The Wrestler is a well done, justly praised film. But at least for me, there is a crucial element missing. As you will see, I am going to hold the film up to a perhaps impossible standard. I think an appropriate subtitle for the film would be "An American Tragedy"- appropriate in an aspirational sense, but also I think the failure of the film.
When I saw the film shortly after Christmas, I believed the problem was that the audience could never fully come to grips with the heights from which Randy "The Ram" had fallen. Supposedly on top of the world during wrestling's 80s heyday, we only see the sad and broken man who remains, lonely and pitiful. But the trouble is not understanding the decline of the great showman, Randy the Ram. The trouble is with Randy himself.
I can remember watching the film and being unable to stop comparing Randy to King Lear. (I told you I was going to be unfair, comparing a small indie film to perhaps the greatest play ever written...) Both are stories of once great men whose relationships with family, friends and subjects (fans) are shattered by time and their own weakness. Both men do not know how to love their daughters. Both suffer ignominious deaths, although the audience is spared Randy's; we just understand it will inevitably come, sooner rather than later.
As Lear's grandeur is shattered, the audience follows him through madness and despair. He remains loved by Cordelia, Kent, and Gloucester, among others. Gloucester endures a blinding, mostly due to his enduring devotion to his King. The equivalent moment in the film is when Randy, alone and unable to deal with a "normal" job, slicing his hand in the meat slicer. Shakespeare's stage direction might have been, "exit, bereft of his dignity." Randy is just not a large enough character to inspire love or devotion from those around him- there are a few fanboys, but no friends, loves, any sustained relationship to see. Lear rages against time and fate, against torments that have seemingly been dealt to him by the fates. Randy whimpers unable to change, against a life which seems mostly of his own making, unable to connect with an ex wife, a daughter, a potential love who is as damaged as he is.
Lear dies, sadly believing he sees life in Cordelia's lips. The audience has witnessed his "blindness" and there is authentic wisdom in the play. The echoes of Ecclesiastes in an essentially pagan play create a deep and timeless resonance. The scope of Lear's universe is vast, and human. And the authentic problem for the wrestler is that Randy is too small to engender anything close to catharsis, to wisdom (for the audience, because it is so lost to himself). Perhaps The Wrestler more points toward our own culture and its 15 minutes of fame ideals. But there are smaller characters who show an audience authentic wisdom- consider the character of Andy Dufrense. And sport itself offers tragic examples, if not in the same vein as Lear than at least a more human and compelling narrative. Consider Muhammad Ali, Roberto Clemente, and Paul Gascoigne. In entertainment there is perhaps River Phoenix, Michael J. Fox... Randy the Ram makes us feel sorry for him, perhaps judge him as pathetic and unable to change. And it is this inability to change, a static character rather than a dynamic one, that ultimately causes The Wrestler to remain a piece of popular entertainment, simply a well done film rather than an iconic, monumental one.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Yeah, but what does it do?
Did my two friends have fun in Korea? Stupid question...Thankfully, they stayed in rather nice hotels rather than on my floor, seeing as how they never made it in before 6am the whole week, and I of course had work. But they loved it here, and it is such a good feeling to have friends appreciate the city you call home, especially when they visit from my personal Mecca, London. In the end, their feelings about Seoul mirrored my own I think. What a fun, fun, fun city that is interesting and vibrant, but not exactly... sophisticated?
Hopefully that picture is worth 1000 words as I intend to say nothing further about their trip. I have been grappling with my own ideas about my blog; what exactly am I blogging for? I have already seen two benefits- I am reflecting on my time in Korea often, and I am using this writing to springboard to more imaginative work. But it is a strange thing to have readers; it is a much more difficult process than I thought to work out not only what is interesting, thoughtful, and perhaps amusing to me but to others as well. Non-writers, I imagine some of you thinking "you shouldn't give a shit about that" but you do. Or rather I do. For example, a blog I would love to write is about why the film "The Wrestler" is a failure. You'd have to be some friend to pore over my thoughts about that. I think I become more obsessed with music every year, and would love to write about that, but there are loads of great music blogs. So Korea, for those within and without? For me? Teaching? I can hear yawning already! It's just a word!
I am struck by something my mother said to me over Christmas that I dismissed at the time. I'm almost 30, and I think I am fair in judging my career so far a success. But my mother during the course of one conversation said to me, "you need a mentor." And as I sit her thinking about travel, education, culture and even a few things beyond that I feel I could learn to write about and perhaps earn a living from, I realize I do need someone to set a direction for me. Strange that this need comes much later than it did for many... so hmmm... perhaps some new topics- what it is to travel, and maybe what it is to teach. And you know what, screw it, I think I might just write that wrestler blog as well.
