frustrated writer of tragedies

[sergebroom]

Last night's soirée at the NetFlix Theater was 2007's Molière. I thought (and so did Sue when she had added it to our NetFlix queue) that it was going to be a biopic about You-Know-Who. Not quite. It really is a made-up chapter in the life of the frustrated writer of tragedies that supposedly was the inspiration of at least three of his comedies. I recognized plot elements from Les fourberies de Scapin (a family servant works to bring together two young lovers in spite of parental opposition), Le bourgeois gentilhomme (a merchant wants to attain the higher status of a gentleman), and Tartuffe (an apparently saintly man is anything but). There probably were references to many more of Molière's comedies which eluded me as it's been many years since I was exposed to his works. Still, I remembered enough to come out of it amused. Of course, it is quite possible that Your Mileage May Vary if you've never been acquainted with Molière. Then again, Sue's knowledge was minimal and she seemed to like the movie.

Comments

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the nebbish approach doesn't amuse you; he does (or did) milk that for all he could. From nebbish to alta kocker is a very small step.

Older women are hot. ;-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

They are indeed.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Of course, your wife is too young for that to apply, but she's still beautiful in ways that can never compare.

Can't have you getting in trouble here. ;-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Phew!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

That's probably it. Allen's nebbish persona didn't appeal to me. I grew up in an age where being a nerd or a nebbish had not a single gleam of cool or of appeal.

(The funny thing is that I didn't know what I was because there is no word for that kind of person in French. Only when I discovered the word in English did I then discover the concept - and what I had beem.)

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, English didn't have a word for it either, until it stole the word from Yiddish. ;-)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Does something exist if there's no word for it?

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

According to Sapir-Whorf, no. (This is the basis for Suzette Haden Elgin's three-part series Judas Rose.)

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

So, the only way that this closed system can change is if someone thinks outside of the box, or if it comes from another box that may be its own closed system, from its point-of-view?

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Exactly -- which is why some folks disagree with Sapir-Whorf. Personally I think it's a little of both: if you don't have a word for the concept, it's harder to think of the concept (which reinforces the lack of word); however, the concept doesn't depend on having a word available.

There's gotta be a word for this. ;-)

Nice Lo-Pan icon -- just finished watching BTiLC again.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

"You are not on this Earth to get it, Mr. Burton!"

That being said, I think you're right: it's probably both, some people don't like it when it's not one thing OR the other.

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

"I feel..kinda invincible, actually."

There's the whole Nature versus Nurture argument -- and once again, I think both sides are missing something. It's not one OR the other, it's Nature AND Nurture.

I know so many people* don't like that kind of grey area thinking, but life is full of vagueness and ambiguities and muddiness.

*I think of them as "chemists", as my mother is one, and doesn't like things that are not clear-cut. She likes equations better than biological systems. However, she is a biological entity, and has learned to deal with her disappointment. My father is an economist, and I am primarily a biologist, so we are very comfortable with the fuzzy stuff. And cats. Oddly enough, my mother has no problem with Heisenberg or Schroedinger.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

As for myself, I'm a computer programmer, and one would think that's the kind of work that favors the one-OR-the-other thinking. But it doesn't. The logic flow asks one question then, within that question, it asks another question, within which another question is asked, going as far inward as is necessary.