The Warrior Spirit: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian

Above: Some of the Conan the Barbarian artwork by Frank Frezetta, whose images immortalized the character

I can still remember the first time I watched "Conan the Barbarian" with my father as a young boy. The brutality and violence stayed with me long after the initial viewing, but more than anything else it was the story, the characters, and the powerful narrative which burrowed its way into my fuzzy memories. I've since gone on to read many of the comics, and even sought out the original works by Robert E. Howard trying to trace things back to their origins, wondering what it is about the character exactly which inspires me so much.

There's something about the whole tale that just feels very ancient and sweeping. Howard's incredible prose has much to do with this, but there are certain thematic elements at work as well which I've noticed more recently. The idea of a person of humble birth rising to the level of general and then king is indeed an inspirational one. Much of what gives the Conan stories their appeal is their mythological feel, and while this concept has been done many times before in countless fairytales with commoners becoming princes (or princesses) and living happily ever after, the story of Conan was one of strength, power, brutality, savagery. All of this came to lend the tale a quality of the oldest stories, a realistic hardness, and a world without rules. When Howard created Conan, the U.S. was in its Depression Era and a sort of bitter harshness reflecting that period pervades many of his other stories as well.

Those stories were originally published in the monthly pulp-magazines of the era with little bits and pieces of each published a few pages at a time in an issue. Every now and then, works that were written as pulp -mere, consumable entertainment for the masses- manage to acheive something higher: a sort of literary and artistic greatness that reaches the attention, appreciation, and analyzation of scholars as well as the common man. Sherlock Holmes provides a good example of another early, cheap magazine to do so; in more recent times, films like Star Wars; and manga like Naussicaa have done so as well. It's strange in a way to think that Conan's fate in the stories (man of lowborn birth becomes a king), mirrors that of the character's success and popularity in the mainstream, literally a common man's form entertainment that has risen to a higher level.

Above: Copy of the original, unabridged Robert E. Howard stories edited into a single book.

Howard was a proliflic writer and he did manage to turn out quite a bit of material on Conan, though this has now been absolutely dwarfed by the combined amount that has now been produced by other writers continuing to give his creation's life. Howard's life itself is another very interesting story as well, but as far as the character's history is concerned, the fact that its phenomenal success occurred after Howard's untimely death is what left publishers in a bind to release more Conan material. Thus free reign was given to others to create more stories and sate the appetites of fans. While there are certainly a lot of purists out there whose loyalty is to Howard, a person could also very well argue that one of the best things about Conan is all the additional work which has been produced over the years since his death that is much in keeping with the spirit of the original.

Yet another unusual parrellel the Conan character shares with many mythological stories throughout history, is that his saga has been passed on from one story teller to another. This is much the same as many trully ancient legends whose origins predate writing, which were passed on orally, and often embellished and added upon with each new storyteller. I remember (reading, ironically enough) a criticism by an oral storyteller on the written word and its effects on relating these stories. They seemed to feel that the written word was lifeless, like it was dead even though it was certainly more accurate than recounting things orally. While not an oral tale, Conan, like many other stories is still an ongoing one; it is continuously being retold differently and being added to as well by new writers and artists and even actors.

Getting back to the character and the story itself though, I once more find myself asking what it is about them I like. Perhaps more than anything else, it's the idea of the path he took in life: the road of the wanderer, the road of the warrior. There are certainly truths of a special sort to be discovered in such a way of life which one might not otherwise know: To learn about life by taking it from others, to find meaning in the struggles and conflicts even as they escalate in to the extremes of violence, to know many friends and lovers and watch them come and go in the thoroughfare of an eventful life, to celebrate in excessiveness and try to find the limits of joy and pleasure in such revelry, to live each day like it might be the last. There's something absolutely primal about the character and the stories that penetrates the soul of the reader and never relinquishes its grip.

* * *

A quick excerpt from the story "The Queen of the Black Coast", my favorite of all of Conan's lines and an excellent example of Howard's poetic, mythical sounding prose:

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death... I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and the stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exutation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion, I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.

-Conan the Barbarian
from, The Queen of the Black Coast
by Robert E. Howard-

Dreams

I just finished a Japanese lesson which involved me reading an article about dreams, and got my mind running. I've long had a lot of thoughts and opinions about dreams, and as it turns out, I've also had a lot of dreams as well, perhaps more than many others have. I should probably write as much as I can now while the thoughts are still there and before, like so many of the dreams I've had, all is forgotten.

Among the things mentioned in the article were a few I had heard before: we only dream at the "Rapid Eye Movement" (REM) State when we are in the deepest point of our sleep; it is not at all uncommon to have several dreams in one night; we remember very few of our dreams because, unless we awaken shortly after we have them (about 8 minutes after the dream concludes), we aren't likely to remember them. There were a few things I didn't know as well that I read in the article. One was that people who aren't very stressed out have a tendency to have more dreams, while those who don't worry quite as much don't tend to have them quite as much either. It makes a bit of sense when you think about it; the more stressing reality is to a person, the more likely they are to seek escapism, and in sleep I suppose that option is to dream.

It does strike me how often I have them. I suppose this all means that I'm a bit of a stressed out person when it comes down to it. I asked my language partner if she had many dreams and she said, "No, not really. I don't really worry about things much either, so I think that I generally just sleep easily and dreamlessly."

I'm left thinking of another quote from the book "Shantaram". In it, one of the characters said to another that we really don't feel sad when we're asleep; we might feel happy or even frightened, but never really sad. Though I cannot speak for others, I would have to say this is true for myself. At the saddest points in my life, I've often felt like wanting nothing more than for the day to end and simply to rest. I wonder sometimes if we have to be awake to be sad, if it takes consciousness or awareness to realize that things aren't going right for us in life and thus formulate the feelings of sorrow. I also sometimes wonder if sadness is linked to intelligence, that we have to be smart enough to know things are bad and that again our knowledge can sometimes only bring misery. For this reason I also wonder if animals, who are conscious only to a certain extent though perhaps not entirely aware of their existence and surroundings, can truly feel sad either (they certainly seem to have happiness, anger, and fear in them though I'm not sure about actual sadness).

