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It's not the children who need saving

John asked me to write about Little Children. Here are some thoughts.

Little Children is a film about men and women. Children are pretty incidental, except that how they are treated allows us to judge the men and the women in the narrative (and, thankfully, it’s not one of those films with children “wise beyond their years”). Because it is a film about men and women in family relationships, it is also, necessarily in my eyes, a film about (omigod) patriarchy. There are assumptions built into this film, into the construction of the characters (and our expected reactions to them) that are derived from a schema in which women are judged according to one set of criteria and men another. This does not make the film unique (far from it) but it makes it interesting in particular ways. Most interesting to me, this film is a good example of how narrative choices by filmmakers use our prejudices (in this case, about men and women) to shortcut their storytelling. 

Save the Children

Little Children, the Golden Globe nominated film based on the book by Tom Perrotta (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and mastefully directed by Todd Field, is worth your time, especially if you are able to watch it while accompanied by a significant other.  Given the film’s intense focus on the relationships between men and women, parents and children, women and women, men and men—and given the foreboding mood and slightly dark hue—you leave emotionally agitated.  If you enjoy thinking about the human condition, you’ll enjoy chewing on this one, working through its implications.  I endorse it with very little reservation.

Don’t get me wrong:  it’s not as if every element of this film is fabulous; indeed, for the most part, the acting is all strong in the sense that it’s invisible.  You are lost enough in the performances that you don’t remember that these are actors (and that, in my mind is a fairly strong compliment).  While I have been nothing but impressed with Kate Winslet ever since her performance in—and her very decision to act in—Holy Smoke, I can’t quite figure why she’s getting the accolades for this particular performance.   She’s fine, but I wouldn’t have ranked this in her personal hall of fame.  While the pacing of the film keeps you on the edge of your emotional seat throughout, director Field  made the unfortunate decision to use a narrator throughout the film, which comes off ham-fisted at certain times and unfortunate at others, at least to the degree that it closes off ambiguities that might have been more productively left open. 

The films’ issues and questions are plentiful: what are some of the reasons people are motivated to have sexual affairs?  What are the emotions and activities we keep hidden from others, and why?  What makes for a satisfying married life?  What are the expectations placed on mothers and fathers?  How does parenthood affect one’s sexual appeal?  How do gender roles work into this mix?  What do we expect of parents in general in their relationships with children?  Why, even as adults, can our actions and behaviors appear so much like those of little children?  Again, with a loved one, you’ll have plenty to work through afterwards.  Bonnie and I spent hours talking about this film, and would have enough material to blog for weeks.  I’m going to pick one topic here, and try in vain to encourage her to work up a different theme.  Here, then, is one question this film asks, a question it asks more convincingly than many other representations that immediately come to mind (Picket Fences, Kevin Bacon’s Woodsman):  Can an adult who sexual harasses or sexually pursues children ever truly be forgiven?  Or, while we often advocate that, once someone has “served his/her time,” we should give them another chance, should we ever do so when it comes to this crime?  

Conan the Grammarian

My original reaction to the now famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) Jim Webb-George Bush tiff was mixed: I figured that Webb should have been more graceful and the President could have been less overly familiar. Bottom line: Two dogs sniffing each other to see which one was going to be the Alpha male, and not worth much more outside the bounds of political symbolism.

But then George Will had to open his big, hypocritical mouth and turn this into a fight.

Handbill No. 1

Because everything needs a logo

Anyone who wishes to use this image elsewhere is free to do so. Link-love is good karma, but never required...

UPDATE: As Dewey reminds me, the better way to do this is to say "This image is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-noncommercial-sharealike license."

UPDATE NO. 2: You asked for it, you've got it: FOLEYGATE T-shirts and stickers are now available at Janet's (Jeda's) Cafepress store Guerilla Muse in the "Xark & Other Blog Blather" section. And her reworking of my original logo is brighter, sharper and... better.

Beyond the pale

Try it without the politics:

A 16-year-old student tells his/her parents about  sexually explicit e-mails from a coach.  Eventually, it becomes public not only that the coach did indeed act inappropriately, but it looks like  school officials knew that there was a problem for some time but did not act. When confronted with the school's failure to intervene, the principal claims he knew nothing, despite reports from assistants who said  otherwise. There is also information that indicates other inappropriate behavior may have taken place with additional students. Police decide there is enough to investigate the allegations.