Or perhaps my blog is entirely too internalized for my own good- I'm just the type of person dumb enough to post what sometimes is like a journal online. Certainly it would be shorter, and easier to recap weekends in Korea. Meet Jenny. Dinner. Friends. Hongdae. Groggy. Actually, that's no fun to write or read... Stick with me and let's find out where this takes me!
Bonus! if you actually made it to the end, or just scrolled down, here is some great music I have been obsessing over. I've also been listening to the Dirty Projectors and White Rabbit and reminding myself how good Vampire Weekend's album is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLTMCXlYbQ
such a beautiful voice... and something totally different...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbGpvOulec&NR=1
How awesome is that for summer?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Isn't that what a blog is for?
I feel compelled to weigh in on a subject about which I am generally uninformed and also very heavily biased- at last, I understand what a blog is! The issue, familiar to some of you, is the negative perception of native English speakers (teachers) here in Korea. There seems to always be a new story in a Korean newspaper bashing foreign teachers as drunken, unprofessional, and even potentially dangerous to Korean children.
This seems to have begun some years ago when the program was in its infancy and teachers were not carefully screened; kudos to the Korean government for continuing its drive for a native speaker in every school- the initiative is a good one. Or is it like vacationing with the girlfriend- a great idea in theory, but the reality is a big mess? (Jenny: joke!)
First, my bias. I really, really like my job and I am good at it. Most, if not all, of my good friends in Korea seem to be caring and engaged teachers who like their jobs. Most of the foreigners you meet here are fairly well traveled, well educated people who are curious about the world.
But... I attended an orientation with 180 other teachers. I was of course drawn to people with similar backgrounds and interests to my own. Of that group, there were certainly some who have absolutely no business being teachers. Too many, if I can spot them over the course of a few days. And while I will maintain that most are traveled and educated (and it is a little scary that I feel compelled to use the word most, not all, and I am privately wondering if most should read "some"), the simple truth is that traveled and educated does not make you a good teacher.
I won't turn this into thoughts on what makes a good teacher; that is far too substantial a topic for a blog. Instead, what is the reasoning behind the negative perception of foreign teachers here? I can find some reasons.
1. Very few foreigners learn the language. This creates mistrust and can lead to all manner of communication problems and frustrations on both sides.
2. Some foreign teachers drink and party to absolute excess. Calling in sick with a hangover is a reality for some people here, as is being in school when you just feel absolutely awful. How many is some? I have no idea, but for teachers who are held to a different set of standards (by necessity) in a foreign country, some is probably too many for the general public's taste. And my own.
3. Teachers often eat, drink, and travel in very large, generally non inclusive (for koreans) groups. I hated Australians who were "integrated" into London this way, now I find myself teetering on the edge of this all the time. Of course, friends from a similar background form a safety net and help foreigners keep their sanity, but there really is something of a "mob" mentality here too often.
4. Too many (Yanks!) dress terribly for work! DON'T WEAR SHORTS! Iron your shirt! Guys, wear the type of shirt that actually needs to be ironed! And Yanks again, buy a shirt that fits. Baggy is out. And we live in a city of 10 million people that is dirty and full of concrete. Why the hell are you wearing flip-flops? There's no beach! Wear shoes to work! (Full disclosure: I feel flip flops, especially for men, should be banned from any city and a hefty fine levied to anyone who breaks this rule.)
5. The teachers who come to Korea are almost invariably young (at 29 I am an old man) and so relatively inexperienced- not just at teaching, but at life abroad (and sometimes life itself). But who else will take the plunge? Adventurous foreigners are what they are, here for an adventure, fun, travel, and the means to prolong that fun. That means is teaching. There is probably not much hope of moving teaching higher on the list of some people's priorities here.
I don't have any conclusions to draw from this. Are there some bad teachers here? Yes. Do their actions justify condemnation in the press of foreign teachers? No. Could there be mechanisms in place to make the whole project run better? Absolutely. (Idea one: put me in charge! Man, I need to get to grad school...) Certainly I hope the body of work that my colleagues and I do is capable of winning over students, parents, and the public that foreign teachers in schools really works. I believe foreign teachers in schools would benefit the US as well, but that's a whole other issue. But somehow, sadly, it feels like this is the status quo and the situation will remain "deadlocked" for some time, maybe always...
