Week 7

Prompt:

Please attempt a "close reading" of a quote, line, etc from your expected paper topic text.

Response:

Eli Cash: I'm not in love with you anymore.

Margot: I didn't think you ever were.

Eli Cash: Let's not make this harder than it already is.

Margot: OK.

Eli Cash: OK what?

Margot: OK, I'm not in love with you any more either.

Eli Cash: I know. You're in love with Richie, which is sick and gross.

Margot: Do you send my mother your clippings? And your grades in ---

Eli Cash: Please stop belittling me. You never gave me the time of day until I started getting good reviews.

Margot: The reviews aren't that good.

Eli Cash: But the sales are.

                This dialogue happens near the end of the film, before Richie attempts suicide. The scene is set in such a way that Eli and Margot must both walk (opposite sides of) the length of a long bridge in order to meet in the middle and hold this conversation. The set-up for this interaction is perfectly cliché in that it provokes a very particular expectation of what’s to come. In most movies involving romance and/or drama, the temporally extended image of two characters walking towards each other generally leads to some sort of confession or revelation.

                Anderson does not break this trend in his film, but rather uses it to the advantage of a persistent motif: escape. Margot and Eli’s conversation is diametric to what would be expected, yet its content is exactly what these two characters need in order to escape their own illegitimate relationship.  First and foremost, the most obvious aspect of their affair is broken- love. Eli clearly needs to dispose of any attachment to Margot in this sense, and he does so right away. Margot does not react in any way addressing her own feelings, and Eli seems to be caught in the expected drama of the moment when he asks her to “not make this harder than it already is.” Her continued apathy towards the situation flusters him into criticizing her underlying feelings, which happen to be quite romantic. The irony is as beautiful as the cinematography.

                Margot’s provokingly demeaning comments cause Eli to backfire with accusations concerning their relationship. Through the content of both Eli’s and Margot’s confrontational statements, any negative energy between them is made apparent and given an opportunity to mellow out. This type of escape is one of the most advisory, and is well known under the label of “communication”. Anderson’s interpretation of the ability to communicate with one’s significant other creates a situation in which these characters can move on with their lives. Without this dialogue, Margot’s confession of love to Richie as well as Eli’s ultimate decision to attend drug rehabilitation would not occur later in the film.

Week 6

Prompt:


Write a post that doesn't include the 1st or 2nd person. It must be written completely in 3rd person. It must incorporate into the body a quote (not as epigraph or closing thought). Otherwise the topic is open.


Response:

The resemblance was uncanny- her mind and the gray sky were equally as dense, yet both so empty. Her thoughts had become overcrowded to the point where attempting to sort them only created new ones, and thus the cycle continued. The air was damp and dull, but the soft wind which somehow managed to counteract the stagnancy outside did not permeate its way into the entangled mess of her mind.  She walked.

She wandered down the street and examined each shop closely; she figured that any possible meditation would occur through a unity of mind and body. Judging by the current state of things, allowing her thoughts to separate entirely from her actions only intensified the feeling of mental exhaustion. It was time to begin taking care of everything- both inside and out.

The first step of this process would be to create clarity. Clarity meant space, and space entailed the ever romanticized ability of letting go. Of course, her characteristic inability of leaving behind anything misunderstood created an immense obstacle... But in this case a lack of progress would allow several steps forward. 

As she placed one foot in front of the other, she realized the level of dissociation between legs and heart; one moved and the other struggled to stay in place. Perhaps her mind and body were truly beginning to connect? Success was never safe to assume this early on, but she would succumb for the sake of comfort. She had been walking all day, though the only proof of the time passed were the conversations she’d had concerning food.

“The... No, wait... Sorry- Just the plain bagel.”

“A plain bagel? To go?”

“Yes. No- asiago, please... No, plain... Yes, plain.”

This and,

“... No, thank you.”

“Will that be all?”

“Yes, thanks.”

were the only marks separating her generally appointed times for lunch and dinner. Time would continue moving whether her mind or her body gave any care, and thus- she walked.

Week 5

An hour and some stress later, we arrived at the hotel. The arrival was the least interesting, and probably the least active, part of our journey. Though our agent was exhausted, he must have been quite proud of his accomplishment. To reach the hotel after so much spent energy was a result worthy of at least one round of applause. To believe that he had run that entire two miles or so through the city of Sevilla just to make sure we, the American guests, could find our place of stay was impressive. Our car had followed his enthusiastic, running self through some of the most crowded corridors of the city.

Of course, when these streets were first designed the idea of cars needing to move through them was nonexistent. As a result, the cars created to fit these streets left about an inch of space between each rearview mirror and the buildings. This lack of space, typical of Europe, required drivers to have impeccable depth perception and aim. Our car was of such standards, and though our reaction to its tiny size was originally that of amused nervousness, we soon came to understand its dimensions.  The city itself was organized in such a way that each street merely connected one plaza to another, and no street was built wider than necessary.

We first discovered this when faced with two questions: how to take directions from a non-English speaking man, and how to move through this claustrophobic city? His name was Roberto, and he was to be our guide. As for the claustrophobic city- my father’s driving was tested at an entirely new level. This was, by far, one of my favorite memories from all of my family’s trip to Spain.