Sunday, September 05, 2004
Following and Hypocrisy
Yesterday I saw Following. It was Christopher Nolan's first feature-length film, and shot in black-and-white on a camera with quality that wasn't top-notch (though I guess at this point in time he couldn't afford a better one).
I am now convinced that he is incapable of making a bad movie. This one rocked. He played around with the structure, like he did with Memento, and it really did add to the atmosphere of the story. It's about a wannabe-writer who follows people...just for the heck of it. He wants to see where they go, and what they do. One day one of his subjects notices him, and introduces himself. The guy's name is Cobb, and he's a burglar. Soon he and the protagonist are off breaking into people's homes...but there's more to the story than first meets the eye. Who exactly is the girl whose house they break into, and whose panties he steals? What is Cobb hiding? Who has control over whom?
Gradually the answers are revealed, and the ending, though not quite as shocking or unpredictable as that of Memento, is still fantastic. So he did Following, Memento, and Insomnia. Now he's working on Batman Begins. My anticipation for that movie just doubled.
All right. It's religious rant time! Woohoo!
It's time to vent. Hypocrisy is the name of the game. Raise your hand if you are at times, a hypocrite?
*raises hand*
Now, nobody's perfect, and I'm sure I'm probably hypocritical in ways I don't realize, but I think everybody knows that there are certain aspects in which they aren't hypocrites. For example, a guy might preach against murder, and know that he'll never commit it. That's what I mean. There are some actions you know you will never do.
Jesus said to love everyone, even your enemies. If you know of one reference in the Bible where it says we're supposed to hate people, feel free to stop reading now. Because I've never read that verse, and so I'm going to ignore it.
Christ said love. Therefore, I'm going to love. After an argument I had recently, I want it clearly established that:
I am against homosexuality. I do not hate homosexuals. I am therefore not homophobic.
I disagree with Catholic dogma. I do not hate Catholics. I am therefore not anti-Catholic.
I am against pornography. I do not hate pornographers. I am therefore not anti-pornographer (or whatever the word would be).
Is this clear? Simply because you disagree with someone else's beliefs or their actions, does not give you the right to hate them. And I don't.
On a side note: Just because a character in a book is about a sinful character, does not mean the author is anti-religion, or homosexuals, or whatever. If I write about a homosexual Buddhist pedophile, for example, that does not mean that I am anti-Buddhist, anti-homosexuals, or anti-pedophiles. It means I wrote a book about someone with those characteristics. That's it. I think every author when developing a character tries their hardest not to put themselves in the story. Therefore, characters in a work of literature do not reflect the author's actual values.
Eg. If I write about a serial killer from the serial killer's point of view, the story will automatically be sympathetic to his actions. That does not mean that I support killing.
If there's anything I hate, it's being called a hypocrite for something I know I'm not hypocritical of. So for future reference, when it comes to issues like this, don't do it. You're jumping to baseless conclusions.
/rant
Quote of Da Moment:
"The being we call god is merely a pawn working for a powerful and rational force in some far-off galaxy. This force is trying to weed out people who are irrational by seeing who would be stupid enough to believe in his god illusion so easily. Those that believe in this illusion, he will send to eternal damnation and he will deliver the rational beings, those who stoically refused to believe in a god, to heaven."
--Nicholas Yee
I am now convinced that he is incapable of making a bad movie. This one rocked. He played around with the structure, like he did with Memento, and it really did add to the atmosphere of the story. It's about a wannabe-writer who follows people...just for the heck of it. He wants to see where they go, and what they do. One day one of his subjects notices him, and introduces himself. The guy's name is Cobb, and he's a burglar. Soon he and the protagonist are off breaking into people's homes...but there's more to the story than first meets the eye. Who exactly is the girl whose house they break into, and whose panties he steals? What is Cobb hiding? Who has control over whom?
Gradually the answers are revealed, and the ending, though not quite as shocking or unpredictable as that of Memento, is still fantastic. So he did Following, Memento, and Insomnia. Now he's working on Batman Begins. My anticipation for that movie just doubled.
All right. It's religious rant time! Woohoo!
It's time to vent. Hypocrisy is the name of the game. Raise your hand if you are at times, a hypocrite?
*raises hand*
Now, nobody's perfect, and I'm sure I'm probably hypocritical in ways I don't realize, but I think everybody knows that there are certain aspects in which they aren't hypocrites. For example, a guy might preach against murder, and know that he'll never commit it. That's what I mean. There are some actions you know you will never do.
Jesus said to love everyone, even your enemies. If you know of one reference in the Bible where it says we're supposed to hate people, feel free to stop reading now. Because I've never read that verse, and so I'm going to ignore it.
Christ said love. Therefore, I'm going to love. After an argument I had recently, I want it clearly established that:
I am against homosexuality. I do not hate homosexuals. I am therefore not homophobic.
I disagree with Catholic dogma. I do not hate Catholics. I am therefore not anti-Catholic.
I am against pornography. I do not hate pornographers. I am therefore not anti-pornographer (or whatever the word would be).
Is this clear? Simply because you disagree with someone else's beliefs or their actions, does not give you the right to hate them. And I don't.
On a side note: Just because a character in a book is about a sinful character, does not mean the author is anti-religion, or homosexuals, or whatever. If I write about a homosexual Buddhist pedophile, for example, that does not mean that I am anti-Buddhist, anti-homosexuals, or anti-pedophiles. It means I wrote a book about someone with those characteristics. That's it. I think every author when developing a character tries their hardest not to put themselves in the story. Therefore, characters in a work of literature do not reflect the author's actual values.
Eg. If I write about a serial killer from the serial killer's point of view, the story will automatically be sympathetic to his actions. That does not mean that I support killing.
If there's anything I hate, it's being called a hypocrite for something I know I'm not hypocritical of. So for future reference, when it comes to issues like this, don't do it. You're jumping to baseless conclusions.
/rant
Quote of Da Moment:
"The being we call god is merely a pawn working for a powerful and rational force in some far-off galaxy. This force is trying to weed out people who are irrational by seeing who would be stupid enough to believe in his god illusion so easily. Those that believe in this illusion, he will send to eternal damnation and he will deliver the rational beings, those who stoically refused to believe in a god, to heaven."
--Nicholas Yee
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 9/05/2004 10:05:00 PM 
