Turn off the Bright Lights

Whiplash, as reviewed by a group of high school jazz students.

Recently, I watched, jazz musician and YouTuber, Adam Neely’s video on Whiplash titled “Whiplash (as reviewed by a jazz musician)” which aimed to critically analyze the film from the lens of a jazz musician (obviously). As I watched the half-hour video I noticed a few areas where his analysis may have become a bit confused and because of that, I decided to create this article as a coupling to his piece. This is in some respects is a response to his video. There are moments where I will reference his video, and possibly discredit it, however that is not the complete purpose of this article. Neely is analyzing the film from his perspective and in no way is his interpretation of the de facto definition of the film. He doesn’t attempt to claim that anywhere in the video and you won’t see me try to claim that here either. With that disclaimer out of the way, I will now explain what exactly I will be doing.

I noticed in several interviews director, Damien Chazelle expressed that Whiplash was autobiographical of sorts. Much of the film was inspired by his experiences in his competitive high school band. With this in mind, I decided to interview five real senior high school band students who had seen Whiplash to better understand the relationship between the film and real-life school jazz bands. For the sake of privacy, only their initials will be used to differentiate between them, to negate any redundancy some answers won’t be used, and many responses have been edited in some way for clarity. These are high schoolers were talking about, and clarity is the last thing on their minds.

1. What’s your role in studio band and what instrument do you play?

AA: I play trumpet, wind ensemble.

AS: I play trombone and baritone. I’m a mentor lead.

JB: I play saxophone and I’m lead alto in jazz.

BA: I play kit in the top jazz ensemble.

AM: First chair, top band. Alto sax and soprano sax.

2. Did you enjoy Whiplash?

AA: Yes, sir.

AS: Whiplash was a genuinely enjoyable movie, had some amazing acting.

JB: Yes, I enjoyed Whiplash, the plot was pretty basic but the characters really drew your attention.

BA: Yes, I enjoyed Whiplash very much. I think it’s a great film, everything from the technical finesse Chazelle displayed to the raw emotion Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons were able to convey absolutely floored me the first time I saw it: I had never seen anything like it.

AM: I thought it was a pretty good movie. I enjoyed the overall plot and I thought the casting was very well done. The soundtrack was also really enjoyable.

3. How realistic is Whiplash to real studio band?

AA: Not at all to any school band and I doubt a professional would even be that hardcore.

AS: It’s somewhat realistic. It gets a lot of the general ideas in but a lot of the slang and terminology used by jazz directors was used incorrectly or used way too much. Like when Fletcher kept saying double-time swing. No one ever says that.

JB: Whiplash to real studio band has some real aspects. Mostly the tactics he (Fletcher) used weren’t traditional to the real world. For example, you wouldn’t say 5678 you’d say 1 and 2 and 1-2-3-4 emphasizing beats 2 and 4.

BA: Whiplash definitely bent to the truth more than just a bit. I’ve never encountered a band director like Fletcher, I’ve never been in a jazz band that was run that tightly, and I’ve done my fair share of practice, but I’ve never gone to the extreme lengths, Neiman went through in the film for a chart.

AM: While I’m more of a classical musician than a jazz player, from what I’m able to tell they’re similar in a lot of aspects but slightly dramatized.

4. Would Fletcher’s attitude be accepted in a real classroom?

AS: His behavior would not be acceptable. It’s downright cruel and the methods our director’s use don’t involve ridiculing or screaming at musicians to get things right.

JB: Fletcher’s attitude would not be acceptable in a classroom in this generation at least because it would “hurt” people’s feelings. The tough-love sort of relationship is usually associated with (jazz) back in the ’60s-’90s.

BA: Fletcher’s attitude would definitely not be tolerated in a classroom. Everyone I’ve encountered in my years of playing music is generally really chill and down to earth people. I’ve seen my band director get mad, and we’ve annoyed him plenty of times by playing badly or goofing off, but he’s never gone anywhere near Fletcher’s level of animosity.