This seems to have begun some years ago when the program was in its infancy and teachers were not carefully screened; kudos to the Korean government for continuing its drive for a native speaker in every school- the initiative is a good one. Or is it like vacationing with the girlfriend- a great idea in theory, but the reality is a big mess? (Jenny: joke!)
First, my bias. I really, really like my job and I am good at it. Most, if not all, of my good friends in Korea seem to be caring and engaged teachers who like their jobs. Most of the foreigners you meet here are fairly well traveled, well educated people who are curious about the world.
But... I attended an orientation with 180 other teachers. I was of course drawn to people with similar backgrounds and interests to my own. Of that group, there were certainly some who have absolutely no business being teachers. Too many, if I can spot them over the course of a few days. And while I will maintain that most are traveled and educated (and it is a little scary that I feel compelled to use the word most, not all, and I am privately wondering if most should read "some"), the simple truth is that traveled and educated does not make you a good teacher.
I won't turn this into thoughts on what makes a good teacher; that is far too substantial a topic for a blog. Instead, what is the reasoning behind the negative perception of foreign teachers here? I can find some reasons.
1. Very few foreigners learn the language. This creates mistrust and can lead to all manner of communication problems and frustrations on both sides.
2. Some foreign teachers drink and party to absolute excess. Calling in sick with a hangover is a reality for some people here, as is being in school when you just feel absolutely awful. How many is some? I have no idea, but for teachers who are held to a different set of standards (by necessity) in a foreign country, some is probably too many for the general public's taste. And my own.
3. Teachers often eat, drink, and travel in very large, generally non inclusive (for koreans) groups. I hated Australians who were "integrated" into London this way, now I find myself teetering on the edge of this all the time. Of course, friends from a similar background form a safety net and help foreigners keep their sanity, but there really is something of a "mob" mentality here too often.
4. Too many (Yanks!) dress terribly for work! DON'T WEAR SHORTS! Iron your shirt! Guys, wear the type of shirt that actually needs to be ironed! And Yanks again, buy a shirt that fits. Baggy is out. And we live in a city of 10 million people that is dirty and full of concrete. Why the hell are you wearing flip-flops? There's no beach! Wear shoes to work! (Full disclosure: I feel flip flops, especially for men, should be banned from any city and a hefty fine levied to anyone who breaks this rule.)
5. The teachers who come to Korea are almost invariably young (at 29 I am an old man) and so relatively inexperienced- not just at teaching, but at life abroad (and sometimes life itself). But who else will take the plunge? Adventurous foreigners are what they are, here for an adventure, fun, travel, and the means to prolong that fun. That means is teaching. There is probably not much hope of moving teaching higher on the list of some people's priorities here.
I don't have any conclusions to draw from this. Are there some bad teachers here? Yes. Do their actions justify condemnation in the press of foreign teachers? No. Could there be mechanisms in place to make the whole project run better? Absolutely. (Idea one: put me in charge! Man, I need to get to grad school...) Certainly I hope the body of work that my colleagues and I do is capable of winning over students, parents, and the public that foreign teachers in schools really works. I believe foreign teachers in schools would benefit the US as well, but that's a whole other issue. But somehow, sadly, it feels like this is the status quo and the situation will remain "deadlocked" for some time, maybe always...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Falling in love?
Just a simple thought- some things large and small that I love about Korea, after 3 months.
1. Korean high school boys will tell you it is "scientific fact" that playing basketball will make you taller.
2. Koreans are genuinely pleased if you know a little of their language. Some actually feel bad because they struggle to communicate with you, in their country! Again, Koreans are some of the warmest, friendliest people I have encountered.
3. You can drive- and park- on the sidewalk. Even as a perpetual walker, I love this. I fear for my life sometimes, but it all adds to the thrill.
4. When you turn on my washing machine, it sounds like "Live and Let Die" (G n R version). When you start a wash cycle, it sounds like when you die in Super Mario 2 or 3 (don't remember which).
5. They have bowling alley style games of skill everywhere here. The difference? In Korea, you can find machines that have live lobsters as a prize. This year, Pinchy will be mine and I will walk him just like Homer Simpson.
6. Exit subway. Climb mountain. Return to subway. Awesome.
7. Free food. Not 2 days passes without some sort of yogurt, fruit, or ginseng beverage being given to staff. And food- rice cakes, pastries, pizza slices (complete with sweet potato, of course). I've lost track of how many times the school has bought me dinner. Also, lots of fruit, which is expensive here.
8. Korea is Manchester United till it dies (perhaps a poor turn of phrase given our unpredictable friends to the North...). On United matchdays, Korea looks like a checkerboard from space (red jersey, black hair).
