Sun 18 Apr 21:06:11 KST 2021
Dear Gopherspace,
It's been a while since my last update. I've been busy at work.
I received a lovely email from gopher user f6k about how my phlogs
about teaching in Korea reminded them of their own time teaching
abroad. It's so nice to feel there are others out there with
similar thoughts and similar love for this wonderful protocol.
f6k's gopherhole (in French and English):
gopher://shl.huld.re
I watched "Manchester by the Sea" for the first time last week.
It's an incredible movie. Years ago, I watched "Margaret", also by
Kenneth Lonergan. I really, really loved that movie too. Both
movies deal with the theme of 'tragedy', although Manchester By The
Sea is more direct about it I think. It's a difficult movie to
watch. The chemistry between Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges makes
the movie something exceptional.
I can't remember Margaret too well, but I feel it was a totally
different vibe. I definitely want to go back and re-watch it soon.
I remember it being a lot more 'cryptic' than Manchester by the Sea
was. In Manchester, the tragedy is clear and brutal and there's no
turning away from it or no way to come to terms with it. It just
'is'. But with Margaret, the tragedy seemed a little more
'classical' (Greek). Maybe it was just due to the
editing/structuring of the film (I'm pretty sure I saw the
shorter, non-directors-cut version), but there were more ellipses,
more empty space, more of a sense of something 'larger' at play,
just out of reach of the characters' understanding.
I remember at the time being fascinated with the main character,
and her lack of an 'entry' point in terms of trying to understand
her. After watching it, I mentally made a list of some other female
leads that were similarly inscrutable:
- Morven Callar from 'Morven Callar'
- The alien from Under the Skin
- Victoria from 'Victoria'
These are all fairly recent movies, and I feel there is something
quite contemporary about these kinds of representations of female
leads. They seem to reject both classical cinema's objectification
of women, but also modern, 'progressive' attempts to portray
uncomplicated/powerful/liberated female leads. There were similar,
inscrutable women in classical cinema too, like Jeanne Dielman,
etc. But, again, there also seemed to be something political going
on in those representations. There is a book by Stanley Cavell
called "Contesting Tears" that I've been told deals with this
topic. I'll have to read it at some point.
