I really wanted to write a daily dose about a theory I have but of course, as I did in highschool, I left a lot of work to the last minute and had to complete an essay and my german homework at 4 in the morning. Tired now, I don't have the energy to write that daily dose, maybe sometime tommorow I will. So until then, I will post what I did today - a film review and an essay on eminem. Aren't you excited?

Emintelligence

Truth is intelligence. However, truth is too elusive a notion to grasp. The doctrines learnt today will be worthless tomorrow because of the volatile nature of truth. Once truth meant a flat world, today, an ellipse, and everything thought of that ancient flat world is now nothing. But no matter whether the world is flat, pie is rational, or god exists, the one truth is the notion of self. Consciousness exists independent of any other hypothesis proposed or believed. Hence, the self is the truth to seek, and furthermore, self-awareness is the intelligence that counts. With self-awareness as the cornerstone to truth and hence, a measurement of intelligence, The Eminem Show is an intelligent artwork.

The most striking example of self-awareness in The Eminem Show is that Eminem understands the controversy surrounding his music.

See the problem is I speak to suburban kids /Who otherwise Woulda never knew these words exist… / That’s why they put my lyrics up under this microscope / Searching with a fine toothed comb / Its like this rope waiting to choke / Tightening around my throat / Watching me while I write this like "I don’t like this, NO!” / All I hear is Lyrics lyrics constant controversy / Sponsors working round the clock / to try to stop my concerts early / surely hip-hop is never a problem /In Harlem only In Boston / after it bothered fathers / of daughters starting to blossom… (White America)

Eminem recognizes that because he is white, popular, and controversial, he can speak to kids that have never heard hip-hop. Eminem clearly express his belief that the reason his music is so controversial is because his audience purposely ignores the problems in his songs in an attempt to shelter their society. Throughout “Sing for the Moment,” which happens to be the best thing to happen to Aerosmith since Run D.M.C covered “Walk This Way,” Eminem realizes the importance of his music to these kids despite the surrounding controversy. “So they [kids] sit and they cry at night, wishing they died. Till they throw on a rap record, and they sit and they vibe we’re nothing to you, but we're the fuckin' shit in their eyes.” While the society may think they are protecting their young, Emimen feels his experience in life will benefit these kids if they heard his songs.

Eminem is aware of the problems with his music but knows that his messages about drug abuse, sex, violence, and family, are important to kids. The Eminem Show vividly displays Eminem’s self-awareness as he defends his music by describing exactly how it affects kids and why it is important. Alone in life, Eminem found himself to be his own comfort and now tries to use that to console and inspire others. He was never encouraged to rap about himself, to search for truth; he just needed to know some answers and looked inside himself for them. As Eminem learns more about himself, he is able to translate that personal intelligence to universal messages that are really quite brilliant.

Who Needs Good, This Girl Wants Life

After reading Catcher in the Rye, I had a problem sympathizing with Holden as so many of our generation do every day. It seemed to me that Holden’s rebellion was futile. No matter what innocence is always lost. So then what is Salinger trying to say? Mike Chuck’s latest indie opus places Jennifer Aniston at the crossroads of this question.

The Good Girl is the story of Justine, a simple store clerk yearning for a life that does not so closely resemble a cow’s. Unhappy with her marriage, her friends, her job, her entire meaningless existence, Justine finds refuge in Holden’s (Jake Gyllenhaal –Donnie Darko) rebellion. The love affair that ensues between them acts as the crossroad in her life; join the fight against society or conform. The movie outlines this theme with opposites, each representing either rebellion or conformity. Justine’s best friend Gwen (Deborah Rush) is very happy at work while Holden is miserable. Nevertheless, Gwen and Holden, opposites who live counter lives, both die and their rebellions become meaningless. Justine realizes that life is too precious to fight or conform to, something Holden – in both Catcher in the Rye and The Good Girl - fails to realize. Justine learns to accept her life with the closing smile on her face as she drifts to sleep in her husbands eye’s at the end of the film.

Jennifer Aniston’s performance is so astonishing that I did not once refer to her as Rachel from “Friends.” From her quaint shuffle to her beautifully lost stares, she destroys her snobby dumb-blonde routine that she has perfected so well in “Friends.” Gyllenhaal has the face for the part, with his dark eyes shadowed by his bushy droopy eyebrows one wonders if he is not sad playing the same depressed teen roll in every picture except “Bubble Boy” (but isn’t that sad in it’s own way?). With practically no extras in any scene, the supporting cast does an excellent job seeming three dimensional and really helps the viewer understand why Justine feels trapped in her life.

Mike Chuck and Miguel Arteta do a fantastic job painting the plot with shots of characters doing everyday things that seem so much more morose through the camera, whether waiting on line, eating lunch, watching TV, smoking pot, and best of all, sleeping.

The Good Girl has a lot to say about life and is a powerful testament to Middle America’s everyday struggle with existence. This Sundance favorite deserves an audience ready to watch a movie that just is not that interesting on a surface level. As I admit that seeing the same characters in the same setting doing the same thing day in and day out, does wear on the viewer, but isn’t that the point?