A message to escapist fiction movie makers from an escapist fiction fan

Despite my previous claim that my next post was going to be titled Harry Potter Series MBTI with relevant content, I remain true to my claim about my plans effectively crashing and burning. Without much further ado, let me jump right into the seemingly most random rant that I drafted nearly three months ago but never posted:

I finally watched the movie I’ve been meaning to watch for five years…

Before I reveal the name of this movie, I’d like to preemptively offer in my defense the excuse to why I had not watched this movie till now: I have singularly dedicated the last four years of my life to my education with a kind of fervor and fever that burns you hollow of any further desire to be productive for an unreasonable amount of time. So here I am, unemployed by choice after biting off more than I can ever chew again in my life, taking a long holiday, and generally contemplating life.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… (Yes, I’m trying to come off as a show-off-y idiot). The movie that I watched after nearly five years of unrealized intention was Shawshank Redemption. Laugh if you want, because this is a twenty one year old movie, but what the hell? It was new to me. And it seems only fitting to watch it after college, an experience that is not only responsible for my current level of maturity, but one that was quite similar to prison in the sense that after nearly 20 years of education, I’m finally free.

And with this influx of free time on my empty schedule, I find that I haven’t desired to pick up a book this summer for the first time since I picked up Harry Potter when I was just child. In fact, I’m not even inclined to review this movie in an analytical sense. That being said however, I would like to offer some of what may be unoriginal insight into the movie industry of today and that of the 1990’s.  In other words, I’m going to begin complaining about movies these days…

From what I see of the movies listed today in theaters, it’s Marvel(-like) galore. One superhero movie after another, one series after another. Frankly, it’s exhausting even to someone who worships escapist fiction like me. Escapist fiction is the stuff of dreams and paradise because “in dreams we enter a world that’s entirely our own” [1]. I’ve spent countless hours reading and re-reading, watching and re-watching Harry Potter (clearly, I needed to mention this one), the Shadowhunter Chronicles, Twilight (sadly, I fell prey to this phenomenon), The Lord of the Rings, Divergent, Hunger Games, Wolves of Mercy Falls, Merlin, Robin Hood, Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and other nonsensical books, movies, and TV shows. As excited as I become to see all my favorite characters on the big screen again and again, I find that I am repeatedly disappointed by some aspect of the film.

Why? I’ve got several reasons: (This the part where I’m going to complain – so if you’ve got problems with complainers: SHOO! And away with you!)

• Because of all the hype with which the media bombards us, causing insatiable thirst that even the object of the hype cannot quench.
• Because the characters in movies are reprising their roles for six or more movies and you’re actually watching a short soap or modern day opera in theaters spread out over several years.
• Because almost all blockbuster movies these days are trilogies.
• Because it gets unbearably repetitive. (Newsflash! We enjoy escapist fiction because it’s scintillating to our otherwise mundane brains that lead mundane lives. This kind of fiction has become mundane these days!)

Shawshank Redemption was quite a refreshing story after the endless barrage of superhero movies that sell us unrealistic lives and expectations. It’s really unfortunate that we have to look back into the 90’s to find such realistic meaningful films without a boatload of bullshit. The top box office movies of this decade include movies like Avatar, the Harry Potter Series, The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Divergent, Hunger Games, Twilight, the Lord of the Rings, Interstellar, Inception, and so on. What do all of these stories have in common? Fantasy. It’s disappointing that even after the Great Recession of 2008 we continue to require these escapist fiction movies and books. The reason I bring this up is because escapist entertainment was what sustained the Roman morale for a while during the fall of Rome. I don’t understand what good these fantasy fiction movies are doing anymore. They have served their purpose, they have run their course.

It’s time to begin another era of good, meaningful films that really make you think about your life like the productions of the past. Productions that include Catch Me If You Can, The Fugitive, Shawshank Redemption, The Breakfast Club, and many other coming of age films. We already have our modern Hitchcock in Martin Scorsese and the Nolan Brothers but I suppose this isn’t enough. Even for those of us who love fantasy.

References

[1] Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Screenwriter: Steve Kloves)

My upcoming waste-of-time-project...

I have a friend who recommended that I take the Meyers Briggs personality test right in the middle of my last semester of college [a]. Of course being in an epic state of panic over the state of my academic affairs which weren't going so well, I did the wise thing and wasted a solid four hours on something absolutely pointless and took the test she recommended [2]. As it turned out, it became my new interest and hobby to convince my entire family to take the test while I looked up the MBTI of all my favorite book, movie, and TV show characters. Naturally, I gravitated toward the analysis of fictional characters including the characters of the Harry Potter series, the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the TV show Merlin, Sherlock Holmes, Psych, NCIS, and so on. My latest waste-of-time-project has therefore been to tabulate a list of the personalities of the characters of my fancy. 

As usual, my home base is Harry Potter and therefore I'll begin my musings with JK Rowling's masterpiece of seven books followed by the Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare after which I refuse to plan. Besides "when have any of [my] plans ever actually worked? [I] plan, [I] get there, all hell breaks loose" [1]. 

