Being On the Town

[commonpeople1]

Kevin and I want to watch every movie made by Hal Ashby, the director of Harold and Maude. Sunday night, we watched his penultimate film, Being There [trailer]. I had vague memories of seeing it before in Brasil, as a child, but I didn't take much from it back then. The movie is, in many ways, like Harold and Maude -- about age, happiness, the meaning of life -- but it's also an allegory on the role of the buddhist in the modern world. Buddhism, or religion in general, is never mentioned; but the main character's lack of past and family, and his simple home truths and lack of engagement with the real world made me think of the Buddha. The last line of the film, as Chance (as he is called *wink wink, nudge nudge*) walks over the water, is "life is a state of mind".

Last night, Mark scored Ricardo and I some tickets to see the musical On The Town. Ricardo wore a beautiful Italian blazer, with a silk shirt underneath (being new to London, he thought everyone dressed up for the opera.) I looked positively scruffy in comparison. We had a few beers in a pub on St Martin's Lane, where we discovered the bar staff were from Brasil (and gayer.) I think Ricardo will find a boyfriend in this city in no time.

Mark, Natalia and Ian joined us for a quick beer before the show. It was the show's press night; it was also the biggest musical I ever saw on stage. The grandmother from Absolutely Fabulous played a drunk music teacher, eliciting the biggest laugh when she said: "Art and sex don't mix. If they did, I would have shot straight to the top." Nothing like a drunk old lady with a loose mouth to get the Coliseum smiling.

The show had a hot sailor called Gabey (pronounced Gay-be), a taxi that nearly drove into the orchestra, a giant dinossaur, and a typical New York apartment (including those outdoor fire escape stairs that many New Yorkers use during Summer heatwaves - or so I imagine.) The stage was constantly filled with dancers and singers; a suspended piano played songs in the Konga Bar; and it was only a shame that the three main sailors didn't take off their uniforms during one of the songs. The perils of sticking to a musical's 1940s roots. Production images here.

Comments

[foucaultonacid.livejournal.com]

being there and H&M are two of my favourite films - i'd never made the link before of same director. they are special works indeed.

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

I wasn't aware that they had the same director until now, either!

Now I have to seek out more Hal Ashby films ... .

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

If you watch any of them soon, let me know what you think!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

You can see why it would be interesting to see all of Hal Ashby's films. Additionally, check out Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, a biography of that time period (New Hollywood, 1970s). Hal Ashby comes across as one of the most important directors of that period.

[msanthropist.livejournal.com]

I own both of those films, and the complete AbFab on DVD!!! Ahhh...good times, good times...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I want to own all of those too. One day, when I feel settled somewhere, I want to build a proper film collection.

[izzybees]

Being There is hilarious satire on modern life, but apparently the book is much better. I got it a week ago but haven't read it yet.

I contrast Chance the Gardener with Kaspar Hauser (in Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) in my head--they both lived lives of seclusion until circumstances thrust them out into the world. Kaspar Hauser cannot integrate--he never learned language and is aggravated by its limits when he does; he doesn't understand the necessity of logic or religion; he finds it impossible to connect with people, and other people find him disturbing for his lack of socialization--in many ways he is infinitely freer than they are, even though he was kept locked up for his entire childhood. He never had the same social limitations placed on him.

On the contrary, although Chance spent much of his life in isolation, he spent that time watching television and gaining all of the social skills he needed from everyone's favourite source of disappointment with their very non-Hollywood lives. When he comes into the world armed with an arsenal of clichéd phrases and scripted reactions, people consider him an oracle, because they have the same reverence for the same nonsense they see all the time on television. So if you're going to become a recluse but you want to make sure you'll still be able to connect with people when/if you emerge, don't stop watching television. :P

Also, I finished The Handmaid's Tale last night. Wonderful.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I need to watch The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser again; I don't think I appreciated it as much when I saw it for the first time.

Chance's addiction to TV reminded me of that Buddhist tenet, that our thoughts are like passing clouds; in order to attain Nirvana, we must let go of them, stop assigning meaning to them. He spends the whole movie searching for televisions, in the strangest settings, because that's what he craves; but the last shot is of him entering the woods, completely free of that desire; and finally walking over the water.

Another scene I really liked was the seduction in the bedroom, where Shirley Maclaine lies on the floor, on top of the stuffed bear (animal instincts?) masturbating, while he's above her, on the bed, trying to immitate a yoga pose he sees on TV.

