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White Tower Musings

~ This blog will be an attempt to explain the significance of various works of great writing, the authors that create them, and some effort to understand correlations between great writing and contemporary events.

White Tower Musings

Tag Archives: Frankenstein

What is Love, Creator Don’t Hurt Me, Don’t Hurt Me, No More: Happy 200th birthday Frankenstein! Part 2

26 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by Joshua Ryan "Jammer" Smith in Film Review, horror, Literature, Novels, Philosophy, science fiction

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alien, Alien Covenant, creation, Creator Vs. Creation, Creators, Creature of Frankenstein, David, domestic affection, Frankenstein, Freewill, Helter Skelter, humanity, Literature, Mary Shelley, Michael Fassbender, Paradise Lost, Peter Weyland, Plutarch's Lives, Prometheus, Romanticism, Satan, Science, science fiction, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Thumbs Up, Xenomorph

David 3

“Do not pity the dead Harry.  Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.” (722)

-Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

Nobody wants him, they just turn their heads. 

Nobody helps him, now he has his revenge.

-Iron Man, Black Sabbath

I should never feel regret for a thumb’s up, and yet I do.  It’s such a simple gesture, but it’s one that is loaded with meaning.  A thumbs up is the ultimate affirmation, an almostprometheus-banner-9-25universal gesture that implies that one agrees or understand or validates or supports a statement or set of conditions.  If you give someone a thumbs up it means you agree with them, you see their point, you understand or agree with them about something.  Giving another person a thumb’s up is a way of saying “I see you and I agree with you.”  The power of the gesture is implied by it’s simplicity.  It’s a solidly physical gesture and regardless of whatever culture, religious background, nationality, gender-identification, or sexual orientation you subscribe to, just about everyone understands what a thumbs up means. 

And if nothing else, Special Agent Dale Cooper gave arguably the best thumbs up in the history of human civilization and so it hurts all the more for my transgression.

dale-cooper

When I saw Alien Covenant, I honestly thought it was good.  It was my first real Alien film in theaters, because at the time I hadn’t really understood Prometheus in the context of the Alien franchise.  This was my chance to experience Xenomorphs and chest-bursters on the big screen, and while I was waiting for the doors to open at my local movie-theater I got to talking with two of the guys who were, like me, waiting to get inside.  We talked about Prometheus and I held my tongue when they told me they thought it sucked, and we discussed how we were ready for the Alien movies to return to their glory.  The doors opened and the movie started.  I’ll get to the details in a moment, but leaving the theater I was feeling great and on the way out I spotted one of the two guys I’d spoken with before the movie.  We didn’t say anything at first.  He just gave me a thumbs up, and I returned it.  And before I left he said, “I got exactly what I wanted.”  And I laughed agreeing with him.

I regret that thumb’s up so much, because Alien Covenant is arguably the worst Alien film in the franchise, which makes writing about it all the more surreal.   But in my defense, my first topic is Frankenstein, and I’ll only really be talking about robots.

As I wrote about in my previous essay, Frankenstein turns 200 this year, and while my co-RothwellMaryShelleyworkers scramble to put together an activity that involves an artificial 3-D printed limb at the library, my attentions seem centered lately the novel I had to read twice during college.  I had an excellent instructor during my sophomore year of college, a woman by the name of Dr. Catherine Ross who taught me many times, and instilled in me a deep and steady passion for the Romantic poets and authors.  Talking regularly about the sublime and the idea of the polymath, I was instilled with a real love and dedication for writers like Wordsworth, Byron, and Shelly.  And in-between those writers I assigned, not once, but twice during my collegiate career, to read Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.

If my reader has never read the novel it’s a story about a young ship captain named Walton who dreams of contributing something to society by discovering the Northwest Passage (the supposedly undiscovered path through the antarctic region which could shorten sailing voyages and thus open new economic opportunities).  While sailing through the ice he encounters a young man floating on an iceberg who is revealed to be a German aristocrat named Victor Frankenstein.  The men become friends, and Frankenstein eventually confesses his life story to Walton describing his creation of a horrible creature (who’s never named by the way) and how this act eventually leads to the death of his loved ones.  The novel is written as a series of letters from Walton to his sister, and within the letters Walton tells Victor’s story, and, at one point, Victor is telling the Creatures story as it was related to him by the creature.David 4

My last essay explored the dynamic of creators, and often the tendency in science fiction to portray creators as unfeeling and apathetic men driven by vanity, and while I was writing I couldn’t help but think of the Creature himself.  The Creature is, arguably, one of the most conflicted characters in literature due chiefly to the fact that he is not always a sympathetic character.  He strangles Victor’s wife on their wedding night, he murder’s Victor’s nephew, and in a fit of rage he burns down the house of a group of peasants who’s sympathy he hoped desperately to acquire.  While these sins are not to be forgiven by any means, the reader still can offer some sympathy to the Creature, largely because, while reading, they are able to observe that he is a creature devoid of love.

In one passage the Creature addresses Frankenstein:

But where were my friends and relations?  No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing.  From my earliest remembrances I had been as I then was in height and proportion.  I had never yetfrankenstein_pg_7headseen a being resembling me, or who claimed any intercourse with me.  What was I?  The question again recurred, to be answered only with groans. (91). 

While it sounds pithy in some sense, it’s not too much to say that those who live without love are ultimately the most vile and damned.  Having recently completed the book Helter Skelter, I was impressed with the fact that Charles Manson, while young, suffered tremendously because he lived with a mother who clearly did not care for him, and over the course of his life the man lived an existence defined by the apathy and cruelty of others.  And having several friends who are fascinated by serial killers (including my lovely lady wife) the narrative is one that often repeats itself in the lives of criminals.  Love is, ultimately, empathy and concern.  And so when someone lives in the absence of other people’s empathy and concern it becomes toxic to their soul, to the point that they cannot see any relevance in caring about the lives of others.

The Creature then develops a new sense of identity, by discovering several works of literature.  Two of them are Plutarch’s Lives and The Sorrows of Young Werther, but the third perhaps is the most influential as it is John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the story of the fall of Satan and the fall of mankind from grace.  The Creature describes his discovery and identification:

“But Paradise Lost excited different and far deeper emotions.  I read it, as I had Gustave-Dore-illustration-of-Miltons-Satan-fallingread the other volumes which had fallen into my hands, as a true history.  It moved every feeling of wonder and awe, that the picture if an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of exciting.  I often referred the several situations, as their similarity struck me, to my own.  Like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence, but his state was far different than mine from every other respect.  He had come from the hands of God a perfect creature; happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone.  Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my conditions; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.  (98).

Satan, as I have noted in a previous essay, typically gets a bad wrap.  And while I understand that the character is the ultimate symbol of evil in Western civilization, I tend to follow the opinion of Mark Twain when it comes to the fallen angel: it’s a tragedy to have your story written before you even get to figure out what you want it to be. 

But regardless of my personal feelings about the character of Lucifer, the idea of a the fallen angel is one that is recurring in our culture, and the Creature’s identification leads me back to my thumb’s up, and my constant defense of the film Prometheus.prometheusmovie6812

Prometheus and Alien Covenant are films that embody a troublesome place in the canon of the Alien universe for fans.  While there are many divided about whether Prometheus is truly a “prequel” film, Covenant has largely, and across the board, been abandoned by fans due largely to the fact that it is an arguably terrible movie.  Dannie McBride’s awesome hat aside being the sole redeeming factor of the film.

Prometheus is a film which explores the origin of life as two scientists who lead an expedition to an undiscovered planet believed to be the origin of human life.  The crew, largely populated by scientists and a small handful of trillionares discover instead the remains of what amounts to a military installation and fall one by one to the black elixir which deconstructs an organism before remaking them completely.  The film is a beautiful meditation on life and creations, but for my purposes I’d prefer to focus on the character of David, a humanoid synthetic organism who, it becomes clear, despisesprometheus-new1-465x300humanity.  Throughout the film David’s isolation is emphasized as almost every interaction with a human being reveals that he is seen solely as an “other.”

Charlie Holloway: What we hoped to achieve was to meet our makers. To get answers. Why they even made us in the first place.

David: Why do you think your people made me?

Charlie Holloway: We made you because we could.

David: Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?

Charlie Holloway: I guess it’s good you can’t be disappointed.insane-sci-fi-tech-we-and-matt-damon-need-right-now-from-prometheus-574192

A smilier exchange takes place earlier in the film as the crew is preparing to walk on the planet’s surface:

Charlie Holloway: David, why are you wearing a suit, man?

David: I beg your pardon?

Charlie Holloway: You don’t breathe, remember? So why wear a suit?

David: I was designed like this because you are more comfortable interacting with your own kind. If I didn’t wear a suit, it would defeat the purpose.

Charlie Holloway: They’re making you guys pretty close, huh?

