Rope by Alfred Hitchcock (Part I:The "Deeper Meaning" Part)

Alfred Hitchcock made many films in his long career that spanned decades, from the early days of silent films to later movies that were uncensored by the association. He covered many topics, however his dark humor always seemed to go back to crime, corruption, voyeurism, and especially murder. In Rope Hitchcock seems to take a overwhelming joy in using many themes that brings one to question their own morals.

Rope is a story about two university students who commit murder. However, their murder is not for revenge or over a girl, but to prove a point. The smarter and more composed of the two, whose name is Brandon, kills merely to kill and assert his authority over a lesser being. As with all movies that tend to follow the higher road, the two students are caught in the end. However, their actions bring up a very interesting idea.

Can man really judge others? Who is to say that one is superior to the other? In the movie the idea that the superior man could kill off the lesser man is brought up as a discussion topic, which is good food for thought. Should we limit those who can live and those who cannot? Our current populations are all progressing towards a median due to our government which seems to stress passing tests which are designed for the middle road. Should we try to progress our nation by allowing the gap between the lower levels of intelligence to be pushed even farther away from those elitists? Personally I find this concept incredibly difficult to think of. I mean more smart people would always be nice because without people who have that drive to learn how can we remain a powerful nation? On the other hand, I know many people who are far more brilliant than any elitist I have ever met. They lack the memorized knowledge that many of the "smarter" people, but are more mentally sharp.

This brings up questions such as how can we measure worth? Is worth based on wealth? Is worth based on social class? Is worth based on influence? I mean I personally think we cannot truly measure worth because every person has their own special talents. I know that sounds cheesey, but is it not true? I mean no one can be amazing at everything. Every person is able to contribute something to the sick, twisted society that we live in. Whether that be through physical labor, mental labor, or some other form we all have some worth. Even the man who sits and does nothing, but get yelled at helped our overall society. Is he not acting as a target for the yelling man? Perhaps his nothing that allows the man to yell is essential for that man's day and it stops him from committing horrible crimes or giving into the pointlessness of his existence that he sees.

Hitchcock's Rope may cause none of this speculation in you, but it is certainly worth the watch. If you are not one for the "deeper meaning" stuff, I suggest you give it a watch anyway.


(One can see the scene that created these thoughts at about 6:30)

Zettai Kareshi

Today I watched 7 hours, yes 7 damn hours, of Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) with my girlfriend. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a Japanese Drama about a woman who buys the "perfect" boyfriend from this company that plans to mass produce a model. At first she hates him/it, but appropriately names her new "appliance" Night (as in night in shining armor hahaha). Over the course of 11 hour long episodes, she eventually grows to love her robot friend (in a "serious" way) and embrace his pure and sweet robot heart.

Overall, it was decently written. I would have to admit that the emotionalness of the drama could be incredibly awkward for those of the male sex, but girls (especially Japanese ones) will love it most likely. It does help that what I have heard described as the perfect Japanese male is in it (Mokomichi). Plus it is based around LOVE LOVE LOVE and BOYS BOYS BOYS. On a more positive note, for those who aren't into love or boys, they do have this whole plotline about COOKING and not just cooking, but DESSERTS, such as the most excellent creme puff. Though this serves as nothing more than a mcguffin, it certainly does make watching 7 hours of a J-Drama more bearable (worked for me at least).

What this really brings up though as a question is what is human. Because over time the robot appliance that the girl ordered managed to learn to love and became humanlike in both nature. Could we technically consider man's creation human? Though it was made of mechanical parts, it held may characteristics which we associate with humanity: the ability to love; emotions; jealously; rage; revenge; sadness; and a helluva lot more caring than most of the world. I know of course that this was part of the whole innocence healing people plot that many tend to use, but it still brings out many questions that I cannot even begin to write about because I could go on forever about it.

What is life anyway? How do we define it? Are we really one to judge? All seem to be legitamate questions that I cannot even begin to answer in this one blog about a little J-Drama that haunted my Saturday. What I can do, however is let you decide by posting this link. However, I must warn you. For many of you internet addicts this is basically like crack cocaine. Click and begin watching the emotionfest at your own discretion.

Robot Lovin

Sorry for the random posts at random times. Lately I've been reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick and I was just dragged through 7 hours of Japanese dramas with my girlfriend. The weirdest thing about this all is that my girlfriends drama which seems to follow a fairly standard Japanese love story plot. However, this was no ordinary drama only because the male who is of course the perfect male is in fact a robot, which magically learns to defy its programming and learns to love.

Because of the book and the cheesy but decently written drama, my mind seems to be on android overload. Both tend to bring up the ideas of life and love, shamelessly ripping at one's emotions (especially female ones). What really constitutes life? In both of my sources for inspiration life seems to be less black and white, and more gray. While the androids are technically mere pieces of human creation, they too seem to be on the border of life. Their self awareness pushes the idea that they are indeed living and basically human, but their construction seems to work against them. However, who are we to judge life? Humanity in both cases seems to judge the very existence of a human in anything we create.

Its way too late to think about these ideas more and I really should probably go read more of my android literature, so I bid you farewell. Go watch Zettai Kareshi if you want a good cry or something.

Sketch

With SNL and MAD TV dying who do we have to turn to? It is a dawning of a new age. A passing of power. All that jazz. Thankfully there are people like the "Lonely Island" and "Whitest Kids U Know" to pick up and refresh the sketch comedy. After Chappelle's Show passed on I was quite sad to see the absence of new talent, but thank god these guys showed up. While the "Lonely Island" Dudes tend to focus more on the ridiculous ideas, the "WKUK" seem bring satire to a new level in this age. I can't really describe the awesomeness that is the "WKUK" so watch some of their sketches below. I'm sure at least one will give you a good laugh


Lonely Island Dudes:


WKUK:

Quincying

Few women tend to exist in the vast world of MMORPGs. It is for this very reason that many people get laughs from messing with the hordes of men who try to pick up on chicks through online avatars. If you too find this is true, I suggest you check out this guide to quincying. It gave me some good laughs. Check out the video below to see why.