I think that dreams are more or less your mind making vivdly real the random thoughts that swim around in our heads. Over the course of the day we find our minds wandering all over the place, thinking of other places and hypothetical situations. Even when we sleep we don't stop thinking. When we dream, we don't have our consciousness to ground ourselves in reality, and those hypothetical places and situations become real to us as we do so. The logic doesn't make sense, because people in dreams don't act as we do in real life, their actions are as random as any of us changing our minds or having a new thought enter our head. The scenery in a dream has us hopping from place to place, because no sooner do we think of a new one than we are transported there. Sometimes we dream of places we've been but the layout or geography is weird, slightly different than reality because our mind makes it imperfect. Sometimes in dreams, the way to get back where we came from disappears on us.

Though I've never felt sad in a dream, another conclusion I've recently to come to towards the ones I've had is that they tend to leave me feeling a little unsettled. I sometimes think that perhaps I ground my thoughts a bit much in logic or understanding while I am awake, and because I can never seem to understand what is going on or why things are happening as they do while in a dream, I think it leaves me a bit unnerved. I do think it's interesting to try and interpret your own dreams and try to use them figure out your own thought processes. While I certainly cannot disprove it, however, I don't know how much stock I put in the ideas that we can see the future in them or the people who say this.

I once lost my phone and spent half the night looking for it before getting too tired to continue and having to go to sleep. I dreamt I found it in certain a place I hadn't looked and the next day, when I did so was surprised to find it there. A situation like this, however, simply makes me think that I must've still been pondering where I could've lost it when I went to bed -especially after searching so extensively the night before and having it weigh so heavily on my thoughts- and that I simply remembered a place I might've left it while I was asleep rather than awake. Because I was asleep when I did so, I think that it simply became incorperated into my dream. The mind is a funny thing in the end, and I find it interesting the different ways it will manifest external factors into our dreams. I've heard music in my dreams only to wake up to that music playing in real life. I've heard voices calling me in my dreams only to find it was whoever was trying to awaken me. I've used the bathroom countless times in dreams only to be left wondering why I still have to go, until the realization hits me that I'm in a dream and need to wake up and make a visit to a real toilet. In trying to interpret our dreams we can understand more not only about the inner thought processes of our minds, but the external factors in our lives as well and how we feel deep down inside about them.

I remember watching a movie called "Unsung Heroes" when I was younger where one of the main characters was telling the child in the story about his dreams. He was showing him a book, which he said was a record of the dreams he'd had. Kind of a quirky character, he had realized how fast and easily we forget our dreams and so, he said, that every time he woke up from a dream he would quickly run to write it down or draw a picture of it so he wouldn't forget. There are very few of my own which I can remember, but I thought I'd write a few down, some of the more vivid ones just for the hell of it. I woke up very shortly after each of them leaving a fresh impression in my head, though I remember each for very different reasons as well.

I only heard the term "lucid dream" recently while talking with some friends, though I realize I've had several over the course my life. It simply means a dream in which you realize that you are in one, change your behavior, and sometimes even are able to control it to some extent or other. I had one once where I was falling to the bottom a very large canyon. It looked a lot like the Grand Canyon -which I had seen when I was very young- and I think it was my memory of that place which inspired it all. Midway through falling, however, I somehow came to the realization that I was dreaming. Something about the whole thing just felt off, unreal, and for whatever reason I just sort of understood that I was still asleep. I was able to control it somewhat then, to keep myself from falling; the wind blew heavily and it was as if I was now falling forward instead of down. Gradually I drifted away and eventually out of sleep, only to find myself dangling halfway off the top bunk of the bed I was then sharing with my little brother at that point in my childhood.

I haven't had many nightmares at all when I think about it. My parents did their best to keep horror movies away from me and my brother and sister when we were younger which might have played a part in all of this. The worst nightmare I ever had actually occurred when I was just a year into high school. I had a friend at that time who was in a gang and constantly telling exaggerated stories about things he and his friends had done, though nothing to the extent which I saw that night. I think that a few mafia movies and extremely violent video games I'd watched recently -and the fact that I'd also gotten stoned pretty recently leaving my mind wide open to a childlike imagination- probably had more to do with it all. In the nightmare I had, my friend killed a person who mouthed off to him. I remeber that I felt very shocked and horrified, and then for some reason, everything around me just melted away and I was in a warehouse full of body parts stuffed into garbage bags and steel oil drums, a killing factory of sorts. I was surrounded by the carnage, and I don't know why, but I just somehow understood that a bunch of gangsters had done this, human beings mutilating other human beings. I remember shivering not simply from fear, but also because the air around me felt unnaturally cold, damp, and clammy. I awoke so shaken that I couldn't fall back to sleep, couldn't move out of my bed for fear, and so just lay awake there until, after some time had passed, I finally calmed down. It's strange how when we first regain consciousness, there's a lull between, where we're half asleep and sometimes don't realize it was all just a dream and still believe it to be real. Though I'd seen characters in movies and TV shows waking up in cold sweats scared out their wits from nightmares, I'd never actually understood this feeling until then, and to some extent had thought it was simply theatrics. Can only imagine what it must be like for those who really live through wars and true horrors to dream about it later.

The last dream I can really remember vividly was one where I was more or less living out a pulp noir western of sorts. My brother and I went looking for some people (can't remember why exactly) and we found them in some abandoned village in steep, rocky canyon. I remember it looking a lot like an old western ghost town, except the buildings where made of stone like ancient ruins. When we got there, we found the people we were looking for, only to find they weren't willing to come with us. We argued with them briefly before one of them looked out the window and simply said something like: "They've come for us." I remember looking out the window to see a group of men wearing hats and long, gray dusters just arriving into the town. One of them had on a long black coat and a black hat instead as well as a long, dark rifle slung over his back and seemed to be leading them. It felt a lot like being in a movie. I think I remember this dream mostly because it was right at this moment, just as it was getting interesting, that I was awakened by an alarm and reminded that I needed to get up and go to school. I also remember quickly making a futile attempt to go back to sleep, wanting to see what would happen. There was no such luck, though, apparently you can't exactly return to your dreams like a scene on a DVD whenever you want to once you've woken up. I've never had a recurring dream, but if ever there was one I wish I could have this would've been it. How disappointing, it's like never getting to see the conclusion to something you started watching but were very intereted in. Then again though, they are just dreams. Most are destined to be forgotten and each time it happens, it's almost like a small miracle that some even get remembered at all...

