[MD] The Revolutionary Road

[John Carl]

Thanks for the recommendation, Mary.  I enjoyed it a lot, though it wasn't
quite what I expected.  I didn't even notice it was by Sam Mendes till the
end and then it all came quite clear.  This was definitely the bookended
missing half of American Beauty - a movie which hit me hard when it came out
and to my mind more along the lines of what you describe as the conflict of
Social sq and freedom/DQ.  But I think both together make the whole
statement in complete glory - showing a sort of Yin/Yang approach from both
sides now.

When I walked out of the theater of after watching American Beauty, it was
with Lu, in Fort Bragg, for our 11th anniversary and it connected a whole
bunch of thinking along MoQ lines.  Mainly I thought of the tale told in
Lila, of a man who goes to work each day on a train, commuting to work, with
a stable and comfortable life and yet he's not really happy.  That story
connected with that movie, in my mind.

Some things hit you harder at some times and it's not easy to explain
later.  An 11th anniversary isn't usually any big deal.  People focus on
other numbers, like their 10th for instance.  But Lu's and my 10th we
completely ignored.  We'd lost a child a few months earlier and we weren't
in any kind of mood to celebrate our 10th.  And then  also, after that we
stopped watching movies for a while and just like the heightened taste of
food after a long fast, a movie seen in the context of being like, the only
one you watched in a year or so... it makes a bigger impact than normal.
American Beauty was like that for us.  I was dumbfounded when I walked out
of the movie theater.  But then, other people also reported a similar
feeling; my brother said watching was akin to downing a pan galactic gargle
blaster - having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a
large gold brick - and I have to say I somewhat agree.

Revolutionary Road didn't affect me in quite the same way; I wasn't in the
same frame of mind, for one thing.  But seeing it in the light of the
earlier movie - the mirror image, the "bookend" as I say, of offering the
view of the opposite coast; Rev. Road was set in New York.  I don't know
where Amer. Beauty was supposed to be, but it felt like California to me.
The opening scenes of suburban roofs was shot in Sacramento.  Roofs and
homes I know well.  In American Beauty, the husband is killed by his efforts
to escape middle class conformity and in Revolutionary Road its the wife.
There was also a bit of balance in having Kate die and Leo live on which
balanced out the ending of Titanic.  So all in all, it felt to me like a
very satisfying balancing act and I'm glad I saw it.  I want to watch it
again.

And yeah, Mary.  When I saw American Beauty I'd wondered if Sam Mendes had
read ZAMM and was heavily influenced it.  After watching this one, I thought
that idea was even more confirmed.

Extraordinary indeed.

John



On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 12:17 PM, Mary <marysonthego at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> If you have never seen the movie "Revolutionary Road" you will enjoy
> it.  There is a character in it which could be a young Phaedrus.  He
> makes astounding insights near the end.  I have no doubt you will spot
> him.  This movie has so much to say about the conflict between the
> Social Level and freedom/DQ it could have been written by Pirsig
> himself.   The movie came out in 2008 and if it's already been
> discussed here I apologize.  I don't see much that hasn't been out for
> a while.  If you've ever groped for an example of one level being
> unable to comprehend another, then this is the movie for you.  Have I
> piqued your interest? :)
>
> There are so many messages for MoQers in this movie I admit to
> watching it twice - back to back - just to catch references.
>
> Pay attention to Phaedrus' mother and the main character's neighbors.
> Reigel is married to Lila in 2 mirror images and Phaedrus' mother is
> the archetype "moral" Victorian.  It is extraordinary.
>
> Best,
> Mary
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