Discover Top Posts Tagged with #entertainmentdiscourse

Automatic Emblems

“Composition is hours spent staring at screens.”

When coupled with my public space documentary, this high concept, and the documentary take on a new life. By having attention called to the creation and editing of the documentary, the viewer is made aware of a variety of processes at work. First, they are made aware of the juxtaposition of the shooting of the documentary and the editing involved to create the final product. In viewing the documentary, a person might immediately think they are being virtually transported to the site of the documentary, but really, they are being transported to the creator’s computer screen, and by extension, the mind of the creator. Furthermore, the viewer is made aware that by staring at the screen, their owned midn is being shaped and composed in specific ways by the documentary, its creator, and the space from which the footage originated. The slogan, when attached to the object calls attention to these things.

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Entertainment Discourse

I first watched Napoleon Dynamite when I was rather young and still living in Texas. Even now, I can remember that initial viewing. I enjoyed the movie immensely back then, and I still enjoy it today. The movie doesn’t have any big-name actors, so I didn’t recognize any of them then, and when I watch the movie today, I still don’t even know any of their names. I think this means that the movie itself has had a much bigger influence on me as its own self-contained object rather than a product created by a group of individuals. The principles championed by the film have had a greater affect on me as an individual than any of the people involved in its production. The narrative predominantly follows the exploits of a young high school student as he tries to make his way through the world. It is a tale of self-establishment and self-discovery.

Napoleon starts the film with no friends and a less than ideal family life. His older brother spends all of his time on the internet “chatting with hot babes,” and his grandmother, with whom he lives, spends a lot of her time with her boyfriend. Her actions set up one of the main conflicts of the movie when she rides a four wheeler, breaks her coccyx and Napoleon’s uncle, Rico, has to come watch Napoleon and Kip.

While Napoleon does make some friends over the course of the film, he is initially set up as filling the role of the outcast. The popular kids make fun of him, and he gets bullied regularly. During most of the movie, Napoleon’s attempts to fit in are painfully embarrassing. While I never had struggles that were quite as acute as Napoleon’s, I certainly identified with his awkwardness and desire to fit in early on in the film. This is why Napoleon’s solution to those problems had kind of a profound effect on me that has stuck with me ever since. In one of the last scenes of the film, Napoleon is giving his friend, Pedro, a pep-rally speech as he encourages him right before he must give a campaign speech to get votes for himself as class president. Pedro is feeling some doubts at this point in the movie, but Napoleon tells him, “Just follow your heart. That’s what I do.” While this mantra is cheesy and humorous, the truth of it is illuminated starkly when Napoleon performs an undeniably eccentric dance on stage in front of the entire school. Initially his classmates are shocked and silent, but then the entire auditorium erupts into cheers. The pursuit of individual freedom and agency is the key not only to being happy with yourself, but often also with others being happy with you.

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The Quest Schema

The first couple of scenes of Napoleon Dynamite seem to be pretty random, but it is possible to make some sense of them when the are analyzed to find pieces of the beginning of the hero’s journey. The movie more or less throws the viewer immediately into the quest, not really giving us much of a glimpse of the ordinary world, but Napoleon’s house, with his grandmother and brother fills this function. This balance is soon upset when his grandmother breaks her coccyx and uncle Rico comes to stay with Napoleon, but before Napoleon has to traverse this mine field, he must face the threshold guardian (or guardians, in this case). One the first things we see after Napoleon rides the bus to school, proclaiming that today he is going to do “whatever [he] freaking wants,” is Napoleon in the locker room with three jocks. They issue him a challenge, daring him to fit in, and asking what he did that summer. In two ways, Napoleon fails this challenge miserably, failing both to give an honest answer and one that will impress the jocks. He says he spent the summer hunting wolverines in Alaska. Here, we are introduced to both the external and internal struggles: the desire to be received favorably by peers, and the desire to be received favorably by himself. Upon Napoleon’s induction into oral and literate traditions, he fails to establish himself favorably.