David: Not too close, I hope.

David’s contempt for humanity is truly revealed in one interaction near the end of the film as they are making one final excursion onto the planet.

Elizabeth Shaw: What happens when Weyland is not around to program you anymore?

David: I suppose I’ll be free.

Elizabeth Shaw: You want that?

David: “Want”? Not a concept I’m familiar with. That being said, doesn’t everyone want their parents dead?

Elizabeth Shaw: I didn’t.Prometheus_1

David’s arc in the film Prometheus is one of a creation, separated from the apathetic creator.  It is clear that David’s makers respect the power of their creation, and the implications it has about their own agency and ability, but as the film progresses it becomes abundantly clear that, much like Victor Frankenstein, they have abandoned their creation and the result brings about the death and destruction of the entire crew.  David poison’s Dr. Shaw with the serum giving birth to one of the first face huggers, he poisons Charlie with the elixir, and he even leads his “father” Peter Weyland to his ultimate death.  All of these choices are performed with a defining apathy and as his comments to Shaw reveals, like Frankensteins Creature, he abhors his creator and cannot see anything of similarity between them.David 2

And as the character progressed into Alien Covenant, this apathy only intensified as David became the very thing he despises.  Covenant, like Prometheus, attempts to explore the ideas of the origin of life as yet another crew of terraforming settlers stumble upon an alien planet where David has settled and begun a series of experiments that are, as the viewer eventually discovers, the origins if the Xenomorphs.  The film is largely forgettable, but the moments with David stay with the audience as Michael Fassbender resumes his character, while also performing as another robot by the name of Walter.  The exchanges between the characters are the strongest parts of the film, and in these moments Ridley Scott manages to real meditations on life and creation:David and Walter

David: I was with our illustrious creator, Mr. Weyland, when he died.

Walter: What was he like?

David: He was human. Entirely unworthy of his creation.

Or a later passage when Walter finally confronts David:

Walter: When one note is off, it eventually destroys the whole symphony, David.

David: When you close your eyes… Do you dream of me?

Walter: I don’t dream at all.

David: No one understands the lonely perfection of my dreams. I found perfection here. I’ve created it. A perfect organism.Xenomorph

Walter: You know I can’t let you leave this place.

David: No one will ever love you like I do.

[kisses him, then suddenly strikes him fatally]

David: You’re such a disappointment to me.

By the end of Covenant David has revealed himself to be an unfeeling monster who desires only to create life that will destroy his own creators.  Much like the Creature who eventually led his creator on a chase all the way to the Antarctic, David is a being who’s existence eventually becomes defined by his cruelty, and while Scott offers a fair amount of complexity and depth to possibly explain why, by the end of these films it tends to become clear that what compels David is largely due to the absence of love.

Frankenstein is a novel that is an exploration of the “lack of domestic affection.”  Human beings require companionship and community, and when one lives in a family or group that is defined by affection, care, and trust, they can live healthily with one another. DavidVictor Frankenstein separates himself from the domestic affection of his family and this in turns ultimately leads to his destruction as he creates without care or concern for his Creature, abandoning it rather than assume personal responsibility.  The Creature never receives any affection from any living being and so he lashes out at humanity, hating them as well as himself.  David is a being of immense complexity and power, and no one respects that power of his actual existence.  And so, with that absence of affection defining his very existence, David lashes out destroying as many human beings as he can.

Frankenstein has impacted the culture because it opened up the conversation about the meaning of life, but more importantly the need to respect life and creation.  Creating can be easy, it’s often just a case of exchanging DNA between individuals, but once that life is created it must be nurtured and cared for.  The novel of Frankenstein is a tragedy notFrankenstein_1818_edition_title_page simply because Victor Frankenstein created a monster in the first place, it’s a tragedy because he abandoned the life he created.  Rather than respect his vision and offer love and affection to the Creature he’s brought into existence, he abandons it and offers no substantial remorse.

These questions and observations about domestic affection are not empty statements about the importance of being nice.  Domestic affection is responsible for the joys and sorrows of life, and everyone has taken solace from a co-worker offering them a hug when they’ve had a bad day, or their romantic partner taking them out for dinner just because, or when a complete strangers offers an unwarranted compliment on their shoes or hair.  These little acts of kindness build because they’re examples of people giving to one another and recognizing them as worthwhile.  It’s when people deny others domestic affection that real tragedies occur, because then monsters are made out of people who might have made something great out of this life.

So, I suppose then I don’t completely regret giving that dude a thumb’s up after all.  I still believe Alien Covenant was a wasted opportunity to build the Alien universe and explore the ideas of creation that were started with Prometheus and Frankenstein before it, but at least I offered that guy one moment of connection between people who enjoyed a movie together.

It ain’t much, but it was a little act of selflessness that didn’t cost me anything.  Though I’m still out $5.50 for that damn movie ticket.

prometheus2

 

*Writer’s Note*

All quotes cited from Frankenstein were quoted from the paperback Longman Cultural Edition, 1818 version.  All quotes cited from Prometheus and Alien Covenant were provided care of IMDb.com.

 

**Writer’s Note**

As always I like giving the reader some alternatives to my rather long and drawn out perspectives.  So below I’ve provided a few links to articles and videos which explore the film Alien Covenant.  Please Enjoy:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/alien-covenant-2017

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/6/15570852/alien-covenant-review-ridley-scott

https://www.out.com/armond-white/2017/5/19/why-alien-covenant-sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njlXBc8Q7o4&t=188s

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Makers and Gods and Egos, Oh MY!: Happy 200th birthday Frankenstein! Part 1

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by Joshua Ryan "Jammer" Smith in Blade Runner, Film Review, horror, Literature, Novels, Philosophy, Science, science fiction

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"More Human than Human", alien, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, creation, Creators and Creations, domestic affection, Eldon Tyrell, empathy, Engineer, Film, film review, Frankenstein, Frankenstein 200th anniversary, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, horror, Literature, Mary Shelley, Niander Wallace, Novel, Peter Weyland, Philosophy, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Robots, Science, science fiction, Victor Frankenstein, You cannot just put your hand in a goddamn beehive and act like you cool and shit that it some real noise son

MV5BMzg1NTFhZGMtNGJjNi00MTUxLTkyYTItMTBiY2E0ZjkyYzA0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzg2ODI2OTU@._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,1777,735_AL_

I watched Blade Runner 2049 three times this year.  That’s three times I watch Jared Leto perform in what I would argue is his best read to date, and three times I watched Ryan Gosling stick his whole hand into a bee hive.  It might just be because I helped my father and sister collect honey this year and spent a good afternoon literally surrounded by swarming bees, but every time I watch his calm demeanor as he places his hand into the hive I can’t help but remember the sensation of watching close to a thousand bees buzz and fly around my face and I just want to yell “bullshit at the screen.”  I don’t though because it’s hard enough to find movies I feel are truly great, and that also use bees for aesthetic brilliance so I’ll bite my lip.library-books-wallpaper

The sensation of working in a library is a constant feeling of being behind, or at least it seems so for me.  Working in the Reference department at the public library where I work there is always, until there isn’t, a project to be working.  There’s new displays that need to be made, promotional posters and graphics for said displays as well ads the new programs that are about to be started up, there’s the logistics of acquiring guest speakers and/or teachers for adult programs, and while I’m attempting to work with the rest of my library family towards these goals I can be expected to be interrupted, depending on the day and time, at least two or three times by patrons looking for books, patrons looking for information, and patrons needing to send faxes.  And with the exception of this last example (I loathe faxes with a passion I never knew I could ever actually feel) I never feel any frustration with my job.  I love my work because I stay so busy.  And looking at aFrankenstein_1818_edition_title_pageproject a few of my coworkers are working towards I’m just reminded more and more why I have found, and chosen, a career in libraries.

Frankenstein turns 200 years old this year, and it being a novel I read prolifically during my college years, it seemed an excellent chance to look back to the novel, and look back also to a few films that seem terribly relevant as this foundational science-fiction novel comes to it’s anniversary. 

It doesn’t seem like Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, and Prometheus would have much in common with Frankenstein, but having watched all three films this year, there’s just no way that I can’t make the argument.  In fact one one occasion I did.  Each of these films centers around the dynamic of the creation and creator relationship and each film manages to capture the same sense of corruption that Frankenstein originally inspired.

