Have You Seen Waking Life?
Michelle on Jul 22 2007 at 3:17 am | Filed under: The Personal
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I’ve blogged about consciousness before, which is what this boils down to. This morning, after a conversation during which I attempted to explain how life felt more “real” in Mexico than in the US, Sky asked me if I had watched the movie Waking Life. I hadn’t, and so we watched it. It was strange watching it during the daytime, because I had all day to think about it.
There was irony involved, which you’ll understand if you’ve seen it. I had this weird “outside myself” view of my life for the remainder of the day, which not only was mentioned in the film, but also supports the film’s idea that our thoughts/acts can influence those of another on an unconscious level. There is a lot of Jungian theory here, which I have always found fascinating.
(Alert: Off-topic break) Alex Jones made an appearance, during which he said this, among other things:
What a bunch of garbage; liberal, democrat, conservative, republican. It’s all there to control you! Two sides of the same coin. Two management teams bidding for control, the CEO job of Slavery, Incorporated! The truth is out there in front of you, but they lay out this buffet of lies. I’m sick of it, and I’m not going to take a bite out of it, do you got me?
I guess I should come out. While I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist a la Alex Jones, I am completely sick of our government. I really hope that Ron Paul at least gets a fair shake, although I don’t think he will. He’s too honest for our machine. (But finally, someone good out of Texas!) What really floors me is that I am going to have to register as a flippin’ Republican in order to vote for him in the primary. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would do that. Also, I think things are so messed up that if either he or Kucinich isn’t on the ticket next year, then I’m going to vote for a third party.
Anyway.
Watching this, I realized that it has been a very long time since I have had an intelligent conversation with anyone. When a girl in the movie starting talking about the lack of authentic relationships and speech, it hit me so hard that I cried. I would like to watch this movie again and again and again, but I’m floored by how much distance it puts between me and my life. It is a bit frightening, which makes a case for watching it again and figuring out why.
I know that this mention is a little late for a movie that came out in 2001, but I wanted to mention it just in case someone hasn’t watched it. It is the only movie I’ve ever seen where I could turn off the sound and enjoy the visuals, and then turn around and turn off the monitor and listen only to the sound and enjoy that.
God, I’m lonely. I want out of my box.
ITK code for Singing The Sky:
Rotoscoped movie by Richard Linklater, same as A Scanner Darkly, which I love. But I haven’t seen Waking Life, no.
Hmm, I’ve never seen it. I’m going to add it to my blockbuster list. Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about moving to Key West, Vancouver, Mexico, basically anywhere-but-here. Not necessarily a “slower” pace of life, but one less consumed by money-worries, traffic jams, and hair-pulling politics.
I helped out a little with Kucinich’s Congressional campaign years ago when I was in college. He’s one of my favorites right now. Along with Bill Richardson. I have too much guilt over voting for Nader in 2000 that I can’t really jump out of the box, not until a Dem is in office, does some horrible stuff, and then proves to me that it doesn’t matter what party is in office.
Cool that your kid suggested the movie. You’ve raised him right!
I’ll have to catch “Waking Life”. It sounds fascinating. Don’t feel too guilty about voting Republican. I’ve been Republican but have recently been voting more and more for Democrats and Independents. That’s when I’m not writing in votes for my favorite presidential candidate Pat Paulsen.
It’s easy to fall into the rut of not holding intelligent adult conversations when you teach for a living. I’ve found myself slipping into using sentences that would be appropriate for a Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood telecast.
I really liked it and would like to see it again but, like most things I left behind, it’s difficult to find here. I was a fan of Linklater since “Slacker”; I like his stream-of-consciousness approach to direction and narrative structure.
I’ve also been a fan of that style of animation. Check out “American Pop” for a good example of that; it’s a decent movie about the evolution of music in America over several generations.
And, yeah, I can relate to what you’re saying on a few points, particularly “…lack of authentic relationships and speech…”
I will have to ask Cutting Edge Daughter if she has seen it; I haven’t even heard of it. I barely get to see any movies these days. It is very rare to have authentic speech these days. I think that I have had more of it through blogs than in real life.
OK, you got me, another movie to add to my Netflix queue, sounds terrific.
On another note, a lot of people feel like you about the gov. I saw on TV a new “party”? called Unity 08 or something like that where they are going to try and put the two parties on one ticket.
The lonely thing I get, sometimes we are even when we are surrounded by others. I guess “the box” is a relative thing.
I saw this movie some time ago and really loved it, in fact it’s one of the about 6 DVD’s I own. Always enjoy Richard Linklater’s stuff, and I love how this movie is just full of words and ideas and I love the animation/ live action mix as well.