Rather than demand accountability, launch an investigation and support the victim,  school administration supporters  ride furiously to inject themselves into the fray. They: 

1. Claim all 16-year-olds are a bunch of mindless, sex-crazed beasts, who despite being to young to vote, buy alcohol or drive with unrestricted licenses, are still adult enough to lure high-powered and politically savvy middle-aged men into career-ending, stupid licentiousness.  Repeatedly, apparently.
2. Portray those who express outrage and demand accountability as mindless twits who do not believe in public education, don't like organized sports and are pretty stupid in general.
3. Claim above-mentioned haters of education/sports got the victim and everyone else who knew  to keep quiet about the behavior until such time as it would interfere with the homecoming game.
4. Point to any and all indiscretions, crimes and bad behavior from as far back as necessary by anyone who ever opposed the school administration on any issue. Bring up the fact that a superintendent who served 6 years ago was involved in a scandal.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

Dan's Friday links, etc. (2.10)

NEWSFLASH! ONE WEEK OF ROCKETBOOM ADS SELLS FOR $40K ON eBAY: And the winning advertiser is someone named Starfinder5, whose bid bested a $31,200 offer by an unknown eBay nube called 6520brad. There were 105 bids.

We'll expect detail in today's episode, but for those of us wondering how these new media forms are going to shake out, this bears watching.

RANDOM FIND: I have found the Greatest Book Critic Writing in The English Language Today, and his name is Noel Hurley.

WHICH VIBRATOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU? Via Alternet: "Kat's on-the-job training had taught her a trick to determine which vibrator might be right for you: Touch it to the tip of your nose. It's also right there on Sue Johanson's website, episode #036: Try the nose test -- if it makes you jerk your head back, these vibration are too strong for your genitals." (Freelance writer Liz Langley)

AFRICA TOO WEAK TO FIGHT H5N1 (BBC): A reminder that bird flu doesn't have to turn into a human pandemic to have profound effects:

Officials at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say Africa's monitoring systems simply are not adequate to cope effectively with outbreaks... "The reason we've been so concerned is that veterinary systems throughout Africa are weak," said Samuel Jutzi, director of the FAO's Animal Production and Health Division.

WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES TALKING ABOUT CARTOONS: Via Steve Outing's E-Media Tidbits (Poynter Online), the CEO of Topix.net blogs about what happens when they put a geo-locator on the IP addresses of commenters on the Danish cartoons controversy. Answer: They're coming from around the world.

And here's George Friedman writing in Tuesday's Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report:

The explosion in the Muslim world over the publication of 12 cartoons by a minor Danish newspaper -- cartoons that first appeared back in September -- has, remarkably, redefined the geopolitical matrix of the U.S.-jihadist war. Or, to be more precise, it has set in motion something that appears to be redefining that matrix. We do not mean here simply a clash of civilizations, although that is undoubtedly part of it. Rather, we mean that alignments within the Islamic world and within the West appear to be in flux in some very important ways.

SPEAKING OF CARTOONS: These days its not uncommon for more than half of our daily traffic to be people who come to Xark via image search engines. The most popular image? World's Ugliest Dog. Second most popular? "Growing Up Hippie No. 4." Probably a dozen people a day download this image.

For the record, there are actually only three published cartoons in the "Growing Up Hippie in the 1970s" series (No. 5 here). And the first one was No. 3. I never drew a No. 1 or a No. 2. Why? Because I'm just not hung up on that whole consecutive order thing. I grew up hippie, remember? Anyway, traffic counts seem to suggest I should write less and draw more, particularly if I'm drawing cartoons that have popular image search terms in the filename.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WaPo reports that what Gonzales told the Senate about the secret eavesdropping program ain't what the White House told the FISA judges. Can't say I'm surprised at this point. By the way, was anyone else unimpressed by Bush's non-informative claim (well, actually, it's not even that -- more of a nudge-wink inference) that his illegal spying program somehow thwarted shoe-bombers from stealing a plane and flying it into some building out in Los Angeles? Excuse me, but how do you hijack a plane, post-9/11, with a shoe bomb? "OK, let me into the cockpit, so I can crash the plane and kill all of you, or I will make my shoe explode, and maybe put somebody's eye out. Allah akbah!" It's just not very convincing.

WELL, DUH: Newsflash (National Journal): "Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been 'authorized' by Cheney and other White House 'superiors' in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records."

CHUCK NORRIS: The whole Chuck Norris meme is now officially dead, according to our oldest son, a junior in high school. Apparently it's just soooo December 2005. So throw out your Bustedtees "Hero" shirts and try to keep up. (Actually, I don't care -- I'm far too old to be hip, and I still think the "Young Chuck Norris" music video is pretty funny).

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man