9. Korean baseball games. The crowds never stop cheering, the cheerleaders are gorgeous, and the tickets and beer are cheap! The only way I can explain it is if Americans got ahold of the singing and shouting of a special European soccer match and ruined it with over the top piped in music and cheesy chants. Yet it's perfect...
10. Korean women are very... stylish. I think in many western countries their style (notably their footwear) may be more associated with those who work on their backs for a living, but here it seems to be sexual yet innocent, which we can all accept drives men even more wild.
Author's note: Jenny, this does not apply to you. You are stylish and beautiful and don't look like a street walker. (God, every time I write a blog something makes me fear an angry phone call...)
11. Related somewhat to that, even at high schools boys and girls generally sit separately in class. So my high school habit of staring at the beautiful girls without saying a word would have been perfectly normal in Korea- and they love standardized tests?? I was born in the wrong country...
12. Noraebang (sp?)- Korean singing room. There is something joyful, and again, innocent, about getting sojued up and then belting out some Journey with your friends. How many fights could be prevented in the UK on a Saturday by a drunken chorus of "Common People"? (are you listening, health secretary?) How many drunk drivers would put down their keys for the chance to butcher "Glory Days" in the USA (yeah, that was for you, Jud!)
This is sort of a celebratory blog, because as best I can tell by comments and emails, I have broken into double digits with 10 readers!!! So, to show my gratitude, if any of my readers bump into me this weekend and mention how much you like my blogs (my writing self esteem could always use a boost) I will buy you a drink. And if in order to do this, you have to fly from America, Europe, or Australia, I will make it two rounds!
1. Korean high school boys will tell you it is "scientific fact" that playing basketball will make you taller.
2. Koreans are genuinely pleased if you know a little of their language. Some actually feel bad because they struggle to communicate with you, in their country! Again, Koreans are some of the warmest, friendliest people I have encountered.
3. You can drive- and park- on the sidewalk. Even as a perpetual walker, I love this. I fear for my life sometimes, but it all adds to the thrill.
4. When you turn on my washing machine, it sounds like "Live and Let Die" (G n R version). When you start a wash cycle, it sounds like when you die in Super Mario 2 or 3 (don't remember which).
5. They have bowling alley style games of skill everywhere here. The difference? In Korea, you can find machines that have live lobsters as a prize. This year, Pinchy will be mine and I will walk him just like Homer Simpson.
6. Exit subway. Climb mountain. Return to subway. Awesome.
7. Free food. Not 2 days passes without some sort of yogurt, fruit, or ginseng beverage being given to staff. And food- rice cakes, pastries, pizza slices (complete with sweet potato, of course). I've lost track of how many times the school has bought me dinner. Also, lots of fruit, which is expensive here.
8. Korea is Manchester United till it dies (perhaps a poor turn of phrase given our unpredictable friends to the North...). On United matchdays, Korea looks like a checkerboard from space (red jersey, black hair).
9. Korean baseball games. The crowds never stop cheering, the cheerleaders are gorgeous, and the tickets and beer are cheap! The only way I can explain it is if Americans got ahold of the singing and shouting of a special European soccer match and ruined it with over the top piped in music and cheesy chants. Yet it's perfect...
10. Korean women are very... stylish. I think in many western countries their style (notably their footwear) may be more associated with those who work on their backs for a living, but here it seems to be sexual yet innocent, which we can all accept drives men even more wild.
Author's note: Jenny, this does not apply to you. You are stylish and beautiful and don't look like a street walker. (God, every time I write a blog something makes me fear an angry phone call...)
11. Related somewhat to that, even at high schools boys and girls generally sit separately in class. So my high school habit of staring at the beautiful girls without saying a word would have been perfectly normal in Korea- and they love standardized tests?? I was born in the wrong country...
12. Noraebang (sp?)- Korean singing room. There is something joyful, and again, innocent, about getting sojued up and then belting out some Journey with your friends. How many fights could be prevented in the UK on a Saturday by a drunken chorus of "Common People"? (are you listening, health secretary?) How many drunk drivers would put down their keys for the chance to butcher "Glory Days" in the USA (yeah, that was for you, Jud!)
This is sort of a celebratory blog, because as best I can tell by comments and emails, I have broken into double digits with 10 readers!!! So, to show my gratitude, if any of my readers bump into me this weekend and mention how much you like my blogs (my writing self esteem could always use a boost) I will buy you a drink. And if in order to do this, you have to fly from America, Europe, or Australia, I will make it two rounds!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
In search of the sublime... or something.
