (Daniel Holt in "H2O"). Those roles are fine within the framework of the movies they take place in, but I like to see CKR (or any actor) show off his limits, be the virtuoso, once in a while. Now, Leoben from Battlestar Galactica, I love. He's creepy, unpredictable, unstable, and weirdly charming. I can see Leoben. Even as I'm waiting for Kara to freakin' stab him in the neck again, I see him as a real person and I am deeply interested in him. That's what Norman is like for me.
Norman's job, apparently, is to help people. I find that fascinating. CKR pulls that off so well, that genuine feel of "I've been where you are, and I turned my life around. So can you." But then we see him drinking with his buddy and showing off his Indian jokes and sex (actually rape/murder) trophies. I know CKR says that he wanted to create a 'flat' character, but I could see the complexities in Norman that made him believable and extremely interesting. Unlike all the women characters, whom I found flat and mostly formulaic and boring. (And I found Rebecca downright annoying: depressed, whiny, ungrateful, wooden, lacking in common sense.) It was Norman who carried the film for me. I honestly felt more sympathy for him than for anyone else in the film.
Not sympathy as in I felt sorry for him, no. But sympathy as in, I could see him as a real human being. I could relate to him. And I wish, I hope that was intentional. Because that is what made the film for me -- the fact that the White serial murderer is the most solid character, the one I can most see myself in, in the movie. That enforces the irony, the tragedy, the message of the film in my mind. (If you have seen and liked the HBO series Dexter, you know what I mean.)
And I definitely think CKR had everything to do with that. So even though it was a difficult part for him to play, I absolutely loved him in it.
Loved this:
And while the film devotes disappointingly few techniques to pointing out the authorities'/society's neglect of the victims (the newspapers throughout, the early scenes with the dismissive pathologist) in favor of extended and repeated scenes death scenes, I think the early scenes of Norman set him up as more than just one loser with a serious mental glitch but as an active limb of a malignant establishment.
And also the entire paragraph about Norman-as-mechanic.
Re: Shadie as helper
I liked that about her, that she is obviously different and powerful (shamanistic). To Norman, though, she's just another Indian bitch. He has absolutely no idea what vengeance he set in motion when he brutalized and killed her, so his own motive for his crimes (prejudice) is also his downfall.
Re: book of missing women
That confused me as well. They're at the station to report a possibly missing women, and so to help her, the police officer gives her a book of missing women to look at? What?
Re: Rebecca and women
It bothered me (before I knew they were dead) that when Rebecca met the women on the street, she didn't bother to show them the picture of her mother, as if even she is dismissing these women as nothings and undesirables. The lady with the cigarettes has to get in her face to force her to interact with her/them. The pink girl, too. Later, Rebecca has to get drunk to interact with the others. I suppose that could be part of the message of the film as well.
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