Week 12: Red Dawn

Dear Avid Reader,

Art imitates reality imitates art. Chicken and the egg. You dig what I'm putting down. I can tell.

Tell Me What's The Difference Between Us And Them

An action movie rarely mirrors life. Usually a dude or group o' dudes takes on a huge army and overcomes using controlled explosions and snappy one liners. There are few examples of this actually happening. And I find it hilarious that our action movies cast the scrappy band of insurgents as heroes and the large advanced army as the villains. I guess maybe we should have blamed the unrest in Iraq on movies like Red Dawn.

And why single out Red Dawn? Because it is a movie that I remember watching as a kid and taking it in as a how-to-film. No seriously. I didn't watch it as much as study it. The thought was not IF the Russians (or anyone) was going to attack, but WHEN. In the initial hours of the invasion, children needed to run away and gather as much supplies as you could. Then setting up camp was vital. And all survivors who made it for a month or so, MUST start a counter attack from behind enemy lines. Never surrender. What happened to my childhood Patrick Swayze? You stole it!

All That Hate's Gonna Burn You Up, Kid.

The characters showed a young generation that they could be extraordinarily successful at harassing the enemy with lightning raids. They used the familiar woods to their advantage, and set traps and stole equipment. And what kid wouldn't want to be in a Red Dawn scenario? No parents, calling your own shots, shooting guns, fighting for...something...America, maybe? Hey why are we killing all these people Pony-Boy*?

*Watch "The Outsiders" to get that joke.

The youngsters in the movie go Lord of the Flies and start slaying people real early in the movie. Why is this? Easy, the adults are too lazy/smart/dumb/awful-human to fight and they get the kids to do it for them. And they start working on the kids early. Mr. Morris is the first adult they meet and he gives them guns and tells them to never come back. Mr. Mason gives them more weapons and gives Jed the impression that he is able to care for his girls. He even tells him that he is a famous "leader". All of this is very attractive to the boys. They so want to please these men, that they are literally willing to die for them.

The Chair Is Against The Wall, John Has A Long Mustache

The prime moment is when does Mr. Eckert screams "Avenge Me". This is the most selfish thing to tell anyone. I'm about to die but I want to die knowing that someone else is gonna die. And this is all after he tells them that his brutal parenting style was to prepare them for this moment of invasion. This post is starting to have shades of The Cowboys post. I'll move on.

Now that the kids are fully brainwashed, they solidify into a very lethal strike force. But in addition to showing kids how to prepare for fights and surviving off the land/enemy, Red Dawn also prepare the viewer for the harsh realities of guerrilla warfare. Don't trust someone claiming to be a friendly solider right off the bat. Turn your grief into rage. Violence is your new therapy. Shoot traitors, period. Never leave a wounded squad member behind, in fact, kill them if you have to. Discipline is king. And it's O.K. to give a woman a gun...it's an emergency after all.

Wolverines!

This is why Red Dawn stands out as an action movie. It is fiction that tries to impact the reality of the audience. It isn't simply entertainment. Red Dawn tries to get the viewer to ask if they are prepared for an invasion. And if they aren't prepared, then the movie provides the novice with what World War III might look like. It will be hard, it will be tough, but in the end America will win through perserverance and loyalty to the Grand Ole Flag. Just sacrifice your life and your grave rock will be turned into a national park.

And isn't the promise of glory after death the best way to recruit martyrs?

Until Next I Blog,

James

P.S. Nice move stoking the fear of Gun Rights Activists by having the enemy use the gun registry to track down the gun owners and kill them. I thought that was hilarious.

Week 11: The Longest Yard

Dear Avid Reader,

Or should I just write, "What's up Jordan?"

It is so easy to get behind on this, but I'm fighting back.

Shaving Points Off Of A Football Game, Man That's Un-American

In an another movie, "The Devil's Advocate", the Devil says that his favorite sin is vanity. Vanity/pride is very tricky because it can be kinda sneaky. It can be the ninja of attributes. Because sometimes, just sometimes, what is clearly pride is named virtue. Oh yeah, that is some straight up assassin shit right there.

Paul "Ridiculous Nickname" Crewe is the embodiment of this. See Paul is a bad-ass. This makes him very likable. The way he just doesn't care. It's really attractive. Paul just casts off the beautiful woman that presumably keeps him as a man of pleasure. And rather than find contentment in the arms of carnal pleasure and the wealth that has come so easy to him, he pushes it all aside to become his own man. Whatever that means. He's a total jerk. He's a real asshole. In other words, he's the dream of men everywhere.