PlanetES

Review: PlanetES (Anime Series)


I recently had a chance to revisit the anime series "PlanetES" which I watched for the first time a few years back with room-mates from my old guesthouse. I began re-watching it last year with a room-mate at my current guesthouse, only to stop for a long period of time, and then quickly restart again when we both realized I would soon have to move out again and had better finish it before the chance passed.

I don't watch as much anime as I used to, and usually when I do nowadays it tends to be movies that will at least wrap themselves up somewhat cleanly within a couple of hours. Still, there are some qualities we can only get from watching a series: a longer, more protracted storyline, a certain epicness that otherwise is harder to achieve in movies. PlanetES, one of the last series I watched in its entirety, is named after the word the ancient greeks used which means "wanderers" and is the word we use to describe them as well. True to its name, it takes place in outer space. It's very well written, and doesn't just explore themes of science fiction, but also the psychological mindstates of those who are bold enough to explore, and also some of the political/moral issues which may confront space exploration into the future. At the heart of it all though, are some very memorably characters and a story that will cling to you long after you finish seeing it.

Please note: Entries about media reviewed in this blog are written from the framepoint that the reader has already seen the work in question. Plot twists and endings will sometimes be examined.

The story is set in the near future with space exploration having progressed a bit further than it is in the world we live in today. The space stations are larger, and there are a few of them, including a permanent one on the moon. Most of the story takes place in space, and what glimpses we get of Earth, show it to be much as the one we live in today. Technology in space, however, is much more advanced, reflecting the sort of innovation and invention that would accompany adapting to it. Inventions such as artificial gravity, partial gravity (allowing people to jump much higher and come down softer), newer propulsion systems, and spacecraft have all become a reality.

The main characters are members of the "Debris Section" which is in charge of cleaning up space debris -materials such as loose metallic bolts and shrapnel floating around in the vacuum of space- that have become hazardous to space travel because they can shred traversing vehicles that come into contact with them. Debris Section is often belittled by members of the other sections as being mere garbage collectors, despite the job being both vital and dangerous.




The most central of the main characters are Hachirota Hoshino -often referred to simply by the nickname, "Hachimaki"- and Ai Tanabe. The series centers primarily around the relationship between these two protagonists. Hachi has been at his job for some time and is gruff, impatient, and defensive. He also comes off as being apathetic and a little bit lazy at the beginning of the series. Ai, on the other hand, is the newest member of the team. She is not only inexperienced, but naive and very idealistic in her thinking. Especially in the earlier episodes, I found her to be shrill and insistent to the point where I found myself shaking my head at the screen in disbelief, just like all the other characters within it. Both characters will grow and change a lot as the series progresses.

The show starts off being quite lighthearted, establishing its slightly futuristic setting in space with episodes that have a lot of humor as Ai blunders around while learning the ropes from her new crew, while also confounding them with her stubbornness on certain situations.

The action in the show isn't exactly what one would call action in the terms we've become used to. It isn't fast-paced and doesn't involve much fighting, hand-to-hand or otherwise. What there are a good deal of are realisticly frightening situations that result in some very tension-filled moments and will certainly bring some viewers to the edge of their seats. Very much in the variety of "My hand slipped and I just dropped the wire-cutters into a place I cannot retrieve them while disarming a bomb, time to panic"- kind of tension. Malfunctions, equipment failures, and sabotage that result in characters floating helplessly away into space might not seem like much at first, but when the realization settles in that they're heading out into the vast, cruel, endless void of space and no one will be able to help them in a few short minutes it can get pretty unnerving.

The show takes a much darker shift in its later episodes with increasingly frequent appearances by a terrorist group calling themselves the "Space Defense Front" (SDF), who conduct terror operations in space. To give an idea of the types of things they do: in one of their earlier appearances, they attempt to crash a highjacked ship into another larger ship, creating a storm of debris that will literally rain down metallic shrapnel onto a moon colony containing many civilians. What exactly is the SDF protesting? They feel that richer nations, by mining space for minerals and resources, are widening the disparity of wealth on earth and using that to take their oppression of poorer countries even further. Not incredibly far-fetched when you think about it, and enough to make you think seriously about what ethics problems might develop as space exploration progresses.

Other issues are explored in the series as well. While western audiences are sure to enjoy the universal themes of this series, as a Japanese work, it's also peppered with some very subtle criticisms of the Japanese business culture and ethic that will most likely go unnoticed by those who have never lived in Japan. Many of the employees are forced to work for excessively long periods of time, rarely seeing their families, a situation all too common amongst Japanese salarymen. The desire to make a profit results in crooked ways of doing business in foray that science is still researching. This idea is very effectively demonstrated in some very sleazy characters. One, who is the cocky son of a successful businessman, behaves like everyone has to take orders from him (shades of Japan's problem with hereditary power-passing perhaps). Another is a corrupt businessman himself who tries to order the Debris Section not do a particular job because it'll humiliate him personally, despite the fact that it could put others in harm.