AM: By some students, yes, but not by all. It would weed out the truly dedicated from the recreational musician. Although the cussing and the insults would have to be way toned down, the idea of always expecting more improvement and never truly saying “good job” is pretty consistent with a real classroom setting.

5. Has it affected your desire to pursue band? Has it inspired you?

AS: It hasn’t changed my desires to pursue music in any sense, maybe even lowered it because throughout the movie you can see the way the main character’s ambition to be great becomes an obsession where he’s straight-up consumed by his art and shuts everything out to become great and that’s the scary reality of pursuing music as a career because you have to be dummy good to get anywhere.

JB: Watching the movie at first in middle school did inspire me to pursue music because I thought all of the charts were cool, although it scared me as a child, it made me want to push myself.

BA: When I first watched the film (middle school) I was heavily inspired by it, it made me wanna practice more. Over time the film’s novelty has worn off.

6. Do you see yourself in the main character; Andrew?

AA: A bit, cuz I need to be pushed to be successful.

AS: I don’t see myself in him mainly because my “career” in jazz is more of a hobby and with him, it’s his lifestyle.

JB: I do see myself in Miles Teller (Andrew) in that I’ve had similar experiences. Not to the extent of violence and cussing but the yelling, and abuse which lead me to push myself harder in music and become the musician I am today.

BA: No, I don’t see myself in the main character.

AM: I do relate to the aspect of always being hard on yourself and having ambition.

7. Are there any inconsistencies in the film that you noticed initially?

AS: Only real inconsistencies were the jazz terminology and instrumentation stuff but that’s mainly just nitpicking.

BA: A big marketing point of the film was Miles Teller having to take drum lessons for the film; while it definitely shows how smooth and organic everything looks, there are a couple moments where his playing isn’t anywhere near what’s happening in the soundtrack.

AM: Fletcher’s motives weren’t justified enough. While it was wrong to take his tactics to such extreme lengths, his motivation was only to forge the best musicians possible. That’s what any band director would want.

8. Do you like the way they portrayed jazz?

AA: Yeah, because the reason for all that craziness and emotion in the movie is (due to a) genuine passion for music.

AS: Overall the way jazz was portrayed wasn’t really supposed to be a “This is what jazz is!” type thing. It was a huge dramatization of the harsh realities of when art becomes an obsession and extreme lengths artists go in order to be one of the greats…. (however) some directors in jazz band can be like dictators when trying to (get someone to) be great.

JB: Yes, I like the way they portrayed Jazz, not so much, the unrealistic practice methods but the music like “Caravan” and “Whiplash” pertain to what you see most big bands play today.

BA: Portraying the world of Jazz as super cutthroat maybe wasn’t the best choice, but it worked for the film. I also appreciated the emphasis they put on how much you really need to practice to be “one of the greats” but again it took it to the extreme. It also disregarded some people that are just naturally talented at jazz and become great through sheer skill as opposed to chops.

AM: In general, yes. There’s passion ambition, creativity, improvisation, and grit. That’s what I love about jazz most, and I see it in sections of the movie.

I believe it’s clear that Whiplash was made by Chazelle due to his honest passion for music. Many of his original works have to do with music and two of them have a huge emphasis on jazz. I spoke to all interviewees personally and most of them told me they watched Whiplash at a very young and impressionable age. Is it correct to say that this film changed their opinion of jazz? Perhaps. Is it fair to say that this would ruin or manipulate someone’s opinion of jazz? I don’t believe so.

I believe many are aware of the tactics the industry must use in order to make a medium more interesting however, that’s not to say that jazz doesn’t at least sometimes feel like it looks in Whiplash. Everyone has an individual experience with music and depending on who you are, it may shape your life forever. I don’t think Neely should be worrying about how a movie about jazz makes someone feel. Instead, he should focus on how jazz actually makes them feel.

