Ghost World--a study in contempt-for-normalcy
I’m coming off from 2 weeks of being out of commission—1 lost to caring for someone w/ the flu, and another to my own bought w/ a follow-up flu. This entry will be shooting from the hip. I only wish to build some momentum and shake some of this inertia and atrophy which has set in.
Speaking of inertia and atrophy, I just finished watching “Ghost World.” The director, Terry Zwigoff (also of “R.Crumb”) has such clarity and humor. He’s not really for the mainstream, but speaks so well to those of us who are disaffected and feel we are either outside the norm or at least sympathetic to outsiders.
I especially like that Zwigoff neither apologizes for, or glorifies outsiders. He presents outsiders with a glaring simplicity that is both empathetic and brutally honest about who they are and how they muddle along. He doesn’t glorify his heroes just because they are seemingly disadvantaged in the proverbial survival of the fittest and might deserve a karmic leg-up from being an underdog. Rather, he presents them with a sympathy that allows the audience to route for them, but still holds firm that even the geekiest human oddity doesn’t lift himself up by knocking others down. His characters are compelled to find their own merit and put it forward irregardless of the awkwardness of their existence. Given his chosen subject matter, a lesser man could easily resort to being intense, or maudlin, or bitter and mean-spirited, but he’s just pretty funny and refreshing in his observations. I admire that. His viewpoint is noble and I count him as one of my heroes.
As someone who spent years harboring a contempt for normalcy, and years working at reminding myself to release this contempt, I think that his work and humor is innately infused with a rare wisdom. …Note to nameless daughter: Don’t define your life by what you don’t value in the world and others, let go of those things and seek and embrace what you do value (no matter how uncomfortable it may be to do so).
In short:
…Zwigoff dares to show the price that many of his characters pay to maintain a contempt for normalcy. He understands the contempt of those who “can’t relate to 99% of humanity,” yet with humor he doesn’t let them off the hook for the fact that they must at least try to get along with the world and its population, even those who fit the mythological norm.
Enid: “I think only stupid people have good relationships.”
Seymour: “That's the spirit.”
Speaking of inertia and atrophy, I just finished watching “Ghost World.” The director, Terry Zwigoff (also of “R.Crumb”) has such clarity and humor. He’s not really for the mainstream, but speaks so well to those of us who are disaffected and feel we are either outside the norm or at least sympathetic to outsiders.
I especially like that Zwigoff neither apologizes for, or glorifies outsiders. He presents outsiders with a glaring simplicity that is both empathetic and brutally honest about who they are and how they muddle along. He doesn’t glorify his heroes just because they are seemingly disadvantaged in the proverbial survival of the fittest and might deserve a karmic leg-up from being an underdog. Rather, he presents them with a sympathy that allows the audience to route for them, but still holds firm that even the geekiest human oddity doesn’t lift himself up by knocking others down. His characters are compelled to find their own merit and put it forward irregardless of the awkwardness of their existence. Given his chosen subject matter, a lesser man could easily resort to being intense, or maudlin, or bitter and mean-spirited, but he’s just pretty funny and refreshing in his observations. I admire that. His viewpoint is noble and I count him as one of my heroes.
As someone who spent years harboring a contempt for normalcy, and years working at reminding myself to release this contempt, I think that his work and humor is innately infused with a rare wisdom. …Note to nameless daughter: Don’t define your life by what you don’t value in the world and others, let go of those things and seek and embrace what you do value (no matter how uncomfortable it may be to do so).
In short:
…Zwigoff dares to show the price that many of his characters pay to maintain a contempt for normalcy. He understands the contempt of those who “can’t relate to 99% of humanity,” yet with humor he doesn’t let them off the hook for the fact that they must at least try to get along with the world and its population, even those who fit the mythological norm.
Enid: “I think only stupid people have good relationships.”
Seymour: “That's the spirit.”
posted by Pearl Pocock | 3:07 PM
1 Comments:
Good to have you back. Thanks for the comments on my blog site. I'll find the author of the quote about which you asked.
Keep up the good blog.
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