On the other hand, there is one very intriguing character introduced late in the series, named Locksmith, who seems to absolutely fly in the face of what many would consider a character flaw that is found all too often amongst Japanese politicians and businessmen. Unlike others who are driven to succeed for profit he sees his goal -further exploration into space- as unquestionably noble, and doesn't listen to critics. At one point an engine test under his supervision results in an explosion that costs lives and he makes no intention of resigning (an action which many Japanese politicians and executives wouldn't hesitate to do). Unlike a lot of Japanese in leadership positions, he is driven enough to stick with things rather than let ideas of damaged honor or the fact that others call him "shamed" bring him to quit. No attempt is made to hide that he is unrelenting and ruthless. At a couple of points, he allows applicants to fall into real danger during a testing process to see how they'll react if such a situation would occur, whether they'll crack under pressure or work through it. This instance has a sort of dual purpose. It allows us to see the show's philosophy when it comes to the spirit of what kind of men will succeed in exploration. It also serves as something of a challenge to certain aspects of Japanese society such as backbone and complacency i.e. Are there people in there who have what it takes to break conventions in order to succeed?

Finally, however, there are the inner issues that confront the main characters. During the course of the series, Ai will have her faith in the overall goodness of humanity thrown into question, and while she might be unrelenting to the point of annoyance as the series starts, she becomes its voice of conscience by its end. The show truly loves its subject matter, and makes no secret that many characters have nothing less than a love affair with space itself and want to stay even though conditions like brittle bones from low gravity and sickness from space's high radiation threaten to kill them. Hachimaki, at one point, suffers from space dementia after an accident nearly leaves him stranded in space, and learns that the panic attacks he suffers afterward, might end up ripping him from outer space, the place he loves so much. He's confronted by an inner version of himself who mocks him saying that deep down inside he doesn't want to recover and that this will just become the excuse he needs give up on his dreams. While, as I mentioned before, Hachimaki starts off as seeming very apathetic, even broken down and beaten by life's realities, he will transform over the course of the series into someone capable of meeting the uncompromising standards of men like Locksmith.

Ultimately, however, the show really belongs to its characters. They're people we come to care about, and its their relationships and these personal challenges that form the most interesting part of the plot, and the soul of the story itself. I can't recommend it enough.






If you liked what you read, or would like to leave a comment, please do. I'd be happy to hear from you.

Unstoried People

Metropolis

The city which breathes like an organism
neon-bathed alleys, steel and concrete for skin
and still other creatures that crawl round within

And move silently through its veins like a cell
Through the hubs and the ports that with people do swell
like arteries from hearts to places unwell.

For dark are these corners where the diseases do dwell
and anything that anybody could want they will sell.
Inside each creature both a heaven and hell.


Unstoried People

In joy do we dance, and In anger do rage
In passion's fit burn the world, and dance round it's flames

And watch damned knowledge be lost
Before damned knowledge transferred
And all lessons cut short
Before anything learned
While the flames dance on high
While our heritage burns
While our hopes for new future in the same breath are birthed
For a legacy til now that's been nothing but cursed
Owes a fate secretly desired that's moreover been earned

Culture And All Its Compromises

From a memetic way of looking at things I sometimes wonder where culture lies. Does any one particular culture stand to gain anything by wiping out or minimizing other contenders, or do they, like genes, flourish from a diversity that whittles things down leaving only those which work well with others standing? Cultures most certainly contain a mixture of elements and are always changing in their make up, much as any organism does. But considering many cultures contain portions which people consider intrinsically linked, and as whole we've come to a point where so much care is taken to avoid offending one culture or another, I wonder sometimes if perhaps we have lost some form or another of valuable criticism. How are things ever to change if we really believe everything created by everyone is equal and are too polite to ever say when we see what might be a problem?

"Universal" Culture

The idea that all cultures are equal, that none is superior or inferior, but rather just different from one another is called "Cultural Relativism". The major problem with such a concept is, as I said earlier; that if every culture is equal, what right does anyone have to even suggest changes to let alone forcibly impose it? If, for example, the Nazis were a culture that was equal to all others, what right would anyone have had to intervene in their genocide of the Jews? Of course, one would most certainly argue that the Nazis clearly didn't believe all cultures were equal to be doing such a thing in the first place, but doesn't then considering every culture out there an equal become nothing more than a disadvantage to those who believe it? Classic nice guy dilemna, you finish last if others are willing to play mean and history's full of examples: the most influential cultures haven't just been wealthy, advanced, and powerful, but also willing to push others around. Kind of makes you wonder if in the end, nice cultures finish last too. The way things have changed in modern times, however, it's beginning to seem a bit like playing mean now carries the real consequence of others losing trust in you.

If there are any universal cultural traits out there, I really can think of only two. Every culture seems to have a problem with indiscriminate killing. This, for the obvious reason that people cannot perpetuate when there is no stability in life even continuing. Situations that resemble this one (The Reign of Terror, The Khmer Rouge Regime, and to some extent, China's Cultural Revolution) have generally not lasted long before some other, more stable system replaced them.

The other trait I mentioned is lying. We need to be able to believe what others are saying to us. Without some level of trust, even the smallest of societies looses cohesion and productivity. Completely outside of the religious reasons that it's "wrong" to do so, we castigate people who break these rules for a very good reason. They bring everybody else down.

It is of some small relief that every culture in the world recognizes these principles, and can never be made entirely of cheats who break these "rules", and yet very unsettling the idea that it's often those who do so that tend to rise to the peaks of their societies and then screw up others' as well.

In his book "The Selfish Gene" Dawkins at one point mentions a computer simulation repeatedly running different various strategies in a never ending loop of "prisoners dilemna". One surprising result was that very often the so-called "nice" strategies finished first. By "nice" we mean simply the programs which didn't do things like "attack" first unprovoked, break trust, screw over opponents/partners. Viewing the whole thing as not being a zero-sum game, where working with others, and not playing them false can get one ahead, it would seem, is actually a very sound strategy. Cheats have always gotten by in societies that are large enough to afford some, but not too many.

Now the world, it appears, has become like one giant society, one in which the different cultures interact with one another much as members in a small village do, and with technology increasing as it is, the village is getting smaller. When one person does something to another in a place this small, other people hear about it.

On "Policing" the World

Many people out there seem to view the current foreign policy of the U.S. as one of an unwanted watchdog to world. John McCain once said he felt that while everyone complains of the U.S. policing the world, he thought deep down inside people were really more afraid of the reverse: the idea that if no one did so, there would be all kinds of states ready to act greedily on their own behalf at the expense of others. In short: if america didn't do it, who would?

