26-Nov 99 American Beauty
What I thought the film was about was “ordinary” To what extent is it bad, and to what extent is it good, to be ordinary? We're all in some ways ordinary and in some ways not ordinary. Most days are ordinary, and to some extent this whole endeavor of journaling is an attempt to make something special out of the ordinary. It's always easier to write when there's an obvious out-of-the-ordinary hook, but some of the best things I've read come out of careful observation of very ordinary people and situations. And, of course, what's ordinary in my life isn't in yours. My own opinion is that the movie has nothing to do with dysfunctional families or the marginalization of men in American society and everything to do with the marginalization of the ordinary. All right, “nothing” and “everything” is too extreme. I'll back down to a 7 on a 1 to 10 scale of nothingness and everythingness. What the movie is all about (yeah, yeah, what I just said, 7/10 about) is being able to see the wonder in a plastic bag blowing around in the wind, and in plain Jane (no accident, I'm sure) next door. When you can do that you may be able to see the wonder in yourself, and there's the real redemption.
We went to see the movie at a Saturday afternoon matinee in Lexington. The theater is a few-plex, not a multiplex, right downtown. Forty (count 'em! I moved away in 1959) years ago I used to stop at Theatre Pharmacy, next door to the movie theatre, for a 5 cent iced mug of root beer on my way home from high school. Theatre Pharmacy is still there. It was great going to Lexington for something other than the dentist! There was no slideshow of movie trivia and ads before the film, just colored lights shining on the screen. Ordinary? In the town where the Revolutionary War started? You decide.
After the film, remember, matinee, we drove up 128 to Charrette's in Woburn. It's an art & drafting materials supply store with lots of branches in the area and an ever-changing markdown corner. Then we stopped at Building 19 in Burlington on the way back. Calendars aren't marked down far enough yet for me to want any of the ones they had, but we'll keep checking frequently for the next couple of months. I got a CD (marching band music! Every now and then it's what I want) and a couple of books, Rock This! by Chris Rock and My Ride With Gus by Charles Carillo. I don't know why. I had opened that book a couple of places at random on previous trips to Building 19 and the writing seemed pretty good, and it's short, and for $1.98, worth taking a chance on.
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