If my reader has never read the novel Frankenstein, first of all they really should because it’s beautiful, and second they should read it because the novel has remained, since it’s publication, a relevant document about the human condition in relation to scientific enterprize.  The novel is written as a series of letters by a man named R.frankenstein_pg_7headWalton to his sister Delores.  Walton is a man driven to find a path through the north pole to achieve glory ever lasting, and while he fails at this task he discovers a young man in the ice named Victor Frankenstein.  Victor is chasing a giant, who Walton and his crew had spotted just the day before, who Victor eventually confesses is a living being created by himself.  Victor was a young man enraptured with the writings of alchemists, and upon the death of his mother and attending university where he learned everything was false he decides to overcome death by bring dead tissue back to life.  His experiment is a success, but he is horrified by his creation and the remainder of the novel focuses on Victor’s attempts to escape responsibility for his creation, while his creature (who is never named for the record) lives a miserable life wanting only to be loved.  The novel culminates in Victor losing his friends and loved ones to his creation and he eventually dies from the sheer exhaustion of following his creature to the literal ends of the earth.gallery-1464367257-before-watchmen-doctor-manhattan4-09a0e-aaec0

What’s fascinating about the novel Frankenstein isn’t just that it’s one of the earliest science fiction novels, it’s a novel which really explored the vanity that lies at the heart of creators.  Looking at just one passage Victor Frankenstein’s hubris is as glaring as it is ridiculous.

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success.  Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.  A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.  No father could claim the gratitude or his child so complete as I should deserve their’s.  Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparentlyawe_spacedevoted the body to corruption.  (34).

I’ll admit freely that I have moments of vanity.  There’s nothing like checking the stats for this blog and seeing that I’ve had fifty or even sixty visitors on one day.  Similarly whenever friends confess they are in awe of the fact that I can read close to 100 books a year while they barely manage to fit in 3 or 4, there is a small twinge of ego that swells inside of me.  And finally, whenever I finish another page of my graphic novel that I’m slowly working on and show it to a friend I receive a real boost of confidence as they smile and tell me what they like about it.  These are moments of vanity, which is really just another way of saying, their moments where I celebrate myself and my achievements.  There is nothing wrong in celebrating the self, a lesson I’m trying everyday to remind myself as I overcome a lifetime of self-depreciation.

But hubris is endless vanity where one cannot perceive any personal fault and Victor Frankenstein’s hubris is the stuff of psychology graduate theses.  He is a man full of himself, and even after he realizes what he has done he never completely acknowledges his guilt.  In fact he denies his creation thus setting about a course of events whichstyle-dark_eye_1440x900destroys himself and the people he loves.  It’s not just that he is selfish, it’s the fact that he doesn’t seem to really care about the fact that he is responsible for this new life.

And looking at this apathy I thought immediately of Dr. Eldon Tyrell and Niander Wallace from Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 respectively.  Both men are corporate moguls who have made a prosperous living from the creation and sale of humanoid robots known as synthetics.  These “robots” are ultimately human beings who’s bodies are effectively controlled by the corporations to live only a few years, and essentially act as slave labor for terraforming (colonizing new planets).  Both men are driven by the need to make the “perfect” organism, not becuse they desire the new life they are making to succeed and flourish, but because they are driven by an intense hubris.

Looking at the Eldon Tyrell there is a brief exchange between him and officer Deckard that reveals to what lengths he is willing to go:MV5BMjE2NDQyMDkxOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDk1MTcwNA@@._V1_

Tyrell: We began to recognize in them a strange obsession. After all, they are emotionally inexperienced, with only a few years in which to store up the experiences which you and I take for granted. If we gift them with a past, we create a cushion or a pillow for their emotions, and consequently, we can control them better.

Deckard: Memories! You’re talking about memories!

And the real demonstration of his perception is clear when he says,

Tyrell: “More human than human” is our motto.

Tyrell is a man who is generating what most people would recognize as sentient life.  And rather than empathize with his creations he is seeing only the design flaws that will affect his business.  The language at first doesn’t seem to reveal this, but if the reader looks closer at the words what he’s clearly describing is the scenario that synthetic humans are essentially being made and then being destroyed by lunacy before any actual biological degradation.  To Tyrell these people losing their minds and destroying themselves and other is not something to be remorseful about, but instead is simply a design flaw that reflects poorly on his brand.  And in an effort to save financial face he creates memories and implant them into people’s minds.

This is barbaric enough, and then the reader encounters in the sequel a man by the name of Niander Wallace.  Following the death of Eldon Tytrell in the first Blade RunnerMV5BMTg3NDIwNzU3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDQ5MjY2MzI@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_ Wallace purchases the company after making billions in agriculture developments that have saved the population of the planet.  Along with this he has also proven to be a capable leader in the terraforming movement specifically by using synthetic humans as slave labor.  Wallace is a man who has achieved something incredible, and rather than relish what he has achieved he is driven by a real god complex.

In one scene the reader observes the birth of a synthetic human, a woman specifically who, while she is trembling in the shock of being born is examined by Wallace.  While feeling her body the man complains that human beings have only colonized nine planets before remarking on the limitations of his synthetics:

Niander Wallace: That barren pasture. Empty, and salted. The dead space between the stars.

Niander Wallace: [He places his hand on the newborn Replicant’s womb] Right here.MV5BMzY3MzdlODQtODlkOS00ZDIwLWIwNDUtMDcyM2RjZTFmOTNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjc0OTU4NzU@._V1_

Niander Wallace: And this is the seed that we must change for Heaven.

[He slices her womb]

Niander Wallace: I cannot breed them. So help me, I have tried. We need more Replicants than can ever be assembled. Millions, so we can be trillions more. We could storm Eden and retake her.

Niander is a man compelled by his vision to transcend mortality, but this ultimately reveals that, as he has acquired more and more personal power, and as he has generated more and more synthetic people he has stopped seeing them as anything other than robots.  The fact that he is so willing to kill a sytnthetic, literally minutes after she is born reveals that he sees them as nothing but products.  It’s not even a violent act in his mind because the woman is nothing to him, just another in a long line of products that will generate revenue.

And looking at just one more example, Prometheus offers the reader another fantastic example.  Peter Weyland, a man I’ve written about before is a man who a titan of industry as he has, like Tyrell and Wallace, made a fortune by creating synthetic human beings that aid in terraforming operations.  In a scene that did not make the theatrical cut of Prometheus, Peter Weyland address a stadium sized crowd and discussesprometheusmovie6812technology.

Peter Weyland: [from TED Talks viral video] 100,000 BC: stone tools. 4,000 BC: the wheel. 900 AD: gunpowder – bit of a game changer, that one. 19th century: eureka, the lightbulb! 20th century: the automobile, television, nuclear weapons, spacecrafts, Internet. 21st century: biotech, nanotech, fusion and fission and M theory – and THAT, was just the first decade! We are now three months into the year of our Lord, 2023. At this moment of our civilization, we can create cybernetic individuals, who in just a few short years will be completely indistinguishable from us. Which leads to an obvious conclusion: WE are the gods now.

Prometheus is a film which explores the ideas of life, creation, apathy, and what is the role of the creator in our existence.  Human beings are revealed to be the design ofPrometheus_1organisms known as engineers, massive humanoids that, upon waking, elect to destroy humanity and create something new in it’s place.  This apathy for creation ultimately brings about their destruction and the humans that survive the onslaught are left wondering why their creators despise them, or, more appropriately, why they felt nothing for their existence.

I’ll explore the idea of creations desiring compassion for their creators in the follow-up to this essay, but for now I wanted to look at some examples of the mad genius creatorRothwellMaryShelleybecause, since the publication of Frankenstein this character is something of a recurring trope.  Even if it is not science fiction there is still often the dynamic in literature, and unfortunately sometimes in real life as well, of one individual essentially breaking and making another and feeling nothing for the creation they have made.  Victor Frankenstein is a man who wants to become a god, but rather than assume any personal responsibility for his creation, or his creation’s actions, he falls back upon his ego and self-pity.

What connects men like Frankenstein, Tyrell, Wallace, and Weyland is not just their apathy however.  All of these men are defined first and foremost by their hubris, and by their conviction that they are somehow above their creations and fellow human beings.  In a later passage Victor is speaking with Walton, and the reader is able to observe that the man suffers no real regret for his accomplishments because he cannot look past his ego:

“When younger,” said he, “I felt as if I were destined for some great enterprise.  My feelings were profound; but I possessed a coolness of judgement that fitted me for illustrious achievements.  This sentiment of worth of my nature supported me, when others would have been oppressed; for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those talents that might be useful to my fellow-creatures.  When I9780141439471reflected on the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation of a sensitive and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the heard of common projectors.  […]. I trod heaven in my thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects.  (167).