While I agree with the basic assumption that being a law enforcer is tough work, and sometimes a dirty job that someone has to do, I also have a major problem with the idea that those who do it can ever be considered truly altruistic. In many circumstances, law enforcers reap rewards by basically being above or beyond the law. They choose how and when they enforce it, and often times this leads to exemptions when faced with judging their own and every group of enforcers from knights and samurais all the way to our modern day cops has had its examples of corrupt members and bullies. Most every country out there wants to be the one to enforce things as they see fit but only those with power seem able to do so and once again we come to the disappointment that the most successful of countries is willing to push around others.

But the world is changing, as I said earlier, and with many a nation able to see what another one does, reputation on a world scale seems to be growing in importance in such a way that blatant flaunting will put the cheater behind. America's war in Iraq has been analyzed to death on moral grounds from both sides of the aisle (and it was idealogical reasons that needed to be used to gain approval), but the final result might just be a matter of the U.S. falling behind for what was merely a short term gain in the long run of things as many countries lost their trust in it.

Somehow I doubt that the use of force to get things will ever go out of style. Strength is, after all, admired in societies because it makes all other things possible, or rather the stability it provides does. It seems every culture out there that has become remotely successful on a world scale has some lingering legacy of a strong warrior caste somewhere in its ancestry. The world society at large has since become more connected, more educated, and more weary of violence and turmoil. No group seems able to dominate on the level possible before, the victors no longer kill the losers, and the perpetuation of the written word has left the idealogies of those defeated to persist long after they depart.

Threat of Violence

On December 10th, 2009 U.S. President Obama received the Noble Peace Prize on grounds many found fragile. While his message of hope had inspired many to take steps towards real and positive change, a common attitude of his detractors was that in terms of actual acheivement Obama had still yet to prove himself. Regardless of whether he deserved the award or not, one thing that struck me more than anything else was something he said in his speech, and has led me to a question I've had trouble coming to grips with. He mentioned at one point his admiration for men like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. with their non-violent approach to confrontation, but then (in what surely amounted to the most tension filled part of his acceptance speech) maintained that a strong leader for a country like the U.S. needed to know when to be strong and when to use force if necessary.

To be fair, Obama was (and still is iat the time of this writing) involved in two wars (in Afganistan and Iraq) which certainly could not be ignored as he received a prize for peace. Still, the whole idea of it all, at first seemed very much a contradiction to me. Gandhi and King Jr. were both willing to die as martyrs for their causes and more or less unwilling to take lives in doing so. I've thought quite a bit about this and realized that while their messages preached peace, brutality raged all around them, and that at least some of it was coming from people on their own side. They preached against this destructiveness on their behalf, of course, but the danger of it was still always there. Both men did indeed die for their causes, and upon their deaths tensions boiled over in a tide of violence that rocked their societies to their cores. I don't mean to criticize these men or their methods, but never before did I realize that despite what is a message of peace is carried a threat of violence should the other side ever go too far. I shudder to think of what might happen to America if Obama were ever assassinated, not only for the loss of a message and symbol but also of what backlash might occur. Something tells me the Tea Partyers would count themselves lucky to still have the skin on their backs let alone get off with mere reprimands in such a situation.

So whose memes are the strongest?

I remember hearing once that an ancient king whose lands stretched far and wide and encompassed many peoples decided one day that he wanted to learn more about the customs of those different groups within his borders. He sent out envoys and ambassadors on what might be described as an early type of anthropolgy project and discovered to his surprise that some of his subjects, of a small and remote group, ate their ancestors when they died as a sign of respect. This ran contrary to the practice of burning the dead which was common in the king's main territories, and true enough, when these people heard the notion of burning their dead, they were shocked and appalled. "Why would you burn your dead?!!" they cried, "How horrible and disrespectful can you be to leave your loved ones uneaten when they die!" The point, I suppose, was that looking through the prism of another culture almost anything could be seen as either ok or barbaric depending on whose point of view you started with.

It strikes me that today there are no groups out I can think of that eat their dead, despite the sort of ambiguity of the above tale. Indeed, a genetic study a few years back, delving into the causes of mad cow disease, revealed that cannibalization of almost any sort begins to set in motion a sort of mutation that causes the sickness. Makes sense from a genetic point of view. When there's nothing left to eat but your own kind, the body begins to believe something is wrong out there and begins mutation as a defense mechanism hoping to survive. Eating one's dead as a custom didn't make it to the modern age because there was something wrong with it, something incompatible, unworkable.

Cultures and societies have a habit of dropping the parts that don't work, much as most creatures do (to re-use an earlier analogy) with genes that bog them down. The major difference of course is that social groups have a choice in what to let go, and it doesn't take a specimen dying per say to put an end to detrimental memes as it does with genes. There are plenty of examples aside from those major ones I mentioned eariler: killing and lying, though I'm of the thought that most have ties to these two. Falsehoods and half-truths have a habit of slowing down and screwing up the groups which hold onto them, especially those that advocate the taking of lives.

Many Muslims in the world today do their best to disassociate themselves with Islamic Jihadists. It might not simply be that they find the acts they commit reprehensible, there just doesn't seem to be much at the end of the road for violent extremists; they rarely get what they want in this world because people stop listening to them.

Somehow I doubt that the use of force to get things will ever go out of style. Strength is, after all, admired in societies because it makes all other things possible, or rather the stability it provides does. It seems every culture out there that has become remotely successful on a world scale has some lingering legacy of a strong warrior caste somewhere in its ancestry.
Within every society lies the abilty to drop the contents which do not work. To survive is to change, to improve is let go the things which do more harm than good. No part of our culture is completely unremovable. The strength that traditions have lies within the cohesion they create as much as the lessons they provide. Their detraction lies in inflexibility when change demands it. Within the history of any group comes the time to compromise what we've grown accustomed to in the past, with what is necessary for the future. In these times of incredible change it might all seem to be happening too fast, but time has a habit seperating what can survive from what can't, and only it will tell which of our traits make it to the next round.

