Nick

Wonderful exploration into the real origins and purposes of yoga. It is so easy to misinterpret this ancient tradition with the Americanized influence.

Great article pointing out the fantasy that is behind the presentation of the real on this show.

I have not seen the film yet, but the mixture of past and present, of Medieval chivalry and modern murder, seems very interesting. The same issues of justice and morality play out in today’s world as much as they did in the past, as your analysis shows. Good work.

Dear William,

Thank you for the comment. Yes, I find it horrid how many mistakes I make. I could make a fancy excuse and say it was all planned, or that it is symptomatic of the screen’s force on my mind, but I think overall it is just due to my own laziness. However, the article ignited a debate, and that was all I was really looking for.

I have no illusions of being an intellectual. I don’t even think I am that smart, whatever that word means. I know what my limitations are intellectually, financially, and biologically. But I hoped in posting this tattered argument to better understand my own opinion, to hear the voices of others, and to discover the weaknesses in both my views and my articulation of those views. I think I achieved that.

I speak with all the trappings of the indolent and uncouth American I was brought up to be, and which, I suppose, I always will be. And yet I know there is much more potential in myself and in all Americans I live and work with. Perhaps I won’t discover it in this lifetime, but my conviction is that the screen’s power to enchant will only lead us down the wrong road. Perhaps I am wrong, I am always very liable to be, but my own experience with life thus far leads me towards the views I take. Anyway, thanks again for the kind words and the necessary critique. I hope my next article will be more professionally crafted.

I will have to check this movie out now. It is always great to see how story-telling can bring about social consciousness and, hopefully, change in how we address the issues of modern life.

Great analysis using Jeffery Jerome Cohen’s seven theses. I think the first thesis is very interesting on how a monster’s body reflects a culture, and how a culture sees itself. It will be interesting to re-read monsters from throughout the ages with this historical perspective.

It is always interesting to see how much this film disconcerts us in taking such things as Beethoven and “Singin’ in the Rain” and twists and contorts them away from the radiant significations we gave them before the film into a perverted fantasy of violence. It is the same, I guess, with what happens here with woman’s breasts. The fecund symbol of natural sexuality and life-giving is perverted by Alex’s violence and sense of self-identity. Interesting article, well done!

Interesting post that reminds one of the camaraderie that can be built from video games, which is often stereotyped as an isolating activity. With weakening of the co-op experience in the household, perhaps the Internet does more to make gaming necessarily less reliant on being together in the same place.