Victor Frankenstein is a man who believes that he is special, and, by that implication, more important than other people.  This is vanity, and while that word gets thrown around a lot, it’s important to remember than the vain person is one who believes themselves superior and therefore above other people, and when someone is obsessed with the self it becomes difficult to realize faults.  Victor cannot and could not perceive himself at fault because he could not see anything that was truly outside of his own mind.  Because he isolated himself, because he failed to allow himself domestic affection, and because he would not allow himself to observe anything outside of his grand personal vision of himself he brought about the destruction of his life and the lives of those closest to him.maxresdefault

Frankenstein, Tyrell, Wallace, and Weyland are not just empty tropes, their examples of people who allowed themselves to look at themselves as gods, and that behavior had real implications for the people who lived “beneath” them.  In real life there are Victor Frankensteins and Eldon Tyrells; there are men who believe themselves to be above their fellow human beings, either because of their talents, wealth, or personal beliefs.  And so the real life implication of such men is that many people wind up suffering.

The lesson of Frankenstein, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, and Prometheus is that creation is not simply an empty act.  By bringing something into existence you assume a real responsibility for it.  Whether it’s a painting, a novel, an essay, a company, a robot, orMV5BMTU1NjQzODEwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDM5MjY2MzI@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,1718,1000_AL_even a synthetic human being, creators cannot simply abandon their work or become apathetic to what they have made.  They own a responsibility to that creation and to those who encounter it. 

Victor Frankenstein wasn’t a nrillionaire, terraforming other worlds, and in fact he only ever made one living creature.  But the impact of his creation has reverberated 200 years after him.  Mary Shelly’s novel has never been out of print since its original publication in 1818, and the reason is rather simple: in the course of 200 years human beings haven’t stopped looking up to the stars wondering if they might supplant the gods, and neither have they stopped looking into the water and, like Narcissus, becoming enraptured with their own reflection.  A million rocket ships and a million new worlds or even millions of robots are nothing compared to the sheer power of the human ego. 

And we are, all of us, left wondering when we’re going to figure out when we’ll get a decent Frankenstein or Alien film again.

39495

 

 

*Writer’s Note*

All quotes cited from Frankenstein were quoted from the paperback Longman Cultural Edition, 1818 version.  All quotes cited from Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, and Prometheus were provided care of IMDb.com.

 

**Writer’s Note**

I’ve provided a few links to some articles which discuss the novel Frankenstein in case my readers would like to read some work about the book by writers who can afford editors…and food.  Anyway, enjoy:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-strange-and-twisted-life-of-frankenstein

https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2016/jun/16/what-frankenstein-means-now

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/07-08/birth_of_Frankenstein_Mary_Shelley/

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What Gods Are Men That Feel Such Pride?

07 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Joshua Ryan "Jammer" Smith in Film Review, horror, Literature, Novels, Science, science fiction

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"More Human than Human", "What knockers!", Alchemy, Ego, Engineer, Epistolary Novel, ethics, Fall Out 4, fear, fear of death, Film, film review, frame narrative, Frankenstein, George Gordon Lord Byron, Harry Potter, horror, isolation, Literature, Margot Robbie, Mary Shelley, Novel, Parents, Percy Shelley, Peter Weyland, Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Robert Walton, Robot, Science, Science Ethics, science fiction, The Institute, Victor Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein

 tumblr_mhmff4WZ5O1qb3ns3o2_500

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

To Mould me man?  Did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me?—

—Paradise Lost, Milton

For the record the best Frankenstein film to date remains Young Frankenstein.  The line, “Wow, what knockers!” will be carved on the edifice of time even if I have to fight to my last breath.  Then again Wishbone was my first introduction to Frankenstein and he was, and probably still is, the best Victor Frankenstein in cinema history.51AE46H8DDL  I remember watching the film for the first time with my dad, and true to form he would often whisper the line before the actor or actress would.  This habit, which I happened to pick up from the old man, may be annoying to some but I enjoyed it and still depend on it for it’s one of the traits that makes my father the man he is.  Saying the lines early always impressed me as a kid, because it seemed like dad possessed some kind of special knowledge about the world that I didn’t, and while that may sound corny I truly attest to the fact that it impressed the shit out of me.  One of the reasons I wanted to become an intellectual was because of Mom and Dad and Papa (my grandfather); because all three of them spoke with such knowledge about books, films, politics, history, and that knowledge was something I desired for myself.  I wanted to be the guy who knew and understood things.  I looked to my parents for guidance about what it meant to be a human being.

Every parent fucks up in some form or fashion, and this is partly the reason why I am avoiding becoming a parent as long as I can.  My wife has just signed on to become a high school teacher, and while I search for jobs and do everything in my power to avoid working in retail, she’s begun to talk about babies more and more as a concrete reality rather than abstract concept.  I don’t mind children for the most part, in fact most of the ones I’ve met are actually pretty fascinating, but I just can’t stand babies.  I also live in mortal terror of fucking my children up, because to be honest, I think there are more level headed men out there more qualified to be fathers than me.prometheusmovie6812

The idea of parental responsibility reminds me that around three weeks ago I wrote a review of the movie Prometheus.  By the end of that essay I felt like I had mostly bounced around the real meat of the film rather than actually digging into a real analysis, but this is a familiar sensation whenever I write, and looking at it in hindsight I’m a little more forgiving of my work.  What gnawed at me while I was arranging the pictures was the idea that I had missed the chance to develop on more idea in the story which is the idea of parental responsibility, or more accurately creative responsibility.  This also reminded me of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

It also reminds me my wife told me to stop posting pictures of Margot Robbie lest I suffer her immortal wrath, but she never reads any of my work anyway so I might as well indulge where I can.

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If my reader is unfamiliar with the plot of Frankenstein it would not be terribly surprising for no director to date has managed to film an accurate retelling of the novel, and since most people watch television or movies rather than reading books it’s most likely that few if any actually know the real plot.  The history behind the book should be told first for it’s actually rather fascinating, or at least it’s fascinating to me.  The book itself came about because Mary, and her soon-to-be husband Percy Shelly, were visiting Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati in Geneva (this was shortly after Byron was “exiled” from Britain for having an affair with his step-sister).  During a particularly stormy night they decided to tell ghost stories, and after going to sleep, so the story goes, Mary Shelley was tormented by a nightmare of an inhuman eye opening at staring at her.  RothwellMaryShelleyShe began a draft of a story and Byron so loved it that he insisted she write the rest of it while he went with Percy off to the mountains, most likely so that the two of them could bang.

As a professor of mine once explained this is why the 1818 version is considered the more “accurate” version because in the re-writes in 1831 the character of Victor, who’s largely believed to be inspired by Percy, is presented as not so much of a douchebag.

The novel is told through three narrators and is presented through what’s known as frame narrative.  This is a framing technique used by some writers and probably was best used in the movie The Princess Bride.  The entire novel is actually written within a letter, making it an epistolary novel in case you forgot what your English Lit professor told you would be on the exam, written by a man named Robert Walton, an explorer who seeks fame and fortune by finding a new trading route through the Northwest passage.  His intentions possess some purity however, for while the glory would be nice, Walton’s desire is to help humanity and this intention will be seen again and not just in Frankenstein.

Walton writes to his sister:9780141439471

I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man.  These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer ask fear of danger or death, and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river.  But, supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer upon all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many mortals are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, it at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.  (6).

Walton’s ego is as apparent as his eventual failure, for men of passion have often dreamed of finding a passage through the north and failed miserably.  What’s important in this passage however is how Walton’s ego speaks before his intentions.  He speaks a great deal about his passions for discovery first before then recognizing and recording the larger benefit it will have on humanity.  This arrangement is revealing but also a recurring theme throughout the novel Frankenstein for almost every character possesses some kind of selfishness that drives their actions before their contemplation.  In a previous essay I spoke about the term metacognition, thinking about thinking, and looking over the novel it becomes clear that none of the characters take the chance to observe their behavior to determine its quality.  Looking at the protagonist Victor Frankenstein, his motivations are just as troublesome as Walter’s.

Victor is the son of a rich Genevan family, and from a young age the man is possessed by a fierce intelligence and a desire for knowledge.  During a family vacation Victor discovers the works of the medieval Alchemists, and because he wishes to become a scientist, he embraces many of the old masters.  Alchemists are something one usually imagesonly encounters in Final Fantasy games or else at a Wiccan convention, but if the reader doesn’t know what one is an Alchemist was something akin to a wizard or soothsayer.  Most of the “philosophy,” and I use that word lightly, has to deal with transmutation: the transforming of minerals and objects into other materials.  If the reader has ever read the Harry Potter Series the Sorcerer’s Stone, or to my British readers Philosopher’s stone (Americans generally distrust Philosopher’s yet not Sorcerers for some reason), the stone that is referenced and eventually found beneath Fluffy’s trapdoor is rooted in an ancient Alchemical concept.  Victor becomes absorbed in these medieval lessons reading voraciously until his mother dies of scarlet fever just a few weeks before he’s about to leave for the University in Ingolstadt.  While there he learns that all of his learning is outdated and new ideas such as physics and chemistry are replacing these old concepts, but Victor holds to his early learning eventually deciding to make a name for himself in defeating death.

