i watch: Public Enemies

Watching a great depression movie while in “modern depression” time seems appropriate. Last week i dragged a friend of mine to watch Public Enemies. i was interested by it partly due to the actors line up: Johnny Depp (swoon!), Christian Bale (swoon! swoon!), and Marion Cotillard (i love her in La Vie en Rose). My other reasons to watch this show were to get inspired by the costumes and that because it was $5 (Like i said, we’re in modern depression time, when there’s a way to save money we should by all means use it).

The movie itself was good. The plot was rather choppy for my liking in the first part of the movie. Maybe it’s a somehow bad editing or maybe they just expect us, the audience, to have quick thinking. However, as it progressed, it got more and more interesting. As expected, the casts are amazing: Like always, Depp is brilliant in playing quirky characters. How can an actor be so good on playing a mentally challenged protagonist in one movie (i.e. in Benny & Joon) and in another movie, he portrays a cold blooded with a soft spot gang leader just as good? i raise my hat to Depp’s brilliance. Then, there’s Marion Cotillard. Gosh, she might as well live in the ’30s.  After her awesome portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, she once again had me in this film, playing the innocence yet tough, mob’s girlfriend, Billie. Not to mention all her costumes made me long for ’30s dresses and hats! *lols*. Bale’s character past me as another police agent in a crime movie. Though, he’s as gorgeous as ever. i wonder why don’t men wear those gentlemen suits anymore?They’re so dazzling!

Tears almost escaped from my eyes in the last scene. What’s with this bad guy portrayed as good guy in mob movies, i wonder. After the movie my friend and i had a little discussion about this: During the great depression, many banks were failing so those that still stood were often seen as the riches’ money vaults. Hence, most people did not care if any criminals robbed those banks. in addition to that, many criminals often “give back” to the society. For example, Capote was said to have a soup kitchen and Capone provided alcohols in Chicago’s back alleys’ bars during Prohibition era. So i guess it is not surprising, then, that these people were seen as criminals by government but they also gained many public symphaty. This view is also parallel to conflict theory regarding class, in which there’s a strain relationship between the riches and the poor. Hence, it is not impossible that the poor holds their symphaty to those who create problems for the riches.

To me, there are many more things to ponder about after watching Public Enemies, but it’s getting late and i should stop typing before this post became a mini essay. One thing for sure, this movie easily made its way to the top of my summer ‘09 favorite’s flicks.

*Photos taken from MSN.com and google image search.

Me and You vs. the world, or is it?

About a couple of weeks ago i had the following YM chat with a friend:

Friend: So, my new girlfriend has a past that has been bothering me.

Me: you mean?

Friend: Well, now i feel like i’m going out with her so that i can help her out.

Me: ??? But you’re doing that because you love her, or just ’cause?

Friend: Well, i did love her but after knowing about the past, my motive changed.. i wanna fix her.

lt takes me a while before l could come up with a reply. That, my friend, is a classic example of Knight in A Shining Armor syndrome. Remember when we were young and we read all those lovely fairy tale about a beautiful princess locked in a tower, guarded by a dragon, and one day a prince on a back of white hose came, fought the dragon, and saved the princess? *Phew, that was long*. That is what it is: He is trying to be a hero who’s saving his damsel in distress.

What distract me the most is how his motive changed after knowing the girl’s past. instead of being in a relationship because he’s in love with her, he merely wants to “fix” her. is he making her his own little charity case? A person’s action are seldom altruistic. is someone being nice to others just because she likes being nice to other people?  She’s being nice to them so that they will in return be nice to her back, won’t you feel the same? This might sound cynical, but if you think about it, even a religious person acts according to his/her religion, so that he/she will be rewarded for it, hence the believe in heaven and hell: Those who live according to God’s teachings will pass on to heaven, and those who don’t, will pass on to hell. Even the “good feeling” you get after you help a stranger in the street is also a reward, hence it is hard to say that a person’s action is purely selfless. Furthermore, many people loves to be needed, hence they opt for those heroic behavior. True that being needed by others will give someone a sense of importance, and in relationship it’s related to co-dependency. However, i came across people who also believe that because their partners need them, their partners would never leave them. Sigh, another example that people’s action are hardly altruistic.

Another question i raised was if it is also an example of  sexism. Why would something that is helpful to a woman is considered sexism? Men’s chivalrous action came from the long existing beliefs that men are supposedly more powerful than women, that women are weaker, so men must always protect women. That, my friend, is benevolent sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996).  All these will also applied if the role is swapped: the girl is the one who said she wants to change her boyfriend (and i heard cases like this too). She probably will act that way because, like most of us believe, women are believed to be more nurturing, hence the need the help the men. Both ways, the sexism is further affirmed because one party believes he/she is better than the other.

To end this rant, i need to point out that i am not against men being nice to women. What i was sad about is (and the whole point of this rant) those people who are in a relationship that is based on pity. it is no more than a big fat lie, both to your partner and to yourself when you are in such a relationship. i believe in human power to help others, but isn’t one of the important point in a relationship is to accept your partner the way he/she is?

on sexuality

Are you guys wondering what am I gonna talk bout under this title?

Curious?

After all, I am taking a course in sexuality this semester, ya’know..