At the end of the day, perhaps we all must understand that it’s about the art itself, not what other people are saying about it.

150-word track review: Harvey – Her’s

Here we have a classic case of a wintertime jam. The chords evoke such a festive, catchy tone, with such a high-strung (no pun intended) psychedelic guitar and chimes its hard not to at least bob your head to the beat. I also enjoy how misleading it is with its subject matter. One may mishear “Harvey” for “honey” and get coaxed into thinking this is a song about love when in actuality its dedicated to a six-foot, three-and-a-half-inch tall invisible rabbit. Or at least that’s what the guys over at Her’s claim.

Harvey, nobody knows what I see. Nobody knows I’m waiting. Waiting for you to call.

Something about the constantly tone-shifting voice of Stephen Fitzpatrick has such magical property. It really shouldn’t sound as good as it does, but against all odds it does. A perfect pick for the season. Give it a listen, its practically inviting you to.

The Virgin Suicides: the mystery of adolescence

Back in September 2012, Northwestern Medicine released a study through the Journal of Neuroscience that confirmed the lack of fidelity memory truly has. Your brain works a little differently than you may think and the memories you hold are ever changing. Every time you remember something you’re not thinking back to the time when it really happened. Instead, you’re actually remembering the last time you remembered it. Such is the dilemma of Tim from The Virgin Suicides. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola The Virgin Suicides is able to capture the mystery of adolescence so flawlessly it made me so nostalgic I was nearly brought to a brief period of melancholy.

I feel like I, and many others, attempt to imagine our lives in terms of fiction, but when it comes down to it our past always seems to blend together into this lovely mess of shattered memories. This isn’t always by choice, however, sometimes it’s out of necessity. We frequently find ourselves obsessed with things we have no hope of understanding and this is an important motif rampant within the film. Tim constantly attempts to describe the Lisbon sisters with dense metaphors and colorful language that doesn’t seem to even make sense to him. And despite that, they’re all so pretentious they have no real value in even explaining the true intricacies of live human beings. Before the Lisbon sisters moved in there was no word of them anywhere. They were simply an enigma to the population around them.

In the end, we had pieces of the puzzle, but no matter how we put them together, gaps remained. Oddly shaped emptiness mapped by what surrounded them, like countries we couldn’t name. What lingered after them was not life, but the most trivial list of mundane facts.

Similarly to the tragedy of 9/11 everyone seems to remember time in terms of before and after the Lisbon sisters. We describe America as a post 9/11 society, and before that time was essentially nothing, it’s the past, a dark one we choose not to remember. We obsess over it, we have a day specifically to remember it on. The same can be said about the Lisbon sisters in the context of the film. Tim and his friends’ obsession only seem to grow deeper and more convoluted after the Lisbon sisters die.

At the beginning of the film, after the youngest Lisbon sister, Cecilia, attempts to commit suicide and ends up at a hospital, a small exchange between her and her doctor not only set the tone for the film to come but also introduces a highly significant motif. The doctor while checking her says,

What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.

and Cecilia responds,

Obviously, Doctor, you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.

This is how Coppola introduces the topic of adolescence. More so the unfamiliarity of it all. Whilst trying to understand the Lisbon sisters, Tim and company spend a lot of time misunderstanding them. There is a myriad of reasons why, but unironically its all too easy for Tim and his friends to misunderstand those as well.

We knew the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them.

Womanhood, the exit from female adolescence. Something the Lisbon sisters, after witnessing the death of their youngest sister likely felt all too quickly. However, with that rapid shift then comes a new mystery: the mystery of adulthood. I believe this is what Sofia Coppola wanted to get across when. She chose to adapt Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 novel into a cult classic. Life has many secrets, so many intricacies, things you won’t even notice once you’ve completed your journey. Once its over, its over, and the world continues to spin at an indiscriminate pace.

