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all that steel and stone
so, we saw spider-man last night.
it was good, totally worth the long-ass hike out to the movie theater, in the rain no less. there's nothing like arriving at a movie theater and being forced to dry out your bra and shirt under the hand dryers. the looks people fling in your general direction are quite amusing. and on the way back, to continue what appears to be becoming a tradition (*knocks wood*) of getting free stuff in this town, the cab ride that we decided to splurge on ended up being free.
(we also got a free pizza and basket of fries two nights ago, and the day before that a free fruit and nut salad. yum.)
if this town feels like it needs to support us, i'm sure as hell not going to argue.
anyways, i wanted to talk about spider-man.
it was a good movie, beautiful effects, nice acting, extremely faithful rendition of the comics. i was deeply appreciative of all those things. there were however two scenes which struck me in a way having nothing to do with the movie, and a day later, i'm still mulling over my reactions. the two scenes were, i am absolutely certain, added after 9/11.
one was an action scene towards the end of the movie, where spider-man is battling the green goblin over the roosevelt island tram. bystanders of the fight begin throwing all sorts of things at the green goblin, shouting, "if you fuck with one new yorker, you've fucked with them all" or words to that effect. my immediate reaction was to scream a shout of approval, clap my hands, stomp my feet, and in general express vociferous approval with whatever means possible.
the second was the very last shot of the movie where we see spider-man whooshing through the skies, only to end up posed next to a giant swirling american flag. and i let out a very audible and outraged, "what?!"
i was thinking about it later, and i realised that i might be being hypocritical.
i was raised to believe that nationalism and patriotism are the same thing as racism, in other words, unacceptable, ignorant, and unevolved. i was also never raised to revere america particularly, it happened to be the place i lived, i was a part of it because i was from new york city, and that was the only reason. however, after giving it some more thought, i wonder if city-ism is just as bad as country-ism.
i've come to the following realization however:
the uses of american patriotism are all negative uses. not necessarily true about a city. unlike a city, a country cannot be a community. the attempts to make it so are all inherently fake. i'm not proud to be an american. frequently the reverse is true. i'm not always proud to be a new yorker, but i enjoy it, most of the time. and there it is.
it was good, totally worth the long-ass hike out to the movie theater, in the rain no less. there's nothing like arriving at a movie theater and being forced to dry out your bra and shirt under the hand dryers. the looks people fling in your general direction are quite amusing. and on the way back, to continue what appears to be becoming a tradition (*knocks wood*) of getting free stuff in this town, the cab ride that we decided to splurge on ended up being free.
(we also got a free pizza and basket of fries two nights ago, and the day before that a free fruit and nut salad. yum.)
if this town feels like it needs to support us, i'm sure as hell not going to argue.
anyways, i wanted to talk about spider-man.
it was a good movie, beautiful effects, nice acting, extremely faithful rendition of the comics. i was deeply appreciative of all those things. there were however two scenes which struck me in a way having nothing to do with the movie, and a day later, i'm still mulling over my reactions. the two scenes were, i am absolutely certain, added after 9/11.
one was an action scene towards the end of the movie, where spider-man is battling the green goblin over the roosevelt island tram. bystanders of the fight begin throwing all sorts of things at the green goblin, shouting, "if you fuck with one new yorker, you've fucked with them all" or words to that effect. my immediate reaction was to scream a shout of approval, clap my hands, stomp my feet, and in general express vociferous approval with whatever means possible.
the second was the very last shot of the movie where we see spider-man whooshing through the skies, only to end up posed next to a giant swirling american flag. and i let out a very audible and outraged, "what?!"
i was thinking about it later, and i realised that i might be being hypocritical.
i was raised to believe that nationalism and patriotism are the same thing as racism, in other words, unacceptable, ignorant, and unevolved. i was also never raised to revere america particularly, it happened to be the place i lived, i was a part of it because i was from new york city, and that was the only reason. however, after giving it some more thought, i wonder if city-ism is just as bad as country-ism.
i've come to the following realization however:
the uses of american patriotism are all negative uses. not necessarily true about a city. unlike a city, a country cannot be a community. the attempts to make it so are all inherently fake. i'm not proud to be an american. frequently the reverse is true. i'm not always proud to be a new yorker, but i enjoy it, most of the time. and there it is.
no subject
no subject
*smile*
"City-ism" is different
because it's smaller, more reasonable..
let's face it, some countries can be a community (andorra) but not all (u.s.)
what you say makes much sense
hell, i *lovE* new york, i consider myself a newyorker, and i don't even live there.
but.. that's where my family originated in this country :)