Traveling, Moving, Standing

It hard not to marvel about it all, watching the scenery pass by from the window of a moving vehicle. The mind just wanders from here to there the same way the vehicle does, and there's something about being in motion that just makes you feel like you're making forward progress; moving forward through time and through life just like your car or train or airplane is.

I'm reminded of the end of "Michael Clayton", a recent movie, where after everything that happens to the guy, he just gets into a taxi cab and when asked by the driver, "What are we doing here?", gives the guy a bill and simply says, "Here's 50 bucks worth, just drive." It's a sentiment I can understand, though I've found myself wondering about it recently. Thinking of why a person would do such a thing, the only idea I have is that the guy simply wanted to get as far away from it all as he could (both literally and figuratively), and barring the actual ability to just fly away from it he did the next best thing he could and hopped in a cab.

It's a strange thing to consider, but sometimes we just want to be moving, want to be in motion, want to feel like we're leaving the past behind us. When we cross a new threshold in life, the feeling of motion can just put a person at ease in a way nothing else can. I've recently begun to think about this more and more. Especially when I travel. But what in my past do I want to get away from? And what future am I moving towards?

It's useful at different periods in our lives to have some indicator of how much time is going by. When we're young it's easy. Not only have we lived for much shorter a period of time, making it easier to keep track of it all, but every year is a new grade at school, and often we have a new teacher and different classmates to help us differentiate from the last. As we get older and leave school behind, it becomes a little more difficult. We now have longer personal histories to remember and the years begin to add up and trail into one another. I often have trouble remembering how old I was when I did one thing or another and it's only after some thought about the other crucial events in my life that I'm able to figure it out. Generally I have to ask myself a question like: Where was I living when that happened? (since I've moved generally every 1-3 years), or Who was I dating?, or Where was I working? In some way or another, I think we all use some sort of an important event in our lives as an indicator of time within our personal histories. One set of indicators I realize I don't have that many others do has to do with what children they have, and in keeping track of their kids' ages or grades in school they find themselves anchored a bit more. Looking at the last three questions which I have a habit of asking myself has made me think that up to this point, my life has really not been all that stable considering my girlfriend, job, and place of residence all seem to change within about 1-3 years.

Now I've begun to think, as well, that the trips I take abroad are beginning to occupy that same function, and I sometimes find myself asking if I'd travelled to this place or that before event A or B or whatever occurred. When I went to Australia for the first time, I felt like a burden had been lifted off me. It was the first time I travelled since I had left Parkside House. Since moving, since Rich and everything else. Those were low times. I felt like I was moving away from it all then, leaving it all behind me. I've never realized before how cathartic an effect it all has for just this reason.

While many people have a habit of taking a vacation back to their favorite place, I've generally always looked to try and go to new ones, usually as different as possible. I like the element of discovery and exploration which doesn't tend to come so often when you've already been to a place. Being in a familiar place puts one at ease, but while you might be sacrificing that ease for a sort of tension in a new environ, you also sometimes gain surprise and delight. But all this isn't to say that you can't also feel free and relieved anyways. Regardless of if you're going to a familiar place or a new one, you're still miles away from your problems and from all the trappings of your regular, everyday life.

I've been trying to write about what realizations I've had with each new travel, and one other thing that's come to mind on my recent trip to India is how seeing so much more of this world has left me wondering just where I stand in all of it now. For a long time now I've had a different sense of morality than many others might, but sometimes I've really gotta wonder: Just what sort of sense of right and wrong am I even left with?

Sometimes when a person travels, they'll see things that would absolutely repulse other people. India actually has quite a few things I can think of right off the bat; It has the highest number of truly "arranged marriages" in the world; It is pretty much the only country to industrialize to some degree and still remain polytheistic (on the whole, nearly every other culture on the planet believes in only one god though they differ on which -Yaweh, Buddha, Allah, the Christian God); Impoverished people are looked down upon, reduced to begging, and roam the streets with animals that do the same yet are considered sacred; The children of the impoverished are slaved to an extent that rivals any other country out there -including perhaps China. And yet, all I can think sometimes is: This is how they live, and it's been this way for untold amounts of time, who the hell are we to pass judgement on another's culture? Perhaps it really is true that seeing India will change a person. And it really only becomes more difficult when I think of the other places I've seen as well, more than a few of them have shown me something or another to put me at unease. Sometimes I really do feel like the more I see the less I know, and seeing more of this world is simply giving counterpoint to everything I thought I knew.

Best Films of the Decade 2000-2009

It wasn't always a great decade, but at least it produced some incredible films. I missed a lot of great ones over the years, but I caught a lot of them as well. These are the ones that left the biggest impression on me between 2000-2009. Time sure does fly. Quite a few of these I saw in college and that was ages ago. Almost as difficult as choosing, is ordering. I just can't seem to do either properly. At any rate, here goes:

1. City of God

I thought this movie was better than any other I saw this decade. Watching it we see in detail, how in the corruption or absence of law enforcement, crime lords provide stability, urban warfare destroys communities, and that even in a world without rules there's a strange sort of justice or karma to it all. Casted using almost entirely non-actors who really lived the life, there's raw, realistic energy in the portrayals. It's the underworld of Rio De Janeiro's slums in all its harsh and gritty violence, but also its vibrance and liveliness. And at the end of it all a surprisingly uplifting message of hope. If someone can emerge out of this environment safely maybe there's hope for all of us.

2. Y Tu Mama Tambien

Two young guys embark on a road trip through Mexico with the company of a Spanish woman they just met recently and some less than pure intentions toward her. They don't let the fact that they're young, inexperienced, and don't really have a clue what they're doing slow them down, they only know what they want. In then end, however, they're absolutely no match for this woman who's not only experienced, but has nothing to lose. There are three main themes explored over the course of this film. The first one, sex, is very obvious. The second, Mexico, is seen more and more as the characters travel. The final, death, is explored intermittently throughout. A film that's dramatic and often very humorous as well, with a quiet revelation at it's ending that incredibly enough, turns everything you've already seen on its side for repeat viewings.