Even when Tim and his gang become adults they are still stuck on what may have happened that night. The night they simultaneously came the closest and the farthest from the Lisbon sisters. And so the case of the Lisbon sisters continues onward, from the past into our future, never to be solved. Not by the audience or by Tim. Not even by Coppola herself. In the purest sense of the word: a mystery.

150-word track review: Leave you alone – Sea of Lettuce

There are those strange periods of life where something just doesn’t feel right. where your motivation seems to have completely withered away under the weight of your own hubris. It’s these emotions that Sea of Lettuce is able to capture so effortlessly in a short three-minute timespan.

Waking up but I just stay in bed. Trying to get you off my mind instead. I don’t remember all the things I said. Losing memories somewhere in my head.

It’s these small glimpses at overall disinterest that really resonate with me personally. The singer is in a rut emotionally but continues on aimlessly. The drums tumble on peacefully and the guitar rhythmically strums to the melancholic sentiments of the singer.

And I know. It’s my own fault, that I say I’ll call you.

A great song for the winter. Give it a listen, you won’t be able to leave this one alone.

Slaughterhouse-Five: A peculiar scowl at the war

Kurt_Vonnegut The nineteen sixties were characterized by one word; “counterculture.” To the citizens of America, this was the mantra that carried the public towards a future that went off the beaten path. Suffering from two world wars and several economic recessions America was desperate to look toward a future where peace was a possible option. This is the world Kurt Vonnegut lived in while he wrote his World War 2 inspired classic; Slaughterhouse-Five. The novel is filled to the brim with dark humor, cynical observation, and countless allusions to sci-fi culture. Above all else, however, what this story embodies is war itself.

At first, Kurt directly addresses the audience explaining how difficult it actually was the write the novel and giving context to the main event it revolves around; the bombing of Dresden. He expresses his distaste for war but simultaneously denounces the validity of anti-war novels. This is one of the many instances of Vonnegut being contrarian to the contrarians, so to speak. While the novel was written and published during the counterculture movement Vonnegut distances himself from making any radical statements, opting for a whimsical yet realistic approach to his war novel.

I think of how useless the Dresden part of my memory has been, and yet how tempting Dresden has been to write about

He continues his almost inebriated rambling while finally coming to a conclusion about how he is going to begin and end the novel.

It begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-weet?

The rest of the novel then focuses on our main protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, a tall slender war veteran desperately attempting to piece together his memories, while also time traveling to random moments in his life. It’s through these random bits of time travel where the audience is introduced to one of the novels core concepts: perception of time. In Billy Pilgrim’s constructed reality, time itself is not chronological but rather simultaneous.

All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist… It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.

It’s this description of time that allows the novel to be told in a seemingly haphazard order. The narrator goes from describing Billy’s job as an optometrist for one moment then suddenly skips to a point in time where Billy was being held as a prisoner of war. For an average novel, this would likely be seen as a faux pas on the authors part. Having the story told so jarringly is likely to make any piece of commercial media unintelligible. However, Vonnegut masterfully uses this motif to his advantage as it reflects the confusion and utterly inexplicable nature of the war itself.

Kurt Vonnegut makes countless unrealistic references to strange things like the existence of aliens, extraterrestrial planets, time travel, and juxtaposes all of it with the very real bombing of Dresden. So in essence what we have here are these completely baseless claims about extraterrestrial life, and out of body experiences mirroring these horrific realistic accounts about the travesty of Dresden. Without having any reasonable connection to each other these two separate ideas are somehow being grouped together through the simple fact that both are incredibly controversial and ultimately meaningless.

Since their popularization during the “pulp era” in the nineteen twenties and thirties science fiction novels have carried along with them a negative stigma that has since plagued the genre as a whole. Due to the sheer oversaturation of science fiction stories being told and their often eccentric technicolor cover art, these cheaply produced pieces of fiction were not considered to have any sort of literary merit. However, Vonnegut subverts this gaudy moniker most sci-fi novels carry by creating something more than just an intriguing story. Between the cynicism and humor, the reader can understand the true effects war has on humans. How once they return their new civilian surroundings seem almost “alien.”

