Further thoughts on Fahrenheit 9/11, though I'd have to see again to give a properly thought out commentary: I thought a couple of dodgy bits were the pre-invasion Iraq scenes with the people looking all happy (its not like the Baath party were a good government to live under), and the taking the piss out of the coalition of the willing by showing Morocco, Costa Rica etc - but not Britain, Spain, Australia or Japan. It was good the scrupulous avoidance of the footage of planes flying into the towers though, instead focussing on the people's reactions. I wanted to know what George W did after the 7 minutes in the classroom. And it would have been good to have some explanation of why Osama bin Laden hates America (as far as my limited understanding goes, it's because of America using Saudi Arabia as a base during the first gulf war - that can't be all surely?), and what were the supposed links between Hussein & bin Laden (even if they were bogus - aren't they enemies?).
Just occurred to me that this post's probably got 'keywords' in it which could bring it up to be read by some government official... hi there.
Overall I found Bowling for Columbine more interesting, but that's because that film took a more speculative sociological view about wider issues in American culture, whereas a story about corruption among 'the elite' isn't really surprising - my own view is that anyone who wants to be president probably has to be hopelessly corrupt to stand a chance (hmm, I wonder how Frank Zappa would have done if he hadn't come down with cancer and had run for president as he said he would...).
It was also interesting that the American soldiers used the Bloodhound Gang to get themselves pumped up for battle. I used to hate that band at high school. And then there was Britney Spears talking about it being best to follow 'our' president - hang on, isn't she British? Those two scenes confirmed some of my suspicions about mainstream pop music presenting dodgy ideologies. These days though pop's pretty irrelevant to me. I do remember when I was 19 and living in my first flat having stereo battles with one of the flatmates - she kept putting Bloodhound Gang on in the lounge and I'd put on Einstürzende Neubauten (the liner notes said "the Neubauten ethos can be summarised in a phrase: 'to be no part of it'"). The other flatmate was a big Frank Zappa fan... I'm rambling.
I've been listening to Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks the last few days (my pattern is to listen to two or three albums constantly for a week or so then move on to others); maybe explains my melancholic outlook the last few days. It's a deeply sad album, in a quite beautiful way. I don't know if I could ever write that well. It's an interesting developmen for Dylan's writing in that the characters in the songs are not just caricatures with funny names ('Mack the Finger said to Louie the King / I got 40 red white & blue shoestrings' etc) but much more like 'real' people with emotional lives. He does some really interesting stuff switching from third to first person and moving around in time in the songs (he said the album was 'different because it has yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the one room'). There's a sense of it all taking place in some other period in history, maybe the old west or even biblical times.
Rambling again. Any excuse to avoid homework. I guess it's something to do with me needing to develop my writing past the caricature level. The last short story I finished was quite fragmentary in form. There's so much to learn with writing, I feel like I'm at the absolute beginner stage. There was a sentence about soldiers drinking wine to overcome fear before a battle - could be a very powerful scene if I could describe it well. Would work well on film. In fact there's an idea for a short film... Ever see the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth?
There's a lot of stuff that I'm just scratching the surface of (hence title of my first album). Will have to somehow bring it all together in a way that could provide entertainment to someone. But first I've got this homework assignment to do. That's the one thing I dislike about this course, there's never any real free time because there's always something due in the background which gets distracting. Part of the reason I didn't do too well at high school (apart from English) was that I was philosophically opposed to homework - home-time should be free-time - so didn't do it on principle. I'd like to have a job where I could concentrate and put my energy into it while I'm at work, and then be free when I go home to think about other things. I guess this whole narrative-building thing that I do through the albums & stories etc is mainly a psychological defence mechanism against anomie, but I can live with that...
Postscript, 10:25am: I think I've screwed up. I'm at the Regional Council for my weekly work experience - I rescheduled it this week from Thursday to Tuesday so I could go for an overnight tramp on Wednesday/Thursday. But my friend Dave who I'm going with says he can only do a one-day tramp on Wednesday. And the work I have to do here at the council involves writing about a proposal for a wetland at Wainuiomata and about flood protection along the Hutt River - and the decisions about which plans to go with won't be made until Thursday so can't really say a lot. I would have been better off spending today on my Treaty of Waitangi assignment and coming to the council on Thursday as usual. As it is I'll probably have the assignment done on Thursday, three days late rather than one. Aaarrgh!
Post-postscript, midday: OK I reached a compromise and have taken the afternoon off from the council to work on the assignment. I wasn't getting much done there this morning anyway. Back on Thursday. Now am I going to waste the afternoon blogging or am I going to get some work done?
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
Posted by fiffdimension at August 31, 2004 08:23 AM | TrackBackNahhhhh.....Britney is American through and through. Born December 2, 1982, in the small town of Kentwood, LA.
I think the point of showing the pre-American bombing Iraq was less to do with 'people were happy under the old regime' and more to do with 'people are happy when their houses aren't blown up and American soldiers aren't storming into their houses whenever they want'.
Just my 2 points :)
Posted by: jenni at September 2, 2004 02:37 PMI think it's sad that Britney, or any other adult with a mind of their own, would say that we should just follow the Dear Leader unquestioningly. That way lies danger...
Posted by: phreq at September 4, 2004 08:44 AM