The Village, etc.

[pauraque_bk]

appleviking drew Peter/Ron for me! It's PG-13, and it's here. w00t!

======

malograntum and I went to see The Village last night. I'm a great fan of Shyamalan -- he's like that fic writer you'll follow into any pairing, even if you can't imagine how it could work -- so although I knew this effort had received mixed reviews, my hopes were high.

As Mal put it, this premise would have worked as a Twilight Zone episode. Unfortunately, for me, it did not work as a movie. It's strikingly pretty and well-acted, and it often seems that things are happening, but it actually turns out that essentially nothing happens in the course of the story.

Ivy is an appealing character, but the wrong character for us to identify with, because she doesn't really end up learning anything. She's told that the monsters aren't real... but then shortly encounters one, or what she thinks is one, and I think the implication is that she's as much a victim of the elders' cover-up as everyone else -- as always, she's blind. She isn't present for the conversation where they decide to continue pretending the creatures were real. At the end of the movie, nothing has changed, except that we the audience know the secret. The story takes place entirely in the viewer's head.

This material could be engaging if seen from the point of view of one of the elders, because that's where the conflict really lies. There's no real reason for the elders to talk funny, or to pretend it's the 1800s (as the tombstone shows that they do) -- their children wouldn't know the difference -- it's all for the elders' benefit, to help them stay in-character. That's interesting, but Shyamalan makes it tangential.

I kept looking for some sort of allegory to make the story more meaningful, but I didn't really hit on anything that worked. Early on, I thought it resembled an allegory of the interaction between American animals and European humans... animals pressured to live in ever-shrinking territories, fearful of creatures they don't understand... Of course, that turned out not to be the case.

I was also somewhat distracted by the inevitable comparisons to Shyamalan's other movies -- the symbolism of red, as in The Sixth Sense... and the odd way the creatures were presented, visually, reminded me strongly of Signs. That probably wouldn't have been a problem if The Village itself had worked better.

We ended up talking about this in terms of fanfic. Some fics have a plot where something happens and changes, and some fics (usually drabbles) just exist to express a cool concept, and give the reader a jolt of horror, or laughter, or whatever. The latter is a story type that can't be sustained for very long, by its nature, and if it is carried on beyond the length of a ficlet, the surprise had better be REALLY cool. The Village either needed a more impressive premise, or it needed for more to happen and change as a result of the premise.

In a nutshell: Can't recommend it. It's gorgeous, though, and fails in an interesting way (as is usually the case when good writers fail). Anyone else see it?

======

Sadly, I had to cut the evening short in the midst of interesting discussion, because I'd randomly started to feel sick. I kept thinking I'd feel better in a minute, okay the next minute, okay the next... bah. I threw up after malograntum left, but still had a headache, so I went to bed. Slept for about twelve hours, and dreamed that the white flowers on the dining room table had turned to dry twigs, and my mom was cleaning them up. I told her I'd watered them, and I was surprised they'd died. She wasn't angry, and said she was surprised they'd lasted so long.

Then other things happened, and later on I was in a movie theater, maybe at the GoF movie, and leaning against my mom's shoulder. I realized then that it had to be a dream, and in my dream-stupid way, was impressed by how realistic it was -- her warmth, the bright film light between the seats in front of me.

I woke up and fed the cat, and then thought I'd go back to bed just for a few minutes. Turned out to be a few hours. I must have been more tired than I could possibly have realized.

Comments

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

Your dream is beautiful and sad. When my father died, I had endless dreams... None were as poetic and symbolic as yours -- the white flowers, the bright light of the screen -- but they were telling, nonetheless. I kept dreaming he was phoning me, which spoke to that terrible sense of absence one feels in realizing that people who pass on are so wholly absent and unreachable. No phone in the world can reach them. They leave no forwarding address.

As for your mystery illness... it could well be stress and fatigue. But there's also an evil little bug going around the Bay Area. Do take care of yourself, homeboy.

