So, I made it home in one piece but haven't felt like answering any of the recent Friday Fives. Tomorrow I am going on a cruise to Alaska with my family. This is exciting because I get to go snorkelling for the first time ever.* Also, free food, a giant boat with a swimming pool and library, rainy weather, and opportunities to dress formally.
Coming home gives me an opportunity to see my family and friends, but also to catch up on movies and TV:
I saw Wall-E, which I liked for the first half and then really disliked due to its contempt for its audience (I don't often say this about movies). I also felt that they were putting forward a Lamarckian view of evolution, despite the fact that the society in the movie probably did not involve any natural selection whatsoever. The ending credits actually made up for the rest of the movie, though. First of all, they were nice to look at, but, more importantly, it was sort of like they were saying "but civilization produces some good things too!" Which I appreciated.
Pan's Labyrinth was really good, though it went over my head (here be spoilers):
"I was really shocked that they did that."
"Well, it worked out for her. It's not like she actually died."
"What?"
"Yeah, she got to go to the magical land where her parents were waiting for her."
"..."
"Have I taken this movie too literally? Because it would not be the first time."
Project Runway started on Wednesday. I think I hate Blayne, and not in a love-to-hate way. It's probably good that I'll be going home before the season really takes off.
I watched the entire first season of Mad Men in about three days and came to the conclusion that early-1960s America is like present-day Russia but with better clothes and hair (but not shoes).** I had a whole analysis of why this would be the case (essentially, it's that the characters in the show grew up during the depression, while the characters in Russia grew up during the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union). There is less smoking in Russia, but the amount of drinking is about right in certain circles. I also noticed that the characters on the show do not seem very religious compared to present-day America (which, again, is also true of present-day Russia), but maybe it just hasn't been a topic on the show yet. Anyway, the similarities were kind of creepy.
* I was asked to choose excursions, so the first thing I did is go down the list and cross out everything involving floatplanes, helicopters, and ziplines. Then I chose snorkelling and a tour of an abandoned mine. I only mention this because I'm watching my brother play Super Mario and remembering how much I suck at air worlds but am actually pretty good at underground worlds. I am consistent if nothing else.
** I once had a plan to invent a time machine and travel back to that era to go shopping and also hang out around optometrists' offices and pick up men. The physical impossibility of a) time travel and b) fitting into 1960s clothes did not deter me. This series totally did.
If I weren't who's to say
14 years ago
4 comments:
I heard from someone that you actually do lose bone mass when you're in space, and you have to be careful when you come home because your bones are are kind of iffy. Like it happens to real astronauts. I don't know if it's true, I'm just spreading rumors now.
I liked Pan's Labyrinth a lot too. Check out IMDB for Doug Jones (he played Pan) Doug Jones is awesome.
I was talking to another teacher who is about my age today and I started telling her about your interest (okay, I said obsession) with the clothing in Mad Men. It turns out that her daughter, who is about your age has been doing the same thing. We of our generation don't dislike the clothes, but we just can't go there with you because the clothes symbolize so much more than clothes to us.
On the other hand, I have talked to a few people who know young women who are very excited by the character of Joan, who can be curvy and sexy at the same time. So, one generation's constraints are another's mark of freedom, I guess.
See, to me the clothes just seem so much more forgiving than the styles now. The cuts are more conservative, everybody wears stockings, not to mention foundation garments. You don't have to be flawless to wear the clothes, whereas the current styles are not really good for camoflauging anything. And I love that they repeat outfits, and I especially love that how often they repeat is related to the characters' financial status. Everything also looks very well-made, though that might be more of a TV thing than an actual early-'60s thing.
Re: Joan. I also thought it was pretty exciting that she was considered sexy, partly because she is so curvy, though mostly because she is so pale. That was a huge deal for me.
But, the more I think about it, the idea that it's unusual to be both curvy and sexy is depressing and/or hilarious. Yeah, you don't see it on TV much, but are girls with that figure seriously starved for male attention in real life? (I doubt it. I mean, I only have half that figure, and I seem to get by. Or am I just adding support to my theory that Russia=Mad Men? Are American standards really that different?) And why don't we see it on TV much?
You ask an interesting question. I'm hoping that Mad Men makes it all the way to 1968, where Joan's figure will seem ridiculous (and even more in 1972). I'm wondering what the show would do about it then, because I think the truth is that confident women have always known that they can be sexy no matter the current styles. Even in the late 60's/early 70's, where it was close to impossible to look stylish if you were curvy (the lucky girls could brag that they were wearing men's jeans), Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch were greatly admired. And one reason I said "confident women" is that you have to have the confidence to ignore what's in style if your body doesn't work with it. I guess the question is why do we, who should know better, refuse to ignore all the evidence around us that different skin shades and figure types are considered sexy/beautiful and instead believe--what?--magazine covers, or the clothes in the stores that season? And I don't mean this as a feminist rant because men do the same thing.
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