You've Only Got Two Things Left They Can't Sweat Out Of You Or Beat Out Of You

After his arrest and sentencing the movie is one clash of macho pride after the other. The Captain that won't relinquish control of the semi-pro guard team. The warden that needs a win in order to validate himself. The prisoners that want to hit the guards out of frustration over being jailed. The black prisoners who eventually join the team after Granny is humiliated in the prison library. The answer to every problem is giving into your pride, never backing down. This is why there is still war in the world.

And the biggest moment, the lesson of the movie, is when Pop reveals that punching the warden was worth a life sentence in jail. This of course is ridiculous. This means that you can do whatever you want so long as you accept the consequences. But that is a really awful philosophy in practice. What about when schoolyard fights escalate into gun violence? What about when getting cut-off results in road rage? What if Pop killed the warden? Would he still be thought of as endearing?

But Burt Reynolds is still a bad ass. This movie is still awesome because the underdogs overcome the bully guards. But I'm left conflicted. I mean some of these people are in jail because they are bullies themselves. These are criminals after all. Maybe they need some humility. Maybe the best thing for them would have been to lose that game.

For Nate, For Granny... For Caretaker

What is the point of this analysis? I'm not sure anymore. I started out with this really great idea, but it has gotten away from me. I guess lately I haven't been as funny in the posts as I have been in the past. That kinda sucks. Maybe I'm just in a low place personally.

Maybe it's because I hate bullies so much and this movie lightly hints at that issue for me. I want to expose that being an ultra macho, never back down guy is really dumb. It leads to pointless fighting. Rather than attack, all of these characters have a moment when they should have asked themselves, "Is this really worth it."

It's not. For me Pops, it's not worth it.

Until Next i Blog,

James

Week 10: The Cowboys

Dear Avid Reader,

Ugh. More writing. Are you even reading this? Who cares. I'm writing it anyways.

Geez I'm a real downer today. Moving on.

He's Quiet...It Just Comes Out Loud

What is it about fathers? Dads are funny and cool. But when it comes to one's own father, isn't there a little bit of resentment. Maybe even hate?

John Wayne is often blamed for the emotional withdrawal of the American father. I tend to agree with this. Look no further than this week's film. Wil Andersen is a big believer in the "tough love" school of parenting. And viewers typically get a sense that they are supposed to find this endearing. This is because the kids rally around his death and steal the cattle back from Long-Haired Dan. I think they were just worried about not getting paid.

Alright! We've Seen What You Can Do With A Boy, How Are You When They Come A Little Bigger?

Viewers shouldn't gloss over of the fact that Wil's actual children turned out to be "bad". This should give viewers pause. Even Wil admits that he might have failed them in some way. So we see that being tough is cool, so long as it is is for a month, and as an employee. It's when someone has to put up with it for an entire childhood, it kinda pisses them off. And it doesn't even teach you how to be "good", you turn out "bad". Face it, acting like John Wayne makes for a sucky parent.

There is a notion that tough love is some how good. But what is "tough love"? Let's define it, at least for parenting. The worst way I can describe it is that the parent acts straight up distant and cold, like Wil Andersen in the movie. Only showing small hints of having a warm-blooded heart. The best way I can describe it is being nice to a child until they break the rules. Then the parent MUST punish them and become an entirely mean person. It's "for their own good". But isn't that the way an employer treats an employee? Or how a cop treats a driver at a traffic stop? Isn't "for your own good" the reason that TSA gives for having to touch an air-traveler's swimsuit area?

Tough love advocates will say this definition is too simplistic, but I say it is accurate. And if they don't like my spanking by essay, then they can sit in the time out corner. Don't make me take my literary belt off.

Slap Some Bacon On A Biscuit And Let's Go! We're Burnin' Daylight!

Let's try some emotional appeal. When a parent dies do they want the following scenario?

Scene opens in a church, at a funeral. A middle-aged man walks to the podium. He looks at the open casket. The body of his father lies peacefully within. The man clears his throat and grips the podium. "My father, was a man. And above all else he expected us to be disciplined. And that is what I will remember most, his corrections. No one here could say they had a more fair or more professional father than I did. That is all." The middle-aged man walks slowly back to his pew and grips his wife's hand and cautions his own children about being disruptive in a church. Scene.

Parenting shouldn't be results based. A family isn't a company. Looking at an offspring's manners or good behavior as the chief criteria for success is dumb. It basically means that the parent is most interested in how the child is perceived by others because the offspring is a reflection of themselves. And that is, to put it eloquently, bullcrap.

Boys Are Always Guilty Of Something Nasty. What Could It Be This Time, I Wonder?

When Wil dies, he looks into the eyes of the children and tells them, that they are better than he is. He could have been encouraging them the whole cattle drive but withheld his kind words to make them hard for a harder world. In fact, in the case of Stuttering Bob, he humiliates the kid for having a speech disorder. Seriously?

