Thursday, September 30, 2010

Week 4: Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Dear Avid Reader,

Is Pee-Wee supposed to be a kid or just a weird dude?

Children are people, but they just kind of suck at everything. And they are kind of selfish and mean. Kids are just a-holes who are bad at everything. There, I said it.

Be Sure And Tell 'Em "Large Marge Sent Ya"!

Pee-Wee I think is supposed to be kind of a kid. "Kind of a kid". What the heck am I writing here? Pee-Wee exhibits all the signs of being a child. He has no job. He rides a bike. He uses alternative methods to power his home. Wait...is Pee-Wee a hippie? Or a hipster? Why am I asking questions in the middle of this post?

The distorted reality is reflective of a child's distorted reality. The clown in the parking lot changes from a happy clown to a nightmarish clown in the aftermath of the bike theft. This embeds as a full blown phobia in the fragile psyche of a child. Later int he movie Pee-Wee is further tormented by image of the clown in his dreams. That and clown's are scary.

Things You Wouldn't Understand. Things You Couldn't Understand. Things You Shouldn't Understand.

The movie is cartoonish in that it exaggerates reality. When something is taken from them, people become suspicious. Do they normally gather everyone they know in a basement and begin hurling accusations? No. When someone is sitting next to a singing hobo, they become annoyed. But do they fling themselves from a train? Usually not.

But is the cartoonishness the fantasy? I think it may be reality in that the cartoon is how we actually perceive thing once we add emotional color to the facts. So, perhaps when we are children, we are as we truly are. Unfiltered. Tantrum-throwing. Suspicious. Obsessed. Dancing on a bar for bikers. Do our impulses wane with age, or do we learn to suppress them? Are extreme behaviors us escaping reality, or embracing reality? Is the person you are deep in your bones the civilized cog in the machine, or the violent warrior in the video game you play?

Is Pee-Wee a child, or an adult that is finally at peace with his true identity?

Until Next I Blog,

James

2 comments:

Jordan said...

And is there anything that says it can't be both? I'm the violent warrior with a tendency toward ridiculous, embarrassing behaviors because I think it's more fun that way.

Pee Wee is one weird dude, though.

James said...

He is weird....but his house is awesome. And his playhouse.