I'm not sure if it's entirely meant to be a positive take on Buddhism, but the aspects of that philosophy are there and I wonder what exactly the director was trying to say. That Buddhism is impossible in our modern life? That a true buddhist would be taken as a saviour? Or perhaps a true buddhist would be used by the powers that be? (as the men in the movie begin making plans to substitute the president for Chance.)

We are watching Harold and Maude this weekend, and I can't wait! And I'm glad you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. xoxo

[izzybees]

I really do not think Being There has anything to do with Buddhism specifically, but the nihilism of modern life and the foolishness of people who take the words of a television addict as wisdom. The act of him walking on water is not nirvana to me but an illustration of his disconnection from reality: he doesn't sink because he doesn't realize he is supposed to.

Chance is the logical extension of those suffering from the existential predicament. For Mersault, "the very monotony of the journey satisfied him" (73). For Chance, there is no such need for a journey: there is no point. Television takes him on any journey he desires and monotony is not satisfying, it is inscribed.

In The Stranger, Mersault struggles with the concept of guilt and with his own guilt for having been a (passive) participant in a murder. Mersault, the Twentieth-Century Everyman, is guilty, not so much because of murder, but, as David Sprintzen contends, because "his guilt seems to lie precisely in his not having willed anything" (36). This same sense of guilt should apply to Chance as well, and, implicitly, to we as a culture. Chance, the victimized innocent, is guilty of existential apathy: this is where we have come. Sadly, this lack of desire, this self-imposed superficiality, is--has to be--a pre-existing condition. TV is simply the medium Kosinski chooses to express his point. As Sherwin relates, for Kosinksi, the innocent victim [such as the boy in The Painted Bird] of society is to be empathized with and to be protected against victimization. However, the individual who denies his own individuality, who permits society to pre-empt his own freedom of action, is a "dead soul" deserving of disappointment and regret rather than pity. (36)

Mersualt, unlike Chance, is capable of coming to a realization. While his realization is finality, he learns how to have a "happy death." Chance, as a walking image, never existed and never will exist in anything other than projections of wish fulfillment fantasies. Chance, and the implied we--if we do not learn our lessons--has less ability to think and feel than most animals. Chance is the new Mersualt--the antithesis of our potential and the manifestation of our increasing reality. As Kosinski tells us, when Chance leaves (both his society and the book itself), "not a thought lifted itself from [his] brain" (118). Chance, the image, the name, is simply serving as a substitute for the person whose name could, and in Kosinski's perception perhaps should, be there: ours.

from The Dialectics of Getting There: Kosinski's Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I must try to get a copy of the book; these are very interesting ideas. :-)

What do you make of Chance not crying at the beginning of the movie, when the old man dies, but then showing emotion at Ben's death? Is there hope perhaps?

[izzybees]

I think so, but this is unique to the movie. The director made quite a few changes to the storyline (the walking-on-water scene being one of them). As far as I know Chance leaves the book precisely as he entered it.

The book is very short so I can send it to you when I am finished with it if you like. :)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

That would be great. I'll send it back to you when I'm done reading it -- actually, let me check the local libraries first because maybe they have a copy.

It will be interesting to contrast the movie with the book.

xo

[izzybees]

You wouldn't have to send it back. I like sending books out into the world instead of leaving them to collect dust, never to be read again, on my windowsill.

Just let me know!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Well... if you don't mind, that's great! xo

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

The grandmother from Absolutely Fabulous

99% of your UK readers will know the mighty June Whitfield as a stalwart comedy actress of radio and TV from the last 50 years. She's one of those who transcended any roles they may have taken, and hit "national treasure" status.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

99% of my readers are American and Brasilian. ;-)

[stormecho.livejournal.com]

I can't remember Being There, but I believe I've seen it. I still remember my bf making me watch H&M - one of those that fall under the category of delightfully disturbing.

Is On the Town an opera?

Scruffy is good.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

On the Town is a Popera, as my friend called it. It's mostly a musical, but there are moments of ballet and opera thrown in; and it's showing at the English National Opera. It's good, light entertainment.

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a wonderful evening.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was. :-)

[meemeedarling.livejournal.com]

Also. I am very, very glad to hear the good news about your brother..

I lost that post somewhere - so I am replying here!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Cheers babe.