But why does he relent at the end? It's because he realizes there, as life is ebbing away, what a total asshole he has been. He wants to try and go back on a lifetime of holding his loved ones at arm's length. A lifetime spent grinding rather than loving. He becomes scared. He realizes that his legacy is one of pain.

Why didn't he yield? Why didn't he accept the people closest to him even though they made mistakes? Maybe the mistakes weren't that bad. No, of course they weren't. Are his sons near? Maybe he could apologize now. No, they are long gone. They finally left him, weary from being being told they didn't measure up.

But, he was only thinking of them, right. Couldn't they see that by pushing them away he was preparing them for the cruelty they were to face after they left home? Only, now does he realize that he was taking away the only refuge someone has in the harsh reality of gowning up. He took away their home. Home became the harsh world. He turned it into a place that was not a sanctuary, but just another place they we going to be disappointed. Another place that they were excluded. Wil prepared them, all to well.

Big Mouth Don't Make A Big Man

But these kids, these cowboys that surround him now. They will remember Wil. Wil wants to change. He wants these boys to know that he is proud of them. Like Ebeneezer Scrooge, he wants a second chance. He sees the light, the error of his ways. These kids will receive all the goodness that Wil's sons never received.

But alas, it's too late. One line can't reverse the hurricane of "tough love" that Wil devoted his whole life to churning. And breaking and showing a softness here as he is dying is truly the weakest thing he can do. It proves that he wasn't brutalizing these people for them, he was doing it for himself. At this crucial moment, he looks in the face of his life and he blinks.

The casket is closed Wil. No take backs.

Until Next I Post,

James

Week 9: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Dear Avid Reader,

Today it's hard for me to come up with an angle. I kinda have half of an idea.

Why am I telling you this?

When You Have To Shoot, Shoot. Don't Talk

First off, Blondie isn't necessarily "good". The guy double-crosses Tuco, tricks lawmen with his collect the reward scheme, and he kills folks. He's kind of moral in that he feels disgust over the deaths of Civil War soldiers, but he's hardly ethical. Now I know ethics and morals are essentially the same thing, but for this post I am making a distinction. Watch me use my posting kung-fu.

Here are the definintions for this post. Morals will mean inherent goodness: Empathy, compassion, a fairness. Ethics, for this posting, will refer to rule-following: Laws, decorum, an obedience.

People With Ropes Around Their Necks Don't Always Hang

So when we see Blondie we see a man who is willing to break some rules but still has a "code". In addition to the fallen soldiers, he shows emotion when the Union Captain is wounded at the bridge. He expresses regret when Shorty is hung. He has a goodness. But he is a bandit. He steals and kills in order to survive. He also has a badness.

Angel Eyes is much easier to define. The dude is definitely "bad". He robs and kills just like the others, but there is something different about him. It's that he has no code. He tortures, he manipulates, he doesn't care about the soldiers that he works with dying. Angel Eyes has neither ethics or morals. And he loves every minute of it.

The World Is Divided In To Two Kinds Of People...

So obviously Tuco is some combination of the two. He tortures Blondie in the desert. He allows Shorty to die even though Blondie could have saved him. But he also wants to reconcile with his brother. I could go on, but I feel like you could fill in the blanks here. The guy is both good and bad.

And I think this is where we reside mostly, even though thought repulses us. But we don't want to be Tuco in the movie because we want to be good people, it's because Tuco is bullied by the other two. He gets beaten for information that he eventually gives up. Blondie isn't even touched because Angel Eyes knows it Blondie will never break. But with Tuco, Tuco will break. Tuco is weak.

Tuco he even gives up the goods to Blondie, and Blondie doesn't lay a finger on him. Blondie also steals Tuco's bullets while he's asleep. Tuco always seems to be a step behind. He gets the drop on Blondie, but Blondie quickly regains the upper hand in the relationship. Is it Tuco's bad luck, or is he just bad at being a bandit?

Canon Fire Or Storm It's All The Same To You

I think folks are willing to accept the fact that we are morally ambiguous like Tuco, but they are slower to admit that they are just as vulnerable as Tuco. Not hardened like Angel Eyes, able leaving people weak and afraid. Not as compassionate as Blondie, and thereby leaving his insight out of reach. We are blind and groping in the dark, powerless.

But as humanity collectively stands on the tombstone, rope around our neck, we know that the "good" will show pity on us. But that doesn't make us any less angry about our impotence to change the predicament. We still scream and curse the one who saved us. Out of jealousy, out of ignorance, out of madness, the music rising to cut us off.

This post is kinda depressing. AND it was like pulling teeth to write it. I guess I'm distracted this week. I'll try for more funny stuff next time.

Until Next I Blog,

James