On John Williams, Spielberg, and the fear
Not so much "the fear" as "the sickness", but not "the sickness" like in zombie movies. Allow me to explain.
There come times in a young man's life when he must abandon his state of sobriety; today, I experienced just that. My plans for sledding didn't really work out yesterday, so when I got out of class at 11, I immediately retrieved my sled and woke Chaz up (I'm not sure what his schedule is, but I'm pretty sure he was supposed to be in my 10 am psych lecture). We stepped outside, bundled and layered, and still found the idea of sliding face-first down Art Hill tooth-chatteringly idiotic. Thoughts of frostbite and spinal injuries haunted us.
So we smoked first.
On the drive back, I gave him iPod duty, and he picked John Williams (probably the only music he recognized). As I listened, I began to realize all sorts of things about Spielberg, the differences between H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" and "Back To The Future", and the implied shift of metaphysical thinking.
Get this; "The Time Machine" took the question "what would you do with a time machine?" and answered "I'd explore the history of the world, of course. Spot of tea, eh?""
In contrast, "Back To The Future" took that same question and answered "I'd challenge the integrity of my existence by interfering with key events of my past."
To me, this difference illustrates the shift from mentally and spiritually secure outlook of the 19th century and early 20th century, to the spiritually insecure outlook of the late 20th and early 21st century. Wells' represents a time when there was less to do on a moment-to-moment basis, yet more to do on a long-term basis; modern technology and its inescapable lifestyle had not set into the lives of Wells' time, so when people got bored, they could remain confident in knowing that they are an instrument of God, or of themselves.
"Back To The Future" betrays the existence of God. A God-controlled universe could not experience the temporal insecurity that Marty experiences; by interfering with his parents' marriage, Marty undermines the probability of his existence, whereas the infallibility of God would preclude any sort of probability--God, after all, is an all or nothing sort of deal.
I feel for Marty. I really do, because I am a product of the same insecure society from which he came. Questions like "what would you do with a time machine?" operate like a kind of rorschach ink blot test. Whatever it is that most disturbs you, the unanswerable question that you stay up thinking about, expresses itself in the answer. The fear of "The Time Machine" has more to do with integrity and strength--questions of ability and aptitude. The fear confronted in "Back To The Future" is far less forgiving, because it questions the strength of things outside of ourselves--time, existence, skateboards.
Anyway, I've got to split. I just wanted to post on a Friday, for a change.
-Alan
There come times in a young man's life when he must abandon his state of sobriety; today, I experienced just that. My plans for sledding didn't really work out yesterday, so when I got out of class at 11, I immediately retrieved my sled and woke Chaz up (I'm not sure what his schedule is, but I'm pretty sure he was supposed to be in my 10 am psych lecture). We stepped outside, bundled and layered, and still found the idea of sliding face-first down Art Hill tooth-chatteringly idiotic. Thoughts of frostbite and spinal injuries haunted us.
So we smoked first.
On the drive back, I gave him iPod duty, and he picked John Williams (probably the only music he recognized). As I listened, I began to realize all sorts of things about Spielberg, the differences between H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" and "Back To The Future", and the implied shift of metaphysical thinking.
Get this; "The Time Machine" took the question "what would you do with a time machine?" and answered "I'd explore the history of the world, of course. Spot of tea, eh?""
In contrast, "Back To The Future" took that same question and answered "I'd challenge the integrity of my existence by interfering with key events of my past."
To me, this difference illustrates the shift from mentally and spiritually secure outlook of the 19th century and early 20th century, to the spiritually insecure outlook of the late 20th and early 21st century. Wells' represents a time when there was less to do on a moment-to-moment basis, yet more to do on a long-term basis; modern technology and its inescapable lifestyle had not set into the lives of Wells' time, so when people got bored, they could remain confident in knowing that they are an instrument of God, or of themselves.
"Back To The Future" betrays the existence of God. A God-controlled universe could not experience the temporal insecurity that Marty experiences; by interfering with his parents' marriage, Marty undermines the probability of his existence, whereas the infallibility of God would preclude any sort of probability--God, after all, is an all or nothing sort of deal.
I feel for Marty. I really do, because I am a product of the same insecure society from which he came. Questions like "what would you do with a time machine?" operate like a kind of rorschach ink blot test. Whatever it is that most disturbs you, the unanswerable question that you stay up thinking about, expresses itself in the answer. The fear of "The Time Machine" has more to do with integrity and strength--questions of ability and aptitude. The fear confronted in "Back To The Future" is far less forgiving, because it questions the strength of things outside of ourselves--time, existence, skateboards.
Anyway, I've got to split. I just wanted to post on a Friday, for a change.
-Alan
posted by Alan Orlanski at 7:51 PM
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