Victor describes to Walton his motivations, after Walton finds him out on the ice during his ship’s travel north:

Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.  A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.  No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their’s.  Persuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.  (34).

Most people just take up Ultimate Frisbee during Grad School, though to be fair the people that do so are only moderately less of a douchebag that Victor.  frankenstein_pg_7headJokes aside this passage precedes Victor’s description of his life as he assembled the ill-fated and iconic “Creature” by robbing slaughterhouses, charnel houses, and even graves for body parts which he assembles in an apartment he rents out before eventually bringing said “Creature” to life.

At this point my reader may be wondering what’s the point?  So what if the characters in Frankenstein are ego driven jerks who wind up failing miserably?  What does that have to do with being a parent?

Before I can really answer that I have to look at the film Prometheus again.  I wrote and published an essay about the film recently and in that article my concern was to examine two themes in the film.  The first was how the film explored the origins of life, and the second was the notion of entitlement.  Looking back then to Frankenstein, these ideas are not only similar they’re almost exact replicas.

In a deleted opening scene to the film Peter Weyland is giving a stadium sized TED Talk about his company’s developments into cybernetics, and if the reader pays attention they’ll note a few similarities between his speech and Victor’s:tumblr_m054gweFVy1qjaa1to1_1280

Peter Weyland: [from TED Talks viral video] 100,000 BC: stone tools. 4,000 BC: the wheel. 900 AD: gunpowder – bit of a game changer, that one. 19th century: eureka, the lightbulb! 20th century: the automobile, television, nuclear weapons, spacecrafts, Internet. 21st century: biotech, nanotech, fusion and fission and M theory – and THAT, was just the first decade! We are now three months into the year of our Lord, 2023. At this moment of our civilization, we can create cybernetic individuals, who in just a few short years will be completely indistinguishable from us. Which leads to an obvious conclusion: WE are the gods now.

Pater Weyland doesn’t play a significant role in the plot, in fact he only has a few moments in the actual film.  His character serves the important function however of mirroring Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway, the scientists who were looking for the Engineers hoping to discover the origin of life and determine where human beings actually come from.  Weyland’s desire is ultimately to overcome death, and while it’s never said out loud, Shaw’s motivation isn’t that different, but looking at Weyland in relation to Victor, both the novel and the film demonstrate a fundamental weakness of human beings: the fear of death.awe_space

Victor Frankenstein lost his mother just a few days before he left for the university and once he finds himself in a new environment, away from his family and friends, and is informed everything he has learned has been rejected as rubbish, the man retreats into himself.  Human beings are by nature a narcissistic species and it’s through interaction that we are able to overcome our sense of isolation and ego and develop a personality in relation to others.  Victor doesn’t develop any real connections outside of himself and so he decides to attempt to overcome death.  Likewise, with Peter Weyland, while he leads a massive intergalactic corporation his position isolates himself and so rather than finding some kind of solace in his relation to the rest of humanity he retreats into himself.  This isolation is what eventually leads to these men’s downfall, because rather than creating relationships that would provide a healthy outlet for their egos, they eventually are driven to perpetuate their existence through their creations.

By creating life however Victor becomes a parent, and in that title is an inevitability that I listed out before: every parent fucks up in some form or fashion.  Looking at Prometheus there’s two exchanges that reveal this.  Weyland has spearheaded the prometheus-new1-465x300Cybernetic movement creating synthetic human beings like David.  Charlie, drunk and frustrated at the seeming failure of the mission, speaks to David:

Charlie Holloway: What we hoped to achieve was to meet our makers. To get answers. Why they even made us in the first place.

David: Why do you think your people made me?

Charlie Holloway: We made you because we could.

David: Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?

Charlie Holloway: I guess it’s good you can’t be disappointed.

Later in the film, after Charlie has died and Shaw has removed the squid from her stomach, she talks with David:

Elizabeth Shaw: What happens when Weyland is not around to program you anymore?

David: I suppose I’ll be free.

Elizabeth Shaw: You want that? maxresdefault

David: “Want”? Not a concept I’m familiar with. That being said, doesn’t everyone want their parents dead?

Elizabeth Shaw: I didn’t.

Looking at Weyland and David there is no intimacy between the two men, and before my reader objects and says “He’s a flippin robot” I object that that is immaterial.

Over the last few months I’ve been playing Fallout 4, the latest science fiction game from Bethesda and in the game is an organization called The Institute.  Without starting a controversy, I have never found the Institute to be a sympathetic figure at all principally for the fact that, like Weyland Corp, the organization creates synthetic human beings and treats them like property rather than human beings.  Again my reader objects “They’re flippin robots” but once again I object.  There’s a difference between a drone and a esb70bikixyck77szfmy-768x386synthetic human being made of meat and independent consciousness and the difference is the fact that we label the latter a “human being.”  Without resorting to too many clichés (specifically the old “more human than human”) humans imprint and replicate themselves upon the space and place they operate in, and as robotics has progressed two camps have emerged.  Boston Dynamics has developed humanoid robots designed for combat, and in Asia robotics is principally being channeled into the sex industry.  It’s clear that regardless of the purpose human beings will continue to follow the root etymology of the word robot which means slaves.  This is all just a way of saying that human beings are driven to create more realistic robots, but to that I ask the question:

To what purpose?  If creating robots is simply to improve our lives, what benefit can come about by having them “synthetic” human beings?  I don’t have an answer to this question other than what Charlie offered, “Because we can.”Fallout4_Render_SynthGen2

Both Weyland and Victor end up attempting to overcome death out of mortal terror, and while doing so they end up creating monsters that wreak havoc upon humanity.  Rather than recognize the power they have created, and rather than recognize the humanity of their “children” they wind up Othering them and fleeing from their responsibility as creators.

Looking at the “children” in Prometheus and Frankenstein there is a remarkable similarity.  When the Creature speaks to Victor on the Glacier he wails:

Oh!  My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit!  Let me see that I excite sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!  (112).

And likewise when Weyland, David, and Shaw meet the Engineer she asks it:

Elizabeth Shaw: [to the Engineer] Why do you hate us?

Hopefully by now I have addressed my contester’s points.  The dynamics taking place in Prometheus and Frankenstein are those between creators and creations, parents and children.  Each tries to understand the nature of the other but in both duostories there is too much of a power dynamic in place.  Rather than nurture or assume responsibility Weyland and Victor (and in some way the Engineers) pursue their egos hoping desperately that their creations will help them overcome the grim reality of death.

Weyland and Victor are ultimately just two scared men afraid of death and their “children” suffer for it.  Whenever I would read Frankenstein for school I was always taught that the key to Victor’s downfall was his lack of “domestic affection.”  I can’t honestly say that being affectionate to a robot would have kept Elizabeth Shaw from losing Charlie, or Victor being affectionate to his “Creature” would have spared Elizabeth, but the reader can be sure in the knowledge that loving their own children will pay off in the end.

It’s the time and self-sacrifice that matters, and, to be real here, changing diapers and singing along to Barnie CDs does wonders for reducing the ego to manageable levels.40sbG

 

 

*Writer Notes*

The Sorcerer’s stone/Philosopher’s stone, as mentioned above, was an object of fascination for many people, including Issac Newton.  While the man was rigidly held, almost dogmatically so, to the principles of Enlightenment reason between his discoveries and writings of mathematics he indulged frequently in alchemy trying to find the Philosopher’s stone.  The stone was supposed to hold the ability to transmute any known object into pure gold.

Now as to why American publishing companies wanted to change Philosopher’s stone to Sorcerer’s stone, the only explanation I can guess at is what I suggested in the essay.  Americans distrust Philosophers, because on the whole philosophers don’t get jobs.  Sorcerers on the other hand make people think about C.S. Lewis and Angela Lansbury which is sweet harmless fun…or at least it is until Preachers from the south believe the books are about witchcraft.

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Fathers, Busboys, Nazis That Aren’t Nazi’s, and a Grand Budapest Hotel: A White Tower Review

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Joshua Ryan "Jammer" Smith in Film Review, Masculinity Studies

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Tags

Adrian Brody, Director's Style, F. Murray Abraham, fathers, Film, film review, frame narrative, Frankenstein, Harvey Keitel, Luke Goebel, Princess Bride, Ralph Fiennes, Service industry employees, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Hobbit, The Odyssey, Wes Anderson, Willem Defoe, Writing

gxl_5356703c-3f14-4f21-b13d-0d140a6277531The Grand Budapest Hotel would not be my first choice when introducing somebody to Wes Anderson, but when it comes to the man’s movies there really isn’t a smooth transition into them. His style being what it is, you just have to sit back and acclimate until you realize you are watching films of such precision and micromanagement you wonder if Anderson doesn’t have twenty or thirty clones of himself placing each actor into each position in every frame of the film. Much like Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a film made with precision, character, and an eye for detail that staggers upon first impression.