"Life is like the surf, so give yourself away like the sea..."

3. The 40 Year Old Virgin

Seems like comedy is the hardest thing to get people to agree on. So much seems to depend on a viewer's expectations and the ability to surprise them, to keep them unable to predict what will come next. While a lot of people I've met liked some other comedy better, I've met few who didn't like this one, and perhaps what was most surprising of all was just how thoughtful and heartfelt this movie is for a comedy. There's a lot more to it than just a bunch of jokes about sex (or some people's lack there-of), and I really couldn't name a comedy I liked more than this one.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

A new classic is born. This is one that'll really stand the test of time, the same way the books have, and just as Star Wars did. Decades from now people will still be watching it and talking about it. From it, high-fantasy returned to the cinemas like never before. The first movie in the series was also the first block-buster to come after 9/11, and I sometimes wonder if traditional storytelling was what America wanted when it came. Regardless, it's an achievement of special effects, of performances, and literary adaptation.

5. Sideways

Two guys, Jack and Miles, head out to California's wine country for some final celebration before Jack's wedding. Miles just wants to relax, Jack just wants to chase women for one last time before getting married. They meet two women, drama and comedy ensue. It's strange to me that for all the drama in this film, it's not a chick-flick at all, if anything it's actually a guy movie. The central characters are two guys, and this movie certainly understands their way of thinking. For all of Miles's rationality, he's getting nowhere. For all of Jack's bad qualities, his cockiness pulls Miles out of his moping and into taking the chances he needs to. I was also surprised by just how humorous this film was, funnier than most of the so-called comedies out there.

6. Wall-E

Pixar has been turning out great films pretty much since it's inception and directly because of their influence, children's animated fare has largely become standard. "Traditional animation" is now in the minority. Other companies have emulated their style, but they remain unmatched. With Wall-E, it seems they've reached their pinnacle... for now at least. Aside from being full of new sights and wonderment it also has a very timely environmental message lingering in the background.

7. Gangs of New York

A lot of people didn't consider this a great movie, but I sure did. Perhaps the only epic Martin Scorcese will ever make, it's a film that really is unlike any other I've seen, with a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis that has become my favorite. The New York of the mid-1800's was more a collection tribes imported from other countries who brought their old rituals and hostilities from the old country to America with them. The streets and neighborhoods more like little kingdoms constantly at war with each other, and towering over them all is Day-Lewis's Bill the Butcher, who rules them with a cold, iron fist like a ruthless old monarch. It's a uniquely American story, although the America it portrays -one not yet transformed by time- is one completely alien to the one we know.

8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

A martial arts film that transcends all others and understands the inner heart and soul of the warrior at it's poetic best. Other attempts have been made to mimic what Ang Lee accomplished here -most notably Zhang Yimou's Hero- but Crouching Tiger remains at the precipice. Few movies have ever made fighting look this beautiful.

9. The Dark Knight

In a decade where movies based on comic books enjoyed unbridled success, one of them stood head and shoulders above the rest. It continues what started with Batman Begins, showing the masked vigilante optimistic that he might not be needed soon, and perhaps can even hang up his mantle (a notion foreign to any anyone familiar with the character). That is until he's challenged by a sociopath with no conscience, and slowly begins to come to the sad conclusion that his Batman persona won't ever cease to be needed. The movie featured a performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker which has already become legend. What dark depths of his psyche Ledger reached into in order to create his portrayal of this character will never be known due to his untimely demise.

10. Okuribito (Departures)

For some reason death is a topic the Japanese have been able to do well for a very long time (Ikiru and Tokyo Story both come to mind). The sadness of loss, the lingering regret, and ultimate finality of it all. They're all in this movie, along with an anger and redemption that you don't always see in movies of this sort. As it drew to its close, I actually wanted to shout at the screen, tell the guy not to let it end the way he intended to, to just let it go. Perhaps it's because a few things have happened recently that changed me, or perhaps it's because me living in Japan makes it hit closer to home, but this film brought me closer to tears than any other I've seen.

11. Requiem for a Dream

Lyrical beauty, heart-wrenching sadness. This movie shocked me more than any other I've ever seen. The horrors which occur to characters we've come to care about leaves a hole inside and it's viewers changed forever. I can't think of anyone who'd want to get much deeper into drugs after seeing this film. The last 30 minutes of it will haunt me to end of my days.

12. Spirited Away

The best "traditionally animated" film of the decade, with all the wonder that Miyazaki has come to be known for in his works. His message is so subtle it's hard to see it; a deriding of the apathy of the young, and the triumph of personal improvement that comes of being challenged.

13. Closer

There isn't a single "good" character in this film, and the fates they get, they earn. Incredible performances, and a script with some fucking teeth on it, this movie was emotionally violent the way many others are physically. Truly difficult to watch. Like Kids and Requiem for a Dream, at the conclusion of this story, there is no catharsis whatsoever. The end result of all that selfishness is just the bittersweet knowledge that it's done.

14. The Matrix

It's hard to gauge the cultural significance of this movie, its importance is such that the word itself has entered our widespread cultural lexicon. It challenged our perceptions about reality and forced us yet again to question our relationship with machines. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it made action beautiful and poetic. On a side note, I liked the second film a lot as well, though it's hard not to consider the second and third films to really be two parts to the same film, whereas the first stood alone. As such it lacked an ending and put everything on the third movie. We all know how that turned out.

15. There Will Be Blood

A movie that despite its taking place in the past carries a very relevant message for today. From the beginning, oil has been a dirty business, and we can begin to see the mess we've gotten ourselves into by becoming dependent on it and the people who run it. Another great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, this time as a cruel and unethical oil man. Religion is of no interest to him and in the end no match for him, even though ironically enough, he does at one point need it order to gain the support of the very people he's cheating (shades of George W. Bush perhaps?) Eric Schlosser once said that there is nothing crueler than the free market unchecked, and this film shows us why. Only the most merciless seem capable of climbing to the top.