The bombing of Dresden has been said to have taken the lives of around 25,000 people with some conflicting accounts reaching as high as 500,000. Many of those lives were said to have been primarily women and children. Many critics of the bombing have even claimed Dresden was of little strategic significance and could have been avoided entirely. A conclusively meaningless attack lead to the tragic deaths of thousands, and all we can say was that it needed to be done. This rather indifferent reaction to mass genocide is also reflected in the way Billy himself views it.

When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is “So it goes.”

As the body count of the war continues so does the rabbit hole of unfeasibility. Billy’s strange behavior is simply a representation of what’s around him, and all things considered, he seems pretty rational. In a world where mass bombings are seen as necessary, and the countless slaughter of innocent civilians is overlooked it’s no wonder Billy believes he was abducted by aliens.

Whereas Billy represents the counterculture movement, where everyone else is wrong, and your radical ideas are the benchmark of human progression. Kurt Vonnegut himself is the one simply sitting idly by, watching the world crumble below him. He explicitly admits to being present there at the bombing and instead of trying to do something, all he can muster is a few sarcastic jabs. He’s been changed by what he’s seen, hardened by it. Even years later nothing still made sense after seeing the true horrors of it all.

Slaughterhouse-five understands that it is a bizarre, awkward package that the post office has to x-ray five times before shipping out of the country, however, the bow on top is very pretty and crafted with care. It understands that society will never understand it so it makes itself incomprehensible. It’s self-aware and silly yet thought-provoking and respectful. The world doesn’t realize how badly it needs another writer like Kurt Vonnegut. His unfortunate passing in 2007 only seems to echo the words of his writing. So it goes.

88rising Head in the Clouds Music and Arts Festival @ the LA State Historic Park in Los Angeles (9/22/18)

The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the 88rising’s Head in the Clouds festival was the sheer number of diverse people who were present. While many of them were of eastern descent, which makes sense considering the fact 88rising is a primarily eastern-based label, it was just so interesting seeing how true they stayed to their core demographic. That’s not to say that I felt alienated in any way, in fact, the entire atmosphere was astonishingly welcoming. I just think this is the precedent 88rising is trying to set with their emphasis on Asian culture and well, they certainly hit the mark. Regardless of your decent, the festival was a safe space created to bridge the gap between the east and west, welcome to everyone.

The complete festival took up about half of the LA State Historic Park; an area that spans around 32 acres in its entirety. Needless to say, it was a big event that caught the eye of more than its festival-goers. What’s more, is the abundance of things you could actually do once inside.

The first thing I did was stop by the concert merch store which was the attraction that garnered the longest line by far. I’ll spare you the gory details of that venture, but let’s just say I waited 2 hours to spend 60 dollars on one sweatshirt for the simple purpose of having a keepsake. Totally worth it. Aside from that, there were several other displays that accumulated respectable lines themselves. There was another merch booth that exclusively sold GUESS branded 88rising clothes modeled to look like a pop-up shop. Each patron also had the opportunity to go to a photo booth which would take a high-quality photo of you in front of the 88rising logo and an array of clouds, a small nod to the name of the festival.

With all of that said, it should be apparent that the main focus wasn’t necessarily placed on the musicians that performed at the festival, rather I believe the true allure was the overall experience of simply being there. I missed many of the acts the festival boasted, however that fact did not hinder my overall perception of the festival. I was still capable of hearing everyone who performed from of the distances I was at. Some of what I heard actually made me upset I hadn’t listened to some of the artists beforehand. Some of the artists like Sen Morimoto, August 08, and KOHH all had such a powerful presence on stage it was hard to keep myself from joining the crowd prematurely.

Sen Morimoto had the uncanny ability to connect with everyone in the crowd, even the people who weren’t in the immediate vicinity. He was very charismatic between tracks, chatting with the crowd and giving input on what his songs mean to him. He ended his set with a song he felt, “describes the moment you figure out what you want to do with yourself.”

