I've just finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Nights in Rodanthe by that incorrigible Nicholas Sparks, gave up reading a tedious German novel called Stones from the River after about 300 fruitless pages and started up The Constant Gardner. This strange combination of narratives is swilling around in my head and I'm quite certain will produce some gem of a thought about gender and childrearing and the overlap of the feminine voice in various stereotypical roles.
But that epiphanic connection has not quite coalesced yet. So I thought instead I would tell you, "dear void" that tonight completely free of children, I drove my sister and brother-in-law's flashy yellow convertible to the local movie theater and saw the Dark Knight. As it would happen, a couple with my exact identical Phil&Ted's stroller wheeled their sleeping infant into the theater behind me and took the seat on the aisle beside me, the stroller wedged in the handicap spot between us. So much for getting away from the kids for the night. I shot them very dirty looks in the darkness between previews. The baby must have sensed my hostility so made not a single peep throughout the entire, rather ear splintering movie. After jumping out my own seat a couple of times, I actually started feeling bad for the kid and marvelled at his or her resilience.
The movie was very good actually but it seemed strange sitting in the theater on my own and then coming out into the parking lot in the pouring rain and driving home without talking to anyone about it. And James hasn't seen it yet so I feel a bit untranslated-the curse of the extrovert-not having processed the experience of the movie with anyone else. So have any of you seen it? And if so what do you think? Without spoiling it for any one who hasn't, I'm really interested in the Joker's theory about chaos and motive and the whole sense of balance in the movie; the hero they need, not the one they want; Batman and the Joker's mutual reliance on one another...I don't know. The whole sense of the power of fear to create chaos. It's a very thickly layered movie, if you want it to be.
Warning: there are some minor spoilers in here!
Dearest Kate,
I have been reading your blog regularly, and I love it! We are so very alike (which only further explains the spark of conflict that started our friendship). I love your story of the kidless night, and good for you for taking time to be on your own.
That joker is something else, isn’t he? What a scary, demented character. I hadn’t really thought of the movie so critically until I was prompted to do so by this post. I like how dark the film is, and I like the idea of the hero not just being SO good all the time, but sacrificing for others (Christ complex, much?). I love that although there is so much corruption; Batman believes that people will choose morally (not killing one another on the boat). Okay, back to preparing for classes—I get to teach American lit this year.
Talk to you soon,
Beth
Beth Wirth said...
11:52 AM
There are just too many comments running through my mind. I did the same thing with the stones from the river book. The constant gardener is much better. And though, Nicholas Sparks is incorrigible, he does suck you in. As far as the Dark Knight, I had a similarly disappointing post viewing experience. I watched it here (yes a bad pirated version), and thought the writing for Joker, especially, but also Batman and Harvey, was very poignant. Dark, but somehow true. Probably deserves an phone conversation at some point or watching it again when I get home.
mandy said...
8:30 PM
Hi Kate! I love that you are reading Plath amid all this craziness, and I wish to high heaven I was there with you so we could analyze Dark Knight together... I loved it - especially the Chaos part. Don't you think it makes a step toward answering the question of why, if God is so good, he created Satan, knowing how much angst Satan would bring into the world? (Or maybe that is just putting the egg before the chicken? Or should Chaos and Evil be distinguished more clearly?)
Golly, I miss you!!!!!!!!
Anonymous said...
8:26 PM