Now let’s be honest, most average movie goers probably would not give three shits for The Grand Budapest Hotel. For starters it takes place in a fictional European country, the Republic of Zubrowka a central European power and that right there is enough to budapest-hotelmake most people stop reading and Google the word Boobs. You’re doing it right now aren’t you? Hello? Are you there? Well I’ll keep going just to spite you. Along with the location of the main story line is frame narrative. To those who don’t know a frame narrative is a story within a story. You’re familiar with the structure even if you haven’t heard the term. A standard literary technique, frame narratives include such examples as The Odyssey, Frankenstein, The Princess Bride, Inception, and The Hobbit movies which I have a problem with but to be fair there’s probably whole dissertations about what was wrong with The Hobbit films, so we won’t go into that. The point is we’re used to stories within stories, especially since The Odyssey is not only the first narrative to incorporate such a style; it’s the foundational text for most of Western civilization.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a story within a story within a story within a story. The larger central plot is actually very simple, a teenage girl enters a graveyard, places a key on “The Author’s” tombstone, and begins to read one of his books. This is the first Grand-Budapest-Hoteland central story.

The second story is of “the author.” He is an old man reading a soliloquy about the nature of being a writer while his grandson shoots him with a pellet gun. I hate just giving quotes to supplement summary, but in this case it’s a beautiful moment in the film. Then again I’m a writer so I’m always fascinated by passages and films involving or discussing writing:

Author: It is an extremely common mistake. People think the writer’s imagination is always at work, that he’s constantly inventing an endless supply of incidents and episodes; that he simply dreams up his stories out of thin air. In point of fact, the opposite is true. Once the public knows you’re a writer, they bring the characters and events to you. And as long as you maintain your ability to look, and to carefully listen, these stories will continue to…

Author’s Grandson: [shooting at him with a pellet gun]

Author: Stop it! Stop it! Don’t! Don’t do it!… Uh, will continue to seek you out, uh, over your lifetime. To him, who has often told the tales of others, many tales will be told.

Author’s Grandson: Sorry.

Author: It’s all right. The incidents that follow were described to me exactly as I present them here, and in a wholly unexpected way.

The following story is suddenly there, much like the previous passage and the “author” is now a young man staying at a hotel named The Grand Budapest. We’re introduced to the structure and the “author” notes how decrept the structure is before the audience is introduced to yet another character known as Mr. Moustafa, the owner of the hotel. His character is described as odd, whenever he visits he stays in a servants quarter and the “author” eventually stumbles upon the man in the Arabian baths. They have dinner and Mr. Moustafa plunges the audience into yet another story which is the central plot focus of the entire movie.

Stop. Take a breath.

Now the main story follows the figure of Gustave H., the head concierge at The Grand grand-budapest_2813768bBudapest at the height of it’s glory. Played by Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort to the members of my generation) the man is not only a brilliant concierge in the way he is able to take care of people’s wants and needs, the man is a drama queen that writes poetry, recites it in the morning staff meetings, baths in cologne, and seduces the elderly women that stay at the hotel leading up to the best line in the film.

Gustave: [Of Mme. Celine] She was dynamite in the sack, by the way. 

Zero: …She was 84, Monsieur Gustave

Gustave: Mmm, I’ve had older. When you’re young, it’s all filet steak, but as the years go by, you have to move on to the cheap cuts. Which is fine with me, because I like those. More flavorful, or so they say.

Whatever you say of Anderson, besides the fact he provided masturbatory aids to hipsters over the course of his long career, the man is a gifted writer in the fact that he can create a strong line of dialogue that is both hysterical and philosophically profound.

Gustave begins the story serenading Mme. Celine and finds himself the beneficiary in THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - 2014 FILM STILL - Photo Credit: Fox Searchlighther will much to the anger of her son Dmitri who is quite possibly the most demented Nazi who isn’t Nazi that you will see until Jopling, William Dafoe looking ghoulish as ever, chops off four of the lawyers fingers in an art museum. The plot then moves to Gustave being imprisoned for killing Mme. Celine, escaping prison, and attempting to prove his innocence.

Now at this point an average movie goer speaks up and argues, this film sounds pretentious and boring. You have to be a PhD, or worse, a hipster to even appreciate it. This just ain’t the case man. Wes Anderson is a specific type of movie maker, one who allows his style to dominate the narration of a story but never at the expense of it. There are a few directors like this that immediately spring to mind: Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Sophia Copola, Francis Ford Copola, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick. If you watch the films of these directors you’ll note that each of them has a style so unique that you only have to watch around five minutes of film before you’re able to identify the director. This is either due to the way a director frames shots, the dialogue they may favor, the subject material, or even just something as simple as lighting. Let me just say then, there is no film in existence that is made anything like a Wes Anderson film, and it’s useless trying to describe it to you, you’re just going to have to see it for yourself and either be amazed at the level of execution, or mystified that anyone would think this assemblage of paintings could be misconstrued as entertainment.

Just remember what Luke Goebel said to me after spoiling the ending of a short story Luke-B-Goebelby J.D. Salinger:

“You don’t read a story to figure out what happens, you read a story to figure out how its told!”

The powerful features of this film, the structure that makes watching this movie worth your time, are found in the retelling of a man’s a story. Gustave is a father to the second protagonist, a young man named Zero who has lost his entire family to the war that is brewing in Europe. Gustave takes Zero under his wing and shows him what it means to be a Lobby Boy, demonstrating the pathos and philosophical merit of such a post.

Gustave: Rudeness is merely an expression of fear. People fear they won’t get what they want. The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved, and they will open up like a flower.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is ultimately a song to the hope that in the midst of chaos GBH_Mendlsand hate and malice, that there is still an effort to demonstrate some kindness or else the culture than human beings celebrate is truly nothing but a farce we sell ourselves is a lie. Mr. Moustafa is asked why he continues to run the Hotel despite the fact that it is clearly falling apart and will never be as great as it once was. His honest answer is because he loved his young wife Agatha, a baker’s apprentice cursed with a scar the shape of Mexico on her left cheek. The love story is not the central story arc, but it is important to understanding Zero and what motivates him.

Dear reader I can only do much to encourage you to watch this strange and wonderful film. Ralph Fiennes gives an amazing performance as a father figure to Zero. I think that’s what sold it to me. The lessons that men THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - 2014 FILM STILL - Photo Credit: Fox Searchlightteach young boys mean everything, because they hold such power in those boys minds. We look to our fathers to instruct us, to point us to what is right and what is wrong. We expect our fathers to teach us what it means to be good men. Zero’s loses his parents to the war and Gustave assumes it for himself to teach the boy what it means to be a good man and a good lobby boy. Mr. Moustafa says it best:

Mr. Moustafa: There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity… He was one of them. What more is there to say?

By the end of the film I was in tears. It’s such a beautiful film. It ends with a young girl reading a book in a graveyard and we’re left to wonder at the men and women we experienced and decide whether or not they were worth our time. I believe they were.

**Author’s Note**

If this review hasn’t been enough to convince you to see the film, perhaps you would at least like to know that Harvey Keitel is in the movie and plays a jail escapee or else what is quite possibly the scariest Oz cosplay I have ever seen in my entire life.