August 08 followed shortly after and was easily one of the most high-energy artists that went up. By far one of the most shocking moments that occurred that evening was when he introduced fellow LA rapper DUCKWRTH as one of the mystery guests advertised on the main stage schedule. They both ended up performing a song together.

KOHH was the first artist I came to the main stage to thoroughly observe. Having never heard his music before, I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself jumping to his discography. He blurs the lines between contemporary rap music and eastern tradition. Being a primarily Japanese artist it’s rather obvious I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying. However, that did not hinder my experience one bit and the few words I could pick up on I proudly proclaimed whilst feverishly jumping.

I stayed in the crowd after listening to KOHH and patiently awaited for NIKI to appear onstage. All around me the crowd seemed to buzz strenuously, the sun had not gone down at this point and everyone’s face was still lit naturally. I watched their smiles become wider as NIKI finally arrived onstage. She began to sing the crowd mellowed to listen to her melodically coo. It was a slow beginning but ramped up as she moved into her debut single, “See U Never.” The track itself deals with incredibly stoic and cold subject matter but NIKI juxtaposes it with her bubbly high-pitched voice. This seemed to be a common theme as that same motif carried on until the end where she finished her set with a track from her album Zephyr entitled “Friends.” It was an emotional finale to an already touching performance but what made it even more poignant was when she got choked up as she sang the chorus. She could hardly utter the word “friends” and laughed at herself apologetically. That single moment made the whole production feel worth it, it became more personal like there was a true reason to be there in the crowd that day.

Time passed and it was soon nightfall. The one thing everyone had on their minds was when Joji was going to make his star-appearance. We were already behind schedule due to the surprise appearance of Californian rapper Anderson Paak, the second of the two mystery musicians slated to perform on the main stage. At this point, the crowd was determined to see the night through as was I. As Murda Beatz exited the stage a small chant began to form calling for Joji’s name. It continued for a few moments then slowly died down and then rose up again for brief periods. Until all of a sudden, the screen went black and a small video of Joji appeared. The video was of him sitting on a couch at first. The look in his eyes was jaded until he noticed the audience before him, he leaned toward the camera and attempted to break out of the frame to which he was confined in. For a moment there it almost seemed like he would until the screen went black again. The crowd was silent, teeming with anticipation. Without skipping a beat the melodic chime of the “Will He” instrumental began to play and the crowd immediately erupted in a cathartic cheer.

Joji stepped on stage and started to sing, and as he sang so did the faces around me. Everyone was ostensibly entranced by his sonorous voice and melancholy vibes. It was as if the whole world had stopped simply to stare at what was taking place there. The crowd continued to chant until we had reached the end of the song. As we waited impatiently for the next track to start playing, Joji took time to thank the audience for showing up that night and spending their day at the festival. Then without any further delay, we were already onto the next track “Demons.” Once again the crowd began to sing along with Joji. However, during some of the pauses between lyrics, he always ad-libbing small phrases. The most comical of these being his trademark mantra, “Unblock me, bitch!” Since his inception, Joji has always been associated with brief bouts dark humor. Not just within his character but within his music as well. “Bitter Fuck” had always been a bit humorous to me, but hearing it live offered a new level of poignancy I hadn’t yet contemplated.

Joji closed his performance with his most recent single “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK” it was the song everyone had secretly been hoping he would perform live but never knew if he would or not. To the pleasure of many, including myself, the former was the case. As Joji uttered the opening lyrics the crowd beneath him started to sway and follow along. The surrealness of the moment reached its peak as the climax of the power ballad reached its most visceral period: the chorus. And just like that, as abruptly as it started, the song faded to nothingness and all we were left with was the ambient sounds of the crowd settling. Joji thanked the audience once again for listening, and calmly exited the stage. Everyone was left wondering if they even had enough energy for Rich Brian’s upcoming performance. However, something told me we would. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t wrong.

