The exercise:
Today's starter is: the movies lie.
My take was inspired by the continuing gun violence in the Vancouver area.
Mine:
So many shootings but so many survive -
The movies are full of lies;
On the big screen you get shot, you die!
Except for the heroes, they usually survive,
As well as the occasional bad guy.
But there ain't no heroes here,
No criminal masterminds are near,
Just a bunch of lowlife's spreading fear.
But they keep catching bullets and walking away,
Just so they can keep up their idiotic gunplay.
Is it wrong for me to be filled with dismay
When I hear they'll make a full recovery?
Hey, I can't help it if I feel that way.
But let me make one thing clear:
When they die I don't cheer...
But I certainly don't shed a single tear.
In this dark movie theater, there are all kinds of couples. In row three, I see an elderly couple. The gentleman is half asleep. His wife is cleaning her glasses. In the back row, there is a young couple stealing kisses in the dark. In front of me, an obnoxious husband who laughs at the wrong time. His embarrassed wife shifts uneasily all through the movie. All of these couples are watching the latest romantic comedy. In the movie, the awkward hero finally gets the girl to kiss him. The lovely girl realizes that true love was always right there. Our movie theater couples will live that "happily ever after" lie at least for the ten seconds of that screen kiss. Suspension of disbelief, as Coleridge would say. These movie going couples fall for that movie lie until they get on each other's nerves later. Reality has taught them that life is definitely not a movie! But isn't it fun to join in that "lie" for 2 hours or so?
ReplyDeletePeople are not that pretty
ReplyDeleteThe girl and guy do Not always meet
Animals don't talk
Cars don't explode upon impact
People don't live happily ever after
Sex is not that casual
Outer Space is darker than that, and extremely cold
Tires don't squeal around every corner
Body parts do not make sounds when hit (bonk)i
And most importantly, time always moves linearly.
Marc this topic gets closer and closer to my heart. Now that I have someone I need to take care of I find myself seeing things in movies I didn't used to. Like the violence. I must have been blind to it before. But now it makes me sick how much there is in everything! How do I protect him? How do I teach him that it doesn't work like that in real life?
ReplyDeleteHmm, curiously enough when I came home on Saturday night (ok, Sunday morning), I found police tape cordonning off my road and a burly bullet-proof-jacketed policeman stood looking intimidating. He was close-lipped, but someone was either stabbed or shot, probably only an hour or so before I came back. I'm telling myself that I just happen to live in an exciting neighbourhood.
ReplyDeleteThe movies lie
On a little mantlepiece in a corner of my room,
Stands a little statue, my harbinger of doom.
Whenever guests annoy me, I say a little prayer,
And the harbinger will curse them and make them lose their hair.
And whenever people tease me and make me want to cry
My harbinger protects me, and stalks them till they die.
But none of this is really true and I can tell you why,
Because of all the things I've learned, I've learned the movies lie.
Septembermom - ah, a little cynical, but probably more true than I'd like to think about.
ReplyDeleteApril - that time moving linearly thing is such a pain in the butt. And I'm pretty sure I'm glad animals don't talk.
Kim - it's weird seeing things with new eyes, isn't it? With thoughts of having a child sooner than later, that'll be something I have to face all too soon.
Greg - har, exciting neighbourhood - focus on the positive! I'm not sure if I should be glad your little statue is a lie or not ;)