Eccentric Flower:199903/mostly melissa
From Eccentric Flower
 |
fifteen march mostly melissa Melissa writes about how she was so passionate about literature up until college, how she was so gung-ho, but when she got to college, she saw all these people who were just going through the motions, reading because they were required to, and it spoiled the experience for her somewhat. Not completely, but a lot of the joy had gone out of it. Did I get that about right, Melissa? Even though my experience with "the classics" was more or less the reverse - I resented them in high school and am only just now learning to love them - I agree that most of the people in college these days seem like they have zero mental or emotional involvement in what they're doing - they just want to get the certificate and leave. (Not you, Shmuel.) A lot of that is the colleges, though. Briefly put: Colleges suck more than ever before. But I am officially prohibited from going there. I am a lapsed Education major - I gave up on the whole system, walked out, packed up my marbles and went home. And that means I forfeit my right to comment. You should be able to gauge my disgust anyway. I no longer believe it is possible for a person of any age to get a decent education in this country unless they have the energy to kick and scream and fight for it themselves. - - - I would never pick The Tempest over Hamlet, Melissa - Hamlet is a great play, even if I occasionally want to take Hamlet and slap him around a bit. On the other hand, and given your other comparison, I'll take A Midsummer Night's Dream over King Lear any day. - - - Pikachu came back. Still mad at me, though. - - - If one more journaller mentions Lush - look, no link - I shall scream. Yea, verily. Not that it's a bad place, I'm certain - I wouldn't know, since my perversity is such that the more often it's mentioned, the less likely I am to go to the site. Yes, I'm cranky. Tell me another. - - - Melissa also noted that Life Is Beautiful doesn't work for her because the Holocaust is just not something where the "laugh at it" approach works. Well, I'd tend to agree. My idea of the Holocaust (I admit it) is mostly derived from reading the two Maus books many, many times. And that doesn't strike me as a subject which can be laughed into harmlessness - although the method is sound for other things. I don't think I want to speculate about the Holocaust, because it's one of those areas where my own brain is stuck in committee. My "it's time to forget now" lobe is feuding with my "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" lobe, and the fight may never end. It makes my head hurt. Would the movie have been acceptable, Melissa, if it had gone right over the top into slapstick - if it had been less subtle? Do you remember when I said Mel Brooks had only made two good movies? I had in mind Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. I am on record as being the only person in the free world who doesn't like The Producers - and the main reason I don't is because I don't think a musical about Nazis is funny bad taste. I just think it's bad taste. But a lot of other people - including Nonelvis and her Jewish family - think it's hysterical. I don't know. I just don't know. I'd like to say it couldn't happen again, that the world is either less stupid or more paranoid or both. But I'm not at all sure of that. And until I'm sure of that, I can't laugh at it.
© columbine |