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I don't see me mad at situations, I see me turn and walk away

I see a tattoo on my right thigh that I will probably regret one day

Yeah, I will probably regret one day

But now, I am happy to be bonding in a kitchen with my friends

A spool of thread, a few more good vibes, a safety pin and a ballpoint pen

A safety pin and a ballpoint pen

And a ballpoint pen

But there are answers here, they're just harder to figure out

Since all your questions got harder to dodge and dip around

And there is nothing wrong with my lifestyle

No matter how many times I tell myself to breathe in, hold it, hold it, now let it out, now let it out

One day I will realize I don't need this because it is just not who I am

Until that day comes, I'll keep my eyes closed, and I will try to feel all of the effects

Yeah, I will try to feel all of the effects

And now I am talking way too fast and a little bit louder than I should,

Trying to say thank you for understanding my side of the story the best that you could

My side of the story the best that you could

The best that you could

But there are answers here, they're just harder to figure out

Since all your questions got harder to dodge and dip around

And there is nothing wrong with your lifestyle

No matter how many times they tell themselves just breathe in, hold it, hold it, now let it out

And this is how the cool boyfriend sits in the passenger seat of his girlfriend's car

He's lookin' at me, I wish the light would turn green, set me free, oh set me free, oh set me

Teach my rolling veins where there's a will, there is a way

Just cut me open, let me drain, oh let me drain, oh let me drain, oh let me

I'll move to Florida, and I'll buy a brand new pick-up truck

And I'll tint all the windows including the driver's side

Now you can't see me, so you can't touch me

When I sit at the red light and watch your boyfriend wonder if I'm inside

If I am dead inside

Throughout this song, there is an attitude of blissful ignorance and apathy demonstrated both in the music and lyrics. Generally, the music is very upbeat and happy, but when it is coupled with some of the lyrics, it takes on a very different mood.

They sing dark lyrics like “cut me open, let me drain” and stubbornly apathetic ones that proclaim “there is nothing wrong with my lifestyle,” which are informed by the blissful musical quality of the song. The song asserts that while the lyricists choices may not seem best to those outside of his experience, he is happy within it.

The video supports this claim, but it also adds a darker quality to the song. We see people getting hurt, and disregarded to the point that they turn into dolls. In this context, the song is demonstrating some of the problems with prioritizing individual freedoms and ignoring the well being of others.

#entertainmentdiscourse

Without freedom, we are nothing.

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On The Premise

In Napoleon Dynamite, happiness and fulfillment are derived not from superficially conforming to your perception of what others want of you, but rather by behaving naturally and associating the people who join you in your pursuit of the genuine. Napoleon is painfully eccentric, but he spends a small, even more painful part of the movie trying to outwardly deny these eccentricities. However, his interactions with his peers turn out poorly when her does this.

Around the time when he tells Pedro, “Just follow your heart. That’s what I do,” he realizes that he does indeed need to do what comes naturally to him. The favorable consequences of “behaving naturally” are demonstrated in the closing shot, where he and his friend, Deb play tether ball together. Napoleon no longer has to play tetherball by himself.

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Pidgin Sign

Jeremy Bolm and Brian Sella are the frontmen of my two favorite bands, Touche Amore and The Front Bottoms. I’ve briefly met and spoken to Jeremy Bolm, but my understanding of the two individuals is largely derived from a mythology that I have created for myself. They’re both pretty melancholy people, but their melancholy is nuanced in some interesting ways. While Jeremy’s is filled with anger and desperation, Brian’s feels more like a lighthearted kind of melancholy.

Jeremy is the god of frustration.

Brian is the god of giving up.

Of course, these assertions are far from complete explanations of how these individuals function in my mythological conception of them, but they are pretty good generalizations. Jeremy is sometimes hopeful, and Brian sometimes strives for greatness, but it is these foundational qualities that make them significant figures in my entertainment discourse, because it is these qualities that I see most in myself. In Brian and Jeremy’s states of mind, I see reflections of my own state of mind, and that is encouraging. For, if Brian and Jeremy can act in spite of their defaults, so can I.

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