150-word track review: SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK – Joji

cant you see Joji continues to impress me with his unmatched understanding of music. I was incredibly skeptical about his newest venture as I noticed he’s been departing from his older lo-fi roots instead focusing his efforts on more commercially beneficial sound. However, his newest single for his upcoming sophomore album BALLADS1 has dispelled any sort of fears that I’ve been mulling.

It’s a Joji song in its purest form. It’s about failed love with a beat that mixes lo-fi percussion and R&B style melodies. It seemingly follows the narrative build from Joji’s prior single “Yeah Right” that evidently deals with similar subject matter.

It’s impossible for me to adequately describe my love for what Joji does. He’s able to put out an amazing track month after month and stands out among his contemporaries. I implore you to give this track a listen, who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself slow dancing to it.

The painful truth behind The Truman Show

In some aspects, The Truman Show is a better representation of our current world than the one it was meant to reflect. Originally released in 1998 the film centers around Truman Burbank in a society that, unbeknownst to him, is completely fabricated. The time period is enough to establish the film was supposed to reflect the post-cold war era, where Americans were still paranoid after trudging through years of potential nuclear war. It also was created during the time when reality television was becoming something of a phenomenon. Programs like Survivor and Big Brother became massive commercial powerhouses spawning versions of itself worldwide.

As their influence began to reach farther the more they became more and more a part of everyday life. At home or in public, conversations shifted to be about the people onscreen. We now had a weekly stream of programming that gave us something to talk about. And it was all real. Right? Well, that’s the thing. We don’t know how much we can separate the fact from farce. I suppose that’s the salient allure of reality television. To attempt to read between the lines of a show that in its simplest form is just a by-product of its superior predecessors.

However, the show within The Truman Show attempts to circumvent this potential discrepancy by making its main character as authentic as possible. The only downside is that to make him feel and act real, he must not know everything around him isn’t. Truman’s first inclination of this truth comes at the beginning of the film when a stage light falls in the middle of his picturesque suburban neighborhood. The light is marked “Sirius” after the real-life star system. It’s widely known as the worlds brightest star. This would prove to be the catalyst for a new wave of discovery for Truman.

Many cite the appearance of Truman’s deceased father as the reason for why he begins to question the reality he’s been conceived in. Even the director of the fake television show says the same thing later in the film. However, many are quick the write off the strange happening that occurs right at the beginning. Not only does it allude to something much more sinister for Truman, but it also resonates with the audience as well.

The whole premise itself is rather ironic and opens up a lot of conversations about existentialism, societal values, and consumerism. Is Truman’s life really worth living if everything is a lie? What does The Truman Show tell us about our reality that we can’t seem to figure out ourselves? Well, there’s certainly a lot to unpack in those sentiments.

Existentialism is a philosophical theory that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. As an audience can we say Truman is really living a free life governed by his own will? The natural response would likely be no. As his entire life has been determined by the producers and writers of his show. There are set rules he’s playing by. Rules he’s unaware of. So isn’t it fair to say that because he has these rules he’s unaware of he’s still technically living his own life? Regardless of the predetermined events he still has the ability to live, the things that happen to him are simply out of his control. However, isn’t this the case for everyone? Not just Truman. Here in lies the central argument used by Truman show fans. It’s why within the film there are people who want to free Truman and others who don’t. In fact, it’s the director, Christof’s, rebuttal to Sylvia when she argues for the release of Truman.

He could leave at any time. If his was more than just a vague ambition, if he was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there’s no way we could prevent him.

It’s that use of the phase vague ambition that makes Christof’s words seem so persuasive. In truth, we all hold some sort of vague ambition to go out and do something. American culture since the beginning of time has been based around the idea of “The American Dream.” It’s the de facto ethos that drives society. Its what makes the character of Truman so inspiring, not only in our world but in the fictional world of the movie itself. To many in the film, Truman is seen as a hero of sorts, a cultural icon whose influence is shown in the movie to have spread well beyond America. It’s here where the audience learns about what society values.

