Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Fairy Tales
Two of our stories seem like fairy tales: the bound beggars, and the woman who waits all her life on a park bench for the boyfriend who doesn’t return. But again, the story of Haruna Yamaguchi and Nukui is different. This is just the kind of thing we expect from a fixated fan who has no life outside of worshiping the star. What do you think of weaving this all too believable story between the other two more magical tales?
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12 comments:
Oh, interesting idea. Is the singer storyline a critique on modern culture -- that nowadays society would think a love story is doing whatever it takes to meet the pop idol of your dreams?
I kind of understood the pop star story as a fairy tale, too. It's easy to imagine the same story historically — Japanese opera singer from an earlier era adored by fans, or a fabled geisha that most men can only dream about. I thought it was a timeless story, even though it had a modern spin. And I found her ridiculous hit song to be somewhat moving and melancholy when stripped of its pop beat and electronic music.
Hmmm. If seen historically, we can imagine a story of grand romantic tragedy. But if we think of the all too possible event of a pop music fan blinding himself over the pop star, then it seems more sordid—a disturbed youth pathetically wasting himself over his delusions. I like this tension between the romantic and the pathetic. Isn’t the difference between the two often no more than distance?
Indeed. The act of gouging one's eyes out is a more mythic than modern notion, I think.
Think Oedipus (blinding as an act of guilt). And all the metaphors in mythology about blind seers like Tiresias, the idea that discarding the distraction of sight helps you "see" more clearly.
What did you think of the pop start being half blind? any significance there?
And regarding your excellently observed fine line between pathetic and romantic, what do you make of the lunch lady's Saturday routine? Devotion or insanity? Pathetic or romantic? And what about her apparent willingness to become attached to the "new" man? Disloyalty or sanity?
Does our modern pyschobabble erode the art of human failure? Since the story of the woman on the bench is more stylized, it has the distance to be more romantic. But what would we really say of such a creature? She is in denial, she lacks closure....
And, don't forget, Get a life!
DW, did you ever see that French film about Victor Hugo's daughter and how she pursued this unrequited love with a military officer? Devoted her whole sad life to him. Seems like it was called "The stoory of H" or something like that. I don't remember. But it had that feel of crazy becoming transcendent.
No, don't know that one. I'll look for it. Let me know if you can peg the title.
I believe it's L'Histoire d'Adele H. (The History of Adele H.). Here's the Netflix page.
Thanks, I’ll add it to the queue.
Oops -- the English title is The Story of Adele H.
So, I said "The Story of H." And actually it was "The Story of Adele H." Yes, thanks.
Have you seen it, or were you just doing my homework for me?
Google is my friend.
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