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The Work Thus Far

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"wiseguys" "World Without Man" "wrackers" "You're one ugly motherfucker" "You Gotta Give 'em Hope" #43 #53 #buylocal #NOLIVESMATTER #TomCanSuckIt $3.01 'Merica 8 words 9/11 12 Years A Slave 38th Parallel 42 Nipple Options 75 Arguments 80s 95 Theses 100 300 Spartans 300 words a day 1000 Page Novel 1066 1408 1453 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West 1492 1901 1960s 1973 1984 2001: A Space Odyssey 2008 Financial Crisis A.N. Wilson AA Aaron Sorkin About Betty's Boob Abram Adams A Brief History of Time A Brief History of Time: From The Big Bang to Black Holes Absalom, Absalom abscence of evidence for god's existence Abscence of god abstinence and why it's shit abuse abuse of authority Abuse of Military authority abyss Academia Academic Book Academic Libraries Academic Writing Acadmic writing A Chilean Dictator's Dark Legacy Achilles A Christmas Carol A Clash of Kings A Clockwork Orange action Action Comics Action Films Action from Principle Activism Adam & Eve Adam Kesher Adam Piore Adam Smith Addiction ADHD Adolf Hitler A Doll's House Adrian Brody Adrian Cronauer adultery Adventure Fiction advertising advertizing A Dying Tiger—moaned for Drink— Aenema Aerosmith A Farewell to Arms Africa African History Afterlife A Game of Thrones Agency Agent Dale Cooper aging agriculture A Happy Death A Historical Guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson A History of the Breast A History of the World Part 1 A House Divided AIDS Airspeed Velocity of Swallows Aislinn Emirzion Alana Alan Berube Alan Cumming Alan Dean Foster Alan Ginsberg Alan Moore Alan Turing Albatross Albert Bigelow Paine Albert Camus Alberto Giocometti Alchemy Aldis Hodge Alec Baldwin Alec Baldwin Gets Under Trump's Skin A Letter to a Royal Academy Alex + Ada Alexander Dumas Alexander Nehamas & Paul Woodruff Alexandra Socarides Alfred Habegger Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Pennyworth Alfred Tennyson Alice in Wonderland Alice Walker alien alien-human sexuality Alien: A Film Franchise Based Entirely On Rape Alienation of Affection Alien Covenant aliens Alison Bechdel Allegory Allen Ginsberg Allison Pill Allison Williams All Star Superman All the President's Men Al Madrigal Almonds in Bloom Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace Alton Sterling Alvy Singer Amanda Palmer A Matter of Life Amazon Amelia Airheart America American Civil War American Creative Landscape American Dream American Empire American Exceptionalism American Flag American Gods American Horror Story American Horror Story: Freak Show American Landscape American literary Canon American Literature American Politics American Radical American Revolution American Soldiers American Territory A Midsummer Night's Dream A Mind of It's Own: A Cultural History of the Penis Amira Casar Ammon Shea A Modest Proposal Amon Hen A Moveable Feast A Muppet Christmas Carol Amuro Amy Holt Amy Poehler An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub anal penetration Anal Sex Ananssi Boys An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child Anatomy Anchors Aweigh Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece Ancient History Anderson Cooper 360 Anders Winroth Andre Aciman Andre Maurois Andres Serrano And Tango Makes Three And Yet... 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Hernton Calvin Candie Calypso Campaign Finance Laws Camp Climax Can't You Hear Me Knocking Cancer Candide Candle Candy Candy Land Cannibalism Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History Canon Capitalism capitalism and Christianity Captain Genderfuck Caravan of Death Carinval Carl Bernstein Carl Japikse Carl Jung Carl Malden Carlo Ginzburg Carl Sagan Carl Weathers Carnival Carrie Cartoons Cartoons and Romantic studies Casper the Friendly Ghost Cassie Phillips Castle Anthrax Castro Street Catalyst Academy Catalyst University Catch-22 Catching the Big Fish Catching the Big Fish: Meditation Consciousness and Creativity Catharsis Catherine Keener Catherine Scorsese Cat on a Hot Tin Roof cats CBS News CCTV Celie and Shug censorship Cetology Chadwick Boseman chainsaw Challenging Faith Chamelion Champion of Unreason Chandalier Changes chaos chaos theory Char Character Study Charles Darwin Charles Dickens Charles II Charleston Charlie Brown Reference I Hope You Get Charlie Chaplin Charlie Glickman Charlie Kaufman Charlie Rose Charlize Theron Charlotte Haze Chaucer Chauvanism Che: A Revolutionary Life cheating Cheese Che Guevara Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life Che Guevara t-shirts Chemical Bonds Chernobyl Chernobyl Diaries Chernobyl Ferris Wheel Cherry Darling chess Chessboard Chester Benington Chicago Chief Joseph child developement Childe Harold Childhood Childish Gambino Children's Book Children's Entertainment children's fiction Chile China China church protests Chip Zdarsky Chivalry Chivalry is NOT a thing chocolate Choice Cholera Chorus Chris Chris Jones Chris Packard Christian Christianity Christian Rhetoric Christina Chaney Christine Christmas Christmas Songs Christoph Bode Christopher Hitchens Christopher Lloyd Christopher Nolan Christopher Stahl Chuck Palahniuk Churchillian cicada cicada shells Cicero Cinnamon cake Circles circumcision Circus Cirith Gorgor C is for Cookie cisgender men Citizen Kane Citizenship City Civic Duty Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice Civil Disobedience Civil War Claire Quilty clam Clappy the Sad Clown with Clap Clarence Clare Virginia Eby Clarissa Explains It All class Classical Hero Classic Literature Cleopatra Cleopatra's sexuality Cleopatra: A Life Cleopatra VII Clerks II Cleve Jones Clifton Pollard climate Clint Eastwood clitoris Cloche Hat clocks Clopin Clown Clumsy CNN Coagula COBRA coffee coffee mug coffeeshop Coffee With Jammer cognition coins Cold War Colin Firth Colonel Cathcart Colonel Korn colonialism color Color in Art Color in Literature comedy Comicosity Comic relief Comics Comic Shop Comic Shop: The Retail Mavericks WHo Gave Us a New Geek Culture Comic Shops Coming out Coming out Narratives Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two Comix Commandments Commando Commerce commodifying the female body Common Sense Commune Communism Composition studies Conan the Barbarian Confederate Flag Confession confidence Conformity Consider the Lobster Constance Brittain Bouchard Constantine Constantine XI Constantinople Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical Theories contrarian Control Conversation Cookie Monster cookies Coon and Friends Cop Movies Coraline Cordelia Corey Taylor corgi Cormac McCarthy Cornetto Trilogy Corporate Influence corporate product Corporations corpse Corruption Corruption of Small Town America Cosmic Treadmill Cosmos Counterfeit Lesbian country couple Courtly-Love Courtroom Narrative Cow & Chicken Cowboys coxcomb Cracked.com Crazy Harry Crazy Wisdom creation Creative Crisis creative genius Creative Non-Fiction creative space Creative Writing Creators Creators and Creations Creator Vs. 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Doge Domestcity Domestic Abuse domestic affection Domino Effect Don't eat Eels...That is All Donald Duck Donald Pleasence Donald Regan Donald Trump Donald Trump Alec Baldwin Don DeLillo Don Juan Don Juan de Marco Donna Anderson Donna Deitch Don Quixote Don Shewey Doris Kearns Goodwin Dorling Kindersley Handbook Dory Dostoyevsky Doug Douglas Adams Douglas Brinkley Douglas Sadownick Dr. Eldon Tyrell Dr. King Schultz Dr. Manhattan Dr. Rockso Dr. Salvador Allende Dr. Sam Loomis Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Draft Drag Kings dragonfly Drama Dream Dream Country Dreams Drugs Drunk DSM Duke Johnson Duma Key Duncan Duracell Durin's Bane Dustin Hoffman Dyke dysfunctional relationship dystopia East Texas Ebony Clock Eccentricity economic disparity economic disparity between blacks and whites economics Eddie Marsan Eddie Valiant Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Wright Edith Hamilton Edith Hamilton's Mythology Editorial Edmund Burke Edmund Wilson Ed Skrein Educated Women Education Edward Gibbon Edward Muir Edward Norton Effect of AIDS on Gay Male Sexual Identity and Perception eggs Ego Egypt Egyptian Empire Egyption Revolution Elaine Noble Elbert "Bo" Smith Elder elderberries Eldon Tyrell Eleanor Roosevelt electricity El Gigante Elie Wiesel Elio and Oliver elitism Ellen Montgomery Ellen Page Ellen Page is awesome just in case you didn't know and if you didn't know you really need to know because seriously she's fucking cool as fuck Elliot Kirschner Elliot Richardson Elmo Saves Christmas elocution Elsa Martinelli Elves Elvis Emerson and Antislavery Emerson’s ‘Moral Sentiment’ and Poe’s ‘Poetic Sentiment’ A Reconsideration Emile Hirsch Emily Dickinson Emily Dikinson emotion empathy Empire empiricism encomium Endless Nights Endnotes enema Engineer English-Irish relationship English 1301 English History English Romanticism Ent-Wives Entertainment Entmoot Entomophobia Ents enviornmentalism Eowyn Epic Epic Novels Epilepsy Episcopal Episcopal Church Epistemology of the Closet Epistolary Novel Eraserhead Eraserhead Baby erectile dysfunction Eric Idle Erika Moen Ernest Hemingway Ernie and Bert Ernle Bradford erotic fantasy Erwin Rommel Escape from New York Esquire Essais Essay Essay Collection Essential Dykes to Watch Out For Esther Garrel Estimating Emerson: An Anthology of Criticism from Carlyle to Cavell Eternal Recurrence Ethan Hawke ethics ethos Et Tu Brute? 