Murakami/Spielberg/Lucas: Sheep Concludes;Indy Enters

I first wanted to address the conclusion of the Wild Sheep Chase. I was floored with how it ended. First, Boku found his friend, "The Rat" and had it out. I found interesting how they hardly looked at each other or was back to back and in the dark. Is this a way of saying that society is a thin line between normal and abnormal? Boku's sense of isolation drove him a bit crazy, but it also drove him to a n sense of enlightenment that help him see what had to be done with this sheep. He DID found the sheep. I know people in our class question this, but he did. I believe he found its essence, if you will. The sheep's spirit did not or did it? I think there were some signs it did sense the isolation alone I did not thought trigger this madness that Boku was suffering from. The "Sheep man" was his friend trying to tell him something. I was lost with what though, other than to make him understand how selfish he has been and that this was his fate. We as a society tend to not change until we are force to and Boku I believe was. I know there was a Devil's advocate question you had and lets say he did not learn anything, then what? Does Boku go about his life the same way until something else happens that triggers his feelings again? Do we as a society have to wait until something like 9/11 before we get it? One more thing about this book, Murakami's view of Boku is a view of society as a whole. If you believe that, I believe that there is hope because Boku showed signs of change of at least attempted change. His crying was a purged of what happened to him and maybe what he needs to do to evolve. Maybe not physically crying, but some form of purging is needed with our society to change. Yes, I know that word has been used a lot this election year, but its true. BTW, loved this book and will try to reread it to better understand what its trying to say, if I'm way off.

Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, in a word.......creatively offensive. I never thought of this movie in the way we talked about it in class today. Now looking back at this movie there are some very bad stereotypes, but was this intentional? Was Spielberg and Lucas(you can not forget about him in this part) trying to make a statement about our society? Was their point more than making a lot of money? Oriental ism, from Edward Said, suggests that we examine the literary and culture that we live in. Our culture tends to have us thinking that we(USA) are the superior country and that we alone can help those in dire need to be "rescued" from there primitive lives. Like Murakami, are we so use to these stereotypes that we can not be offended by them? I agree that with this being a movie that depicts the Orient(Middle East) in bad manners that we should be outrage by it. The trouble is that Spielberg/Lucas get a way with this because as it was pointed out in class, this could be looked on as a comedy. The one question that was not answered was when you asked about when you look at this movie, why do you laugh? Is this not offensive? The question is are they being so over the top with this that they was sending a message about the times of movie cereals like these were made? Believe me, looking at this movie and being African American, I can find numerous accounts of stereotypes that I was mad at. I would like to think that these guys were merely making a movie like they remember it growing up, but if not........then there is something wrong.

A Wild Sheep Chase: The Sequel

As I delve further into "A Wild Sheep Chase" by Murakami, I must say that there is a interesting way of comparing it to today's society. As we talked about in class today, the philosophical view of Murakami is about the world we live in, which is part of postmodern writing. What I'm taking from this is the mundane way we can go thru society and not care about what troubles others. Boku has went thru a good portion of his life not really caring about anything except himself. This is a "cold" way of acting. There are consequences when one goes thru life this way. Are we, as a society doomed like Boku? His search is not really voluntary, yet he seems to be compelled by it. As if he knows there is something that is wrong with him. One personal question I have is the meaning of his friend, the "Rat". Is there some reason for this I missed? Also I wonder about a term we use when we are fighting to get to something that we may never get to, a "rat race". Boku is chasing his friend or following his steps a bit, the Rat and its a race to find him to get the strange guy from destroying his business.

The disconnectedness seemed to drive the Rat crazy and maybe will Boku too. Is this a way Murakami is trying to say that disconnectedness can drive one crazy? The disconnectedness that Boku has had him feeling has given him a chance to reflect on things a bit. There are questions I still have like the way all the women seemed to leave him. They all seem abrupt, or sudden like it came out of the blue, but did it or did we, thru Boku missed the signs? The song, Perfidia played after his girlfriend left him, as if the author is trying to say that she betryaed him for leaving him at the time he needs her the most. These messages are deep and ironic.

I had previously wrote that this might be a dream-like state for Boku, but I'm not sure about that now. If this is a horror type of finish, I can see some aspects of it. What I'm looking to see when I finish the book is if Boku finds what he is looking for and what will happen then? I can only hope what he finds is not something that will drive him to suicide. We'll see.

A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakumi

A lot of postmodern writing can involve some irony, which is what I would like to address in two sections. On page 127, the "strange man" discusses with the protagonist about his life thus far. The "strange man" believe in two groups: the mediocre realist and the mediocre dreamers. As stated third paragragh down, "You clearly belong to the latter. Your fate is and always shall be the fate of a dreamer." Now, if this is true, then he is living a dream. Second, on page 146, 4th paragragh, the protagonist states: "This all has got to be, patently, the most ridiculous story I have ever heard. Somehow coming from your mouth, it has the ring of truth, but I doubt anyone would believe me if I told them what happened today." Here it plays ironic in that the protagonist might see this all a dream, but he goes on. I wonder if this is a waking dream or maybe an alternative reality?

9/11/08*

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Ruchdie

This was a interesting fantasy about a boy and his father who was this revered storyteller. He told such amazing(some like his wife might say crazy) stories that he made a living from them. Rashid or as he might go by, the Shah of Blah or the Oceans of Notions, was very good at it. His family was not overly impress of took it for granted as they later found out. His wife, Soraya, so frustrated with him that she left him for another man, their neighbor no less. His son, Haroun, was so hurt by this that for a while he was stuck on losing focus after 11 minutes. Despite this, Rashid had faith that he was going to continue to be who he is. The journey to the town of G and valley of K was funny. Haroun saw many things that started to make sense to why his father was the way he is and that made him understand his father better. From the driver, Butt to the Walrus character, they saw some amazing things The ending of everything being happy and wondering if the Walrus had anything to do with this "fake" happy ending was questioning should Haroun and Rashid be happy that Soraya returned to them? Should they believe that the city they returned to was really happy(dancing in the rain)? Their incredible journey to this conclusion of what is real and what is not left one to ponder, should you care as long as you are happy?

Bride and Prejudice(or Pride and Prejudice, Redux) by Gurinder Chadha

There was some interesting issues regarding this movie. We had two poeple from different worlds who unwitting fell for each other despite the differences. Darci(Henderson), an American, rich playboy type and Lalita(Rai) the oldest of four daughters who come from humble upbringings with a mom hoping to marry off her girls and a father who watches with little to say, but wise things to say. We had class issues(rich vs. poor). We had culture issues where Darci's friend is Indian(Andrews) and was arranged to get married, which is normal in the Indian culture as well as Non-Western cultures. Though, it was interesting to find out from Darci's rival, that he was "arranged" to be married to another rich, American, white girl by his mother(Mason). This contradicted his earlier disapproval of his friends arranged marraige. You had identity lost with the Indian accountant who wanted a wife in America, but one who still has Indian qualities. Yet, he seem to love America so much that he put down his own heritage at time to make America sound so much better. This imperialist way of thinking unfortunately happens too much for most of foreign countries taste. Lalita thought this way about Darci and this was one of the things that got them to not get together until the climax of the movie. What I took from this is that you can not judge a book by its cover most of the time and that love can come from anywhere.