16. Munich

Few other movies -save maybe for The Good Shepherd- present the reality and bleakness of this subject matter. Revenge is seldom ever satisfying, it only teaches you that you can do to others the things that hurt you. The very existence of the spy is one with no soul and little joy. The whole profession of information gathering means ruthlessness and deception. There's no room for friends when somewhere down the line, either the people you know or the ones they know are going to be betrayed. And that's if you win. At the end of it all is the profound conclusion that in hunting terrorists we've become more like them, and the unanswered question of whether or not we're still just for doing so.

17. Avatar

More than a movie, this has become a cultural event, and as of this writing, one still going on. We haven't seen the last of James Cameron or filmmaking using the techniques and effects he's created here. Like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, the world he created was so well-imagined that reality just melts away watching it. The story resembles a lot of others that came before it, but is compelling and well-told nonetheless.

18. Syriana

Another trend to come about recently is the so-called "hyperlink movie". Traffic, Crash, and even Love Actually all come to mind as examples. This was my favorite. By surrounding the viewer with the plot we come to see how the characters' actions affect one another even though most never meet. It's very much like real life is in this regard. The central theme is oil, a macguffin that rather than being pursued the whole time by the characters, is actually surrounding them and so must be fought for with distraction and covert ways. It also shows us very clearly how America purposely tampers with and destabilizes other countries simply to get it cheaper.

19. Children of Men

"The whole world lost some of its laughter when the echoing of playgrounds ceased...", uttered one of the characters late in this film. By then the idea has already been hammered home. What would happen to us if suddenly we couldn't bear children? How would we react if the notion that humanity has no future became very real over-night? How many of us would try to burn everything, dance around the flames, and of those who didn't, how many would only be clinging on desperately because we didn't know how much longer we all have left? The world portrayed by this film is indeed decaying and nearly hopeless. That is until a woman is found who is pregnant. Suddenly there are those stepping up with renewed hope and purpose, and still others looking to take advantage of what might be humankind's final hope.

20. The Passion of the Christ

I've got to give it to Mel Gibson, he makes the movies he wants to make, the way he wants to make them, even if others aren't willing to back him. Along with Apocalypto, he showed the world very brutal, visceral images and heightened the authenticity by filming in rare languages (some of which are extinct). With The Passion he managed to create an experience unlike any other, and regardless of the man or his views, that's an amazing achievement.

Some other films I felt were runners up. I just can't seem to limit myself in the end. Probably shouldn't take the ordering of this all too seriously, beyond the first ten or so I liked most of them about the same.

Tropa de Elite

Another film from Brazil depicting the urban war-zone its slums have become. This time centering on a hard-to-the-teeth captain who leads the "Elite Squad" (Tropa de Elite) that goes into the places and situations the normal cops are too afraid to. With his own pending retirement soon to come, the story follows two younger soldiers who he feels might be worthy to take his position.

The Proposition

A western unlike any other I've ever seen, including Unforvgiven. It has many of the elements of other westerns -corrupt lawmen, bloodthirsty outlaws, hostile natives- but it doesn't take place the American old west, but rather the Australian outback during it's own "Old West" sort of period. Its idea: That Australia's outback, among the most savage of natural environments for man to survive in, produced equally savage men. A very brutal movie indeed.

Shotgun Stories

This movie captured the feeling and pace of life in the South like few others ever have. It's story, about bitterness and revenge erupting into violence between stepbrothers in a small town, is told so subtly that the tension becomes incredible by the conclusion.

Renaissance

Like Waking Life, it uses the same roto-scoping technique of painting cells to achieve it's realistic animation, though it didn't get quite the attention that movie did. Purposely done in black and white, to achieve a very slick, futuristic, sci-fi noir effect. Right up there with Blade Runner and Minority Report. The story has not been neglected either, and its questions of ethics with an emerging technology of immortality left me deep in thought.

Persepolis

An animated film that takes a personal and humorous look at the life of a spunky young girl from Iran who watches her whole world start to fall apart as its government begins to deteriorate from a free democracy into a conservative, repressive regime. An important film because it shows how the process of a democracy crumbling is slow and gradual, and before you know it, gone.

Harry Potter Series

Along with the Lord of the Rings, this series helped establish that fantasy literature could be a bankable commodity at the box office. Its long, drawn out story (7 books and 8 films when it finishes) is truly epic and starts with a main character who is young and watches them grow like no single movie every was able to. Another future classic for certain.

Documentaries:

American Drug War

A closer look at the toll America's "War on Drugs" has taken on the country. Over-packed jails, CIA smuggling and corruption, and no end in sight. It's discouraging to watch, as many of the documentaries are, and though this one swept its share of festivals, it is practically unknown to the mainstream because its subject matter puts it up against such powerful interests and people who wave flags and shout in louder voices.

Collapse

An alarming look at some of the things happening in the world right now with Michael Ruppert. Some of the things he points out are very frightening, in terms of simple math, supply and demand, we're using up our planet at an unsustainable rate and in the midst of a revolution we can only hope will proceed without much pain.

"If your camp gets attacked by a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear, you only have to be faster than the slowest camper."

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary that's proven to be very important and might actually end up making a difference in what's become a global problem.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Another important documentary which attacked a president who up until that point had almost complete immunity due to 9/11 and U.S. public perception of his importance.

Zeitgeist

Let the conspiracy theories begin. How much of this was true, and how much can really be taken seriously, I don't know. For an amateur-made expose, which found itself an audience willing to listen on the internet, however, it certainly was a piece of work.

Notable Mentions:

Babel

Minority Report

Pan's Labyrinth

Waking Life

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Almost Famous

No Country for Old Men

A History of Violence

The Departed

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

Eastern Promises

Michael Clayton

Tsotsi

Changing Lanes

American Gangster

Collateral

Amores Perros

Open Range