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Valentine Hooven III Faber Fabio Moon fable Facebook Activism facebook arguments Faeries Faggot Faggots Fahrenheit 451 failed environment Failed Hero Failed Writer failure Fairy Tale Faith Fallacy Fall of Constantinople Fall Out 4 Fallout 4 Familial exile family Family Guy Family Guy Ipecac Fan Culture Fans fantasy Farcical Aquatic Ceremonies are not the basis for a system of government Fareed Zakaria Farley Granger Farm-Aid Farm Crisis 1980s farting fart jokes Fart Proudly Fast Food Fastfood Nation Father-Son Relationship fathers fatwah Fat Woman Stereotype fear fear of death Fear of Laughter feces Federal Housing Administration Federation Federico Infante Tutt'Art felching fellare Female Masculinity Female Masturbation Female Orgasm Female Poets Female Sexuality Feminimity feminine energy Feminism femnism fencing Ferguson fertility festival Feudalism Feudalism is also NOT a thing Fiction Fidel Castro fidger spinner Fidget Spinner Fievel Goes West Fight Club Film Film Noire Film Presentations of Gay Men film review Finding Dory Finding Nemo Finnegan's Wake Fiona Staples fire Fire Demons Firehose Firehouse Shining fireworks First Lady First Love Fish Fisherman fish sex Five reasons 'Gatsby' is the great American novel flags Flannery O'Conner Flashpoint Flawed hero flowers fly fishing Folk Hero folklore Fondation of Reality Fonts food chain For Argument’s Sake: Why Do We Feel Compelled to Fight About Everything? Forgetting Sarah Marshall Forrest Forrest Gump For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports fossils foundation of reality Founding Father Founding Fathers Founding Fathers Purity Myth Fourteen Stories None of Them are yours Fourth Dimension Fox News Fozzy Bear Fraggle Rock frame narrative FrameRate France Frances Gies Francis Dolarhyde Francis Ford Coppola Francois Rabelias Frank Frankenstein Frankenstein 200th anniversary Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus Franklin J. Schaffner Frank Miller Frank Oz Franz Xaver Kappus François Rabelais Frasier Fraw Freddy Mercury Freddy Mercury is GOD Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings Frederic March Frederico Infante Fred Hembree Fred Kaplan Freedom freedom of information freeing the figure from the marrble free speech Free the Breast free will Freewill Free Working Press French Press French Revolution Freshman Year Composition Course Freud Freya's Unusual Wedding Frida Friday the 13th Friedrich Nietzsche friendship Frodo Frodo Baggins From Hell fruit juice fuck Fuck-ups fucking Full Frontal Full Metal Jacket Fumi Miyabi funeral Fun Home Fusion Futurama G.I. Joe Gabriel Ba Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal Gai Mizuki Gaius Cassius Longinus Gal Gadot gambling Game of Thrones Gandalf Gangs of New York Gangsters garden Garden of Eden Garnet Garth Ennis Gary Collison Gary K. Wolfe Gary King Gauntlets Gay Gay Asian Art Gay Batman Sex Fantasy Gay Comics Gay Erotic Comics Gay Leather Fetish Gay Literature Gay Macho Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone Gay Male Butt Cheek Gay Male Identity Gay Manga Gay Masculinity Gay Men Gay Men Comics Gay Movie Night Gay people in politics Gay Porn Gay Pornographic Comics Gay Sex Gays in Politics Gaza Wall gender Gender Expectations GenderFluid Gender Fluid GenderFuck Gender Identification Gender Identity Gender Inversion GenderQueer Gender Studies Gender Trouble Gene Kelly General George Patton General Omar Bradley generational gap generational trauma Genetically Modified Organisms Gengar Gengorah Tagame genocide Genre Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Geocentric Universe Geoff Johns Geoffrey Rush geometry George C. McGavin George C. Scott George Clooney George Gordon Lord Byron George Lucas George Orwell George Owell: A Collection of Essays George Takei George W. Bush George Washington Gerald M. 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Kitto H.G. Wells H.P. Lovecraft H.R. Haldeman Halcyon Haleth son of Hama Hal Halbrook Hal Incandenza Hallie Lieberman Halloween Hamburger hammer Hammond Typewriter Hamnet Shakespeare hamsters Hands Up Don't Shoot Hank Williams Sr. Hannah and Her Sisters Hannibal Hannibal Lecter References Hans Zimmer Happiness Happy Birthday Harbinger Vol. 1 Harlem Renaissance Harmony Harmony the Sex Robot Harold and George Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle Harold Bloom Harper Lee Harpers Harrisson Ford Harry Belafonte Harry Morgan Harry Potter Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter getting fucked in the ass Harvey Keitel Harvey Milk Harvey Milk gives me hope Hastings Hatari Having erotic dreams/fantasies about sailors and whales is perfectly normal...Todd Hayao Miazaki Hays Code Hazel headband headphones Heart Beating Heart Shaped Box Heath Ledger Heavy Metal Hector He did it with a bucket Heimdall Heinrich Brunner Helena Bonham Carter Hell Helter Skelter henge Henry David Thoreau Henry Drummond Henry Ford Henry Hill Henry I Henry Killinger Henry Kissinger Henry Louis Gates Jr Henry Miller Henry of Huntington he Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants Here's Johnney! Herman Melville Hermoine Didn't Masturbate and Neither Did Jane Eyre Hero Herodotus heroes Heroes of the Homosexual community heteronormativity Heterosexuality High Anxiety Hillary Chute Hillbillies Hippie Historical Accuracy Historical Discourse history History Book History of Comics History of Smith County History of the English People Hitcahi Wand Hitch-22 Hitchcock-Truffault Hitchhiker's Guide Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Hitler Fetish Hobbits Hocus Pocus Holden Caulfield Holidays Hollywood Holt/Cold Home Owner’s Loan Corporation Homo-Social Relationships Homoeroticism Homophobia Homos Homosexual Clone Homosexuality Homosexuality as mental illness Homosexuality History Homosexuality in 1950s Homosexual seduction Honda P2 Robot Honest Trailers Honesty of the Artist about the Creative Process honey Hook hooker Hookers Hooker with a Penis Hope Hope Speech Horace Smith Horns horror Horror Comics Horror Fiction Horror Movies Hostel hot alien babe Hotel Rooms Hot Fuzz Hot Gates Houen Matsuri housewives Howard Hawks Howard K. Smith How Hiram Really Died and What Came After HOWL How People Become Atheists How to Make Love like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale How To Talk to Girls At Parties How Unpleasant to Meet Mr. Eliot HR 40 Hubris Huckleberry Hound Hugh Hefner Hugh Jackman Human/Robot Love Story Human Beings Perception of Reality Human Body Human connection Human Developement Human evolution human exploration Human Ideas are Grander than any Religion humanity Human Memory Human Narcissim Humbert Humbert Humor humors Hunger Games Hunter S. Thompson Hurricane Lolita husbands and wives Hyena Hymn to Intellectual Beauty Hypersexualization of Female Breasts I'm almost positive the song Tribute is the song they couldn't remember but I realize that's a controversial position I'm Going to Go Back There Someday I'm Not a Racist But... I'm Tired I've Been Down That Road Before I, Claudius Icarian Games Icarus Ice Cream that ISN'T Ice Cream Ida Tarbell Idealism identification Identity Identity Crisis Idris Elba If a woman is upset it's not because she's on her period it's because you're being a dick If they ask if you want Pepsi throw over the table throat punch the shit out of them and then proceed to burn that motherf@#$er down If you're reading this pat yourself on the back because you can read and that's awesome ignorance I have Measured Out My Life in Coffee Spoons and K Cups I know too many Michaels I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings I Like It Like That I Like it Like That: True Stories of Gay Male Desire Illuminated Manuscripts illusion Illusion of choice I Love Lucy I Love Lucy Mug I Love Penis...Mug iMac Imaginary Time imagination Immanuel Kant immigrants imperialism Imposter Complex Impressionists In Bed with David amd Jonathan incest Incorporation of images in Pedagogy Independence Day Independent Comics Indie Fiction Individual Initiative Individual Will Industrial Nightmare industry infidelity Infinite Jest Infinite Jest Blogs Infinite Possibility Infinity Informed Democracy Inherit the Wind Injustice innocence vs ignorance In One Person Inquisition insanity Insects Inside Out inspiration integrity intellectual Intellectual Declaration of Independance Intellectual masculinity Intellectual Parent Inter Library Loan internet interracial relationships Interview Inu Yoshi invert Invisible Man Invitation to a Beheading Ion IOWA iPad Ipecac iPhone ipod IRA I Racist Iran-Contra Irish Breakfast Tea Irish history Irish Writers I Ruck, Therefore I Am Isaac Asmiov Isaac Deutscher Isabel Allende Isabella St. James Ishmael Islam isolation Israel Issa Rae It It's an Honor It's illegal in the state of Texas to own more than six "realistic" vibrators It's time to adopt the Metric System in America for crying out loud It's truly truly difficult to find good coffee and by good coffee I mean the type that leaves you feeling as if you've actually tasted something beyond human understanding close to the furnace of all Italy Ivory Tower of Academia ivy I wandered lonely as a cloud I Want a Wife I Was a Playboy Bunny I Will Fight No More Forever I work at a Public Library J.D. 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