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A different story
Mar. 4th, 2004 03:00 pmTalking to Ali (Doctor Wormslayer) about Lost In Translation (I know, blah blah lost in translation blah blah blah) and it's a really difficult movie to talk about because it's so powerful yet so indistinct, the film is profoundly meaningful in a way that defies all my attempts to describe. But I wanted to know her opinion on one question: at the end why do they choose to never speak again? They make the conscious effort to not exchange email addresses or phone numbers or anything, why not, if their friendship was so valuable? In the direct and incisive fashion with which her intellect has always intimidated me, Ali says "Because otherwise the movie would suck." And in that moment she's made me realize how wrong I was to try to extend the story outside the movie, a movie that I found so perfect in it's ephemeral truth and unfocused beauty. And I feel like I've betrayed myself because I thought I valued The Story above all else, and happiness does not enhance the story, in fact happiness often kills the story. In order for Lost In Translation to have any meaning at all they have to part and never see each other again. Any other conclusion would be a terrible flaw, crippling the film into mediocrity.
I don't know what I have against happy endings; I suppose you could have a decent story that's complex and meaningful yet still allows the main characters to end up in delightful and satisfying relationships. I just can’t think of any. What's my problem? I don't think I'm particularly obsessed with tragic unfulfilled interpersonal relationships, I just think they make better stories. Appreciation for the breaking up, the situational impossibilities, the injustices of fate that tear two people apart, sometimes I feel that our lives should be lived in service to The Story, because that's what really matters. Which is of course an entirely unhealthy school of thought if I have any desire to actually have a girlfriend. Relationship. Whatever. No, I don't really believe that I have to sabotage my relationships just so I can feel like I'm living in a screenplay, I think it's more that I have an acute and enthusiastic appreciation for the fascinating complications and the many interesting ways in which things can end in pain and loss. I mean, if she's going to leave you, she's going to leave you, so you may as well have a good story, right?
I don't know what I have against happy endings; I suppose you could have a decent story that's complex and meaningful yet still allows the main characters to end up in delightful and satisfying relationships. I just can’t think of any. What's my problem? I don't think I'm particularly obsessed with tragic unfulfilled interpersonal relationships, I just think they make better stories. Appreciation for the breaking up, the situational impossibilities, the injustices of fate that tear two people apart, sometimes I feel that our lives should be lived in service to The Story, because that's what really matters. Which is of course an entirely unhealthy school of thought if I have any desire to actually have a girlfriend. Relationship. Whatever. No, I don't really believe that I have to sabotage my relationships just so I can feel like I'm living in a screenplay, I think it's more that I have an acute and enthusiastic appreciation for the fascinating complications and the many interesting ways in which things can end in pain and loss. I mean, if she's going to leave you, she's going to leave you, so you may as well have a good story, right?