2 friends are visiting me in Seoul in 2 weeks time. Despite (I think) both being over 30, their primary interests are booze and women. (One advantage of not even your friends reading your blog is you can comment on them without fear of repercussion. So this is for you, James and Kent.) Seoul should be the perfect city for them to visit! But I can't escape a nagging feeling that it might not be. I really like Seoul, and will try (when not working) to convey some of that enthusiasm. No doubt we will eat some good food, although no Korean bbq because James to his tragic loss is a vegetarian (good luck in Korea mate!). And we will go out, and have fun, and meet people, and drink beer, and... do all of the things that you can do anywhere in the world. And then return to my tiny apartment where there isn't even enough room for barrier pillows, and an air mattress on the floor is pushing it. Jenny, things are going to get really cozy when you are here! (At this point I have to tell my lovely girlfriend that yes, I am joking, or I will get an angry phone call soon).
I hope that we will meet some Koreans, and my friends get a glimpse of the hospitality and warmth on display here. I wonder if they will come to detest my rather soulless neighbourhood. My thoughts around their visit are entirely of baseball games, bars, booze, and birds. Perhaps theirs are as well. But I want them to find something more here, and that is proving a tall order. They are not the museum/palace/gallery type, and I would be surprised if either take any interest in a hike. (Am I making my own friends sound like horribly despicable characters? Perhaps they are, in a wonderfully clever, funny and interesting way.) A couple of neighbourhoods stand out, notably Insa-dong and the Olympic Park. Probably a late night visit to Dongdaemun market (a first for me also). At this point I will happily take suggestions from my 4 readers actually in Korea.
Don't mistake my concerns over their visit for negativity/2nd thoughts about Seoul. My friends are not proxies for me. But Seoul is definitely a city that gets under your skin (and too often on your skin, in your hair, and on your clothes!) in mostly a good, but subtle way. I don't think it offers huge pleasures for the visitor, and as much as I (with your help, Jenny) will attempt to be a "local" guide, I am still lost as to what exactly will provide them with a "wow" moment from their holiday. Perhaps nothing will. Perhaps their happiest memories will be of friends around a table, sharing beers and stories, flirting, laughing, shouting, dancing, maybe even singing. And actually, as often as I have pushed myself to take holidays to beautiful, interesting, and culturally stimulating places, maybe I've just described a perfect holiday.
God, I just totally went for a sappy, saccharine ending. What happened to the angry man who moved to Sweden (that is perhaps a blog post in itself)? I'm not really so mellow, I think I just really, really have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I started this blog over 3 times for example, and it isn't even the blog I really want to write. That would be a rant about foreigners in Korea that I should probably share only privately with a few of you. But I digress...
I hope that we will meet some Koreans, and my friends get a glimpse of the hospitality and warmth on display here. I wonder if they will come to detest my rather soulless neighbourhood. My thoughts around their visit are entirely of baseball games, bars, booze, and birds. Perhaps theirs are as well. But I want them to find something more here, and that is proving a tall order. They are not the museum/palace/gallery type, and I would be surprised if either take any interest in a hike. (Am I making my own friends sound like horribly despicable characters? Perhaps they are, in a wonderfully clever, funny and interesting way.) A couple of neighbourhoods stand out, notably Insa-dong and the Olympic Park. Probably a late night visit to Dongdaemun market (a first for me also). At this point I will happily take suggestions from my 4 readers actually in Korea.
Don't mistake my concerns over their visit for negativity/2nd thoughts about Seoul. My friends are not proxies for me. But Seoul is definitely a city that gets under your skin (and too often on your skin, in your hair, and on your clothes!) in mostly a good, but subtle way. I don't think it offers huge pleasures for the visitor, and as much as I (with your help, Jenny) will attempt to be a "local" guide, I am still lost as to what exactly will provide them with a "wow" moment from their holiday. Perhaps nothing will. Perhaps their happiest memories will be of friends around a table, sharing beers and stories, flirting, laughing, shouting, dancing, maybe even singing. And actually, as often as I have pushed myself to take holidays to beautiful, interesting, and culturally stimulating places, maybe I've just described a perfect holiday.
God, I just totally went for a sappy, saccharine ending. What happened to the angry man who moved to Sweden (that is perhaps a blog post in itself)? I'm not really so mellow, I think I just really, really have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I started this blog over 3 times for example, and it isn't even the blog I really want to write. That would be a rant about foreigners in Korea that I should probably share only privately with a few of you. But I digress...
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