[dailyplanet.livejournal.com]

***SPOILERS, MAYBE****

** DON'T READ IF PLANNING TO VILLAGE-IT-UP SOME TIME **


M Night Shamalalayaian definitely has some bizarre morality. I think his latest movies are just plain nasty. In Signs, the point seemed to be that you're not a good person unless you believe in "some kind of mysticism". It didn't really matter what you believe in, just "something". His "There are two kinds of people" speech was just nasty. Not to mention that Mel Gibson only starts believing in God again because he thinks God decided to be merciful and not kill his kid, having already killed the Mom previously --- so basically Mel's love-hate relationship with his God is not a healthy one.

In The Village, the "evil" could all be tracked to one character, the insane one. The one without credible human motives. Maybe he was retarded, I don't know. He was too loony to stab Joaquin Phoenix without getting caught, but was smart enough to plan an elaborate deception on the town involving costumes etc... Anyway, he was the only bad thing about the Village. Once he got slayed, all was good again. What the heck is this??? I would have respected it a little more if Mr. Retardo wasn't mentally ill, just a normal human with normal human failings like greed or lust.

William Hurt's Speech of Satisfaction at the end of the movie summed it all up. The Village was an awesome idea. People will be good to each other as long as they don't have steam engines. MNS was saying that you CAN lock evil out of people if you just remove them from the modern world & terrorize them into pastoral living --- His movies are getting really nasty, as well as goofy.

[malograntum.livejournal.com]

In The Village, the "evil" could all be tracked to one character, the insane one. The one without credible human motives. Maybe he was retarded, I don't know. He was too loony to stab Joaquin Phoenix without getting caught, but was smart enough to plan an elaborate deception on the town involving costumes etc...

I might have missed something, but I don't think we were meant to think that Noah (the insane character) was behind the new wave of "Those we don't speak of" attacks. I thought there was a line indicating that William Hurt's character believed one of the other elders was responsible, but we're never told which one, and it came across to me as a little extra mystery for anyone who cared enough to watch it twice.

William Hurt's Speech of Satisfaction at the end of the movie summed it all up. The Village was an awesome idea. People will be good to each other as long as they don't have steam engines.

While I found MNS's world view as expressed in "Signs" to be surprisingly facile, I didn't think he was putting forward the elders of the Village as paragons of morality and good sense. Wm. Hurt's "If that is still what we wish to do" at the end of that speech read, to me, like a vast understatement of the fact that the rest of the speech tries valiantly to ignore: their little world is unsustainable and will crumble no matter what they do.

This is not to deny that, as Eo said, the movie as a whole was unimpressive. In addition to the complaints that he listed, I was naturally disappointed by the fact that nothing gay ever happened with Michael Pitt's character. 'Cause, dude, it's Michael Pitt.

(Actually, when Lucius said, "There are different kinds of love", right before we saw that Noah had stabbed him, I honestly wondered for a moment if Noah was about to try to kiss him instead.) (But that would have required more plot development than MNS was in a mood to give.)

[bardsmaid.livejournal.com]

I told her I'd watered them, and I was surprised they'd died. She wasn't angry, and said she was surprised they'd lasted so long.

Wow, what a truth about her life. I'm glad you saw your mom, Eo, even if only in a dream. I remember several dreams after my younger daughter died where I almost got to see her (where, for instance, I was on my way to pick her up from someplace.) Words can't express how it ached to wake up from a dream like that.

Grief will wear you down and make you tired, so your long hours of sleep don't surprise me. Ultimately, grief is a marathon. Pace yourself and run each length as best you can. You will reach the end, and feel strong again.

[spican.livejournal.com]

Bardsmaid said the wise stuff that I lack experience to think of. So I'll just nod to that and give you a hug. {{{{{{Eo}}}}}} You're very much in my thoughts these days, especially with my own Dad's surgery looming on the horizon.

Also wanted to let you know that your post about AI being a cause your mother supported has made me sign up to rejoin AI (I used to be a member when I was a student) in their Urgent monthly campaign -- something I've thought to do for ages but somehow never got around to. So that will be the little thing I'll do in honor of her memory. And a big thanks to you, for indirectly helping me get off my complacent butt and do this.