I’ll never forget the final words the movie plays out on. When all is said and done and Truman finally reaches the end of his 29-year long torment he utters his catchphrase whilst looking straight into the camera before heading out into the great unknown.

In case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Now, this alone would have been enough to appropriately end the cinematic masterpiece that is The Truman Show. However, the true final line of the film solidifies the overall intent director Peter Weir had when he created this film. The true final words the film ends on comes from two policemen who were shown watching the show throughout the film. As Truman leaves through the black door, the transmission is abruptly cut and one of the policemen remarks:

Let’s see what else is on.

As all great things begin, they must also end. And in the end, we’re left with a promise of something else that may be on. The insatiable audience is left craving more and yet we search for something else. The next craze to obsess over before another one follows in its wake. History continues to repeat itself. Truman was simply a passing fad that seemed to have overstayed its welcome. As the world became used to the prospect of reality television we became increasingly apathetic to its potentially damaging effects. Not just to the actors in these shows but the people watching them.

There have been several instances of reality television stars experiencing intense hardship after appearing on reality television. Real World: New Orleans alum Preston Roberson-Charles detailed the overwhelming wave of negative feedback and struggles he experienced after appearing on the show. However, there’s also a flipside to this painful truth if you consider the fact that our current President, Donald Trump, initially gained notoriety due to his appearance on the reality television show The Apprentice. While the prospect of a future president coming exclusively from reality television seems very unlikely, the thought is enough to spur some interesting debate. You never know, often times fact is stranger than fiction.

Additional Reading:

Continue reading “The painful truth behind The Truman Show”

A light criticism of “desktop films”

Searching is the directorial debut by Aneesh Chaganty and tells its story almost entirely through a computer screen. While there’s nothing new there it’s certainly an interesting choice, especially for someones very first feature-length film. However, that begs the question. With this inherent stipulation cinematically, does the film still manage to be entertaining? Surprisingly, yes.

I went into this film without knowing a single thing about it. In passing, I may have seen a few promotional videos here and there but none of it seems to stick in my mind. So when the first thing I saw was a computer screen I was more than just skeptical of the film’s fidelity. The main issue with choosing to make a film that takes place entirely on a computer screen is the inherent lack of visual stimulation. When the majority of the screen is simply white space the audience is practically inclined to get bored. However, I think Chaganty uses this to his advantage. There’s always a logical reason for why the audience is able to see what’s happening, whether it’s on security cameras or newscasts. Chaganty also isn’t afraid to make computers do things they normally can’t. A risk I think was well worth the slight loss of immersion. Often times, the point of view will begin to zoom in on a specific detail or element on the screen, which makes for some incredibly tense moments.

All in all, I was satisfied. While the film’s storytelling is formulaic at times, the overall mystery albeit thrilling is a bit predictable in some moments, and it sometimes gets confused about what its overall purpose is; the one thing the film consistently manages to be is entertaining. At this point, I’m just searching for a movie that takes place entirely on a PlayStation party chat.

Additional Reading:

Continue reading “A light criticism of “desktop films””

150-word track review: Cake – Scott James

shelter

Scott James grapples with the loss of innocence in the opener to his 2017 album Shelter Island Heights. He begins by saying:

Now I’ve done it too. It’s funny how it happens.

These ominous words carry their tension throughout the track as James continues to lament his choices even going into denial halfway through as he repeats in the chorus:

Course I’d like to lose it. Won’t you help me lose it.

As the listener reaches the end, the drums and horns kick in to form a beautiful ballad that compliments its melancholic tone. A stark contrast from the soft guitar that the track begins on. The whole track just simply feels like it builds up to that one moment of musical euphoria. Where the listener is immersed in the desolate world. It’s clear no one does build ups like he does. Listen to it, should be a piece of cake.