HOM:

Giving you something to read on the toilet since 2009.

"The mistake lies in seeing debate and discussion as secondary to the recovery of meaning. Rather, we should see them as primary: art and literature do not exist to be understood or appreciated, but to be discussed and argued over, to function as a focus for social dialogue. The discourse of literary or art criticism is not to recover meaning, but to create and contest it. Our primal scene should not be the solitary figure in the dark of the cinema but the group of friends arguing afterwards in the pub."
-Don Fowler (1996) "Even Better Than The Real Thing"

Friday, December 11, 2009

Where the Wild Things Are - A Third Review


Contrary to James Alison King Esq., I will tell you the ending and this ending serves as both a point of departure and return. I call it the 'mother gospel'. The movie begins with Max in the turmoil of creating something awesome and having idiots not appreciate his kick ass igloo. It is his mother that upholds the creation and welcomes Max's frustration as an opportunity to instigate more creation--she gives life to 'Max' (later when Carol asks Max 'what are you?', he claimed himself as 'Max'--using a tone eluding to the one that makes cool stuff for his mother). The point of departure for Max was realized in his mother's haphazard attempt at giving him 'life' in the sense of feeding him crap food. The contradiction of a mother that gives life by encouraging imagination but sometimes also through frozen corn did not sit well with Max. He peaced out to find a new life source--politics. He was met by friends and societal constructions that were both really fun to party with but also freaking annoying sometimes. Giving life to his friends proved impossible--he wished for them a mother. Max decided to head home. A mother with cake was waiting for him. Until all of our policy and societal constructions begin with the premise, 'How do we shape this policy so that it encourages and creates an environment for mothers to be mothers?', well, then I would imagine that we'll keep punching holes in each other's forts. Lucky are the ones that get to dominate cake and milk with a mother. White men should probably not speak for a few decades--at least this is what I think the message from Sednak and Spike is.


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