Now, drumroll please (or you can throw rotten tomatoes at the screen and end up destroying your computer) until my next post which will be the Harry Potter Series MBTI. 

References

[1] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, dialogue by Harry Potter as Harry, Ron, and Hermione break out of Gringotts

[2] Link to 16 personalities:   http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test 

[a] The Meyers Briggs personality test classifies personalities into 16 personalities governed by Introversions vs. Extraversion; Intuitive vs. Sensing; Thinking vs. Feeling; Perceiving vs. Judging.  

The rich, spoiled, and emotionally abused life of Draco Malfoy

Given that I have been a long time die hard fan of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, it seems only fitting that I initiate my blog with a few of my musings regarding the magical world.

After a long break from many things Harry Potter related during college, I happened across a post on Facebook that reminded me of Draco Malfoy's fairly distressful life. As a child and a young teen when I read all these books for the first time, my opinion of Draco Malfoy was less than stellar. He was a bully and an incredibly nasty guy. But, the first time that I gave Draco Malfoy's life a thought was when JKR described him by comparing him to Dudley Dursley who in comparison seemed like a "kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy" in Chamber of Secrets [1]. I remember doing a double take at that as a nine year old. Surely, Draco Malfoy wasn't all that bad? I refused to accept that even while I myself was victimized by a bully!

And that is because Draco Malfoy was never a bully despite the fact that he was groomed to be one by his bully father who constantly modeled such abusive behavior. Jason Isaacs' portrayal of Lucius Malfoy was the key to such an insight into the rich, spoiled, and yet emotionally abused life of Draco Malfoy. How else was poor Draco supposed to learn the difference between good and evil when the very person a child is supposed to look to as a model is a materialistic, pure-blood supremacist who defines quality of life through wealth and the number of people into which he can instill fear? In an interview, Jason Isaacs stated that his primary goal as the character Lucius Malfoy was to "[try] to illustrate how you end up with a kid as messed up as Draco" which he managed quite well by cloaking himself in wealth and acquiring an arrogant and almost animalistic comportment in Chamber of Secrets [2]. It's this display of wealth and power that Draco witnessed as a child that worked wonders on changing peoples' minds in the favor of his father. And likely, that's all he had ever seen until he meets his fellow students at Hogwarts. His friends are people he has acquired by flaunting his wealth and his affiliation with his influential (bullying) father.

Naturally, he is baffled by the kind of friendship that the arch nemesis of his own creation shares with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He he recognizes that their friendship is not the kind of company he will ever acquire through wealth and bullying and it is enough to send him reeling with envy. Of course this is made obvious to him, the characters, and readers as a result of the handshake that Harry Potter so famously declines none too respectfully in favor of the young redheaded and freckled wizard who was raised in a household that was the polar opposite of his own in Philosopher's Stone.

Over the years, Draco Malfoy's encounters with Harry Potter become exponentially resentful, from trying to get him expelled by luring him out of his dormitory for a duel in Philosopher's Stone to attempting to get him killed by Sirius Black by scathingly advising him to apprehend the convicted criminal in Prisoner of Azkaban to finally one-upping him in Order of the Phoenix when he becomes prefect and later joining the Inquisitorial Squad and using his powers to lash out with pettiness against Harry Potter. And yet underneath all this, he was just an envious teenager with no real parental guidance, no real friends, and absolutely nothing for which to stand, all of which Harry Potter constantly had. (Yes, Harry's parents were dead, but he always had Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and of course Rubeus Hagrid and Albus Dumbledore as his mentor - that's six parental figures!)

Through all of this, his mother is always mysteriously absent from any sort of influence. The woman who in the end chooses her son over Voldemort is curiously missing from much Draco's life. How is it possible that Narcissa (Black) Malfoy possesses many of the fine qualities that JKR promotes throughout her entire work of fiction has such little influence over Draco's development? The only answer is yet again Lucius Malfoy whose power and influence keep her submissive, something that Draco observes over the years falsely giving him the impression that his father's abuse is an essential quality for survival rather than his mother's love. And out of ignorance he grew to be an abuser. And yet, his resolve is tested in Half-Blood Prince and he finds that he is not his father. He is more like his mother and actually possesses compassion against which he constantly wars thereby wearing him down to the point of tears. He does not attempt to face the man he is tasked with assassinating but instead decides to use very indirect approaches because he is certain that he cannot bring himself to be directly responsible for such an act. He is too human, too compassionate for that. Even with coaxing from his psychopathic aunt Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange his compassion thwarts objectivity.

By the end of what should have been his seventh year at Hogwarts, he is still only seventeen, a fact that we all tend to forget since we associate with Draco Malfoy the physiognomy of Tom Felton who was between 20 and 22 during the filming of Deathly Hallows. For those of you who do not have a keen eye for discerning the age of an individual, I invite you to think about how much people change during the ages of 17 and 20. I know I certainly did and I know all my friends did as well (some of whom began the unfortunate process of premature balding during college much like Tom Felton). That reflects quite a bit on how a person carries himself or herself. Think back to how much younger the cast of Harry Potter looked in Goblet of Fire when they were 17 or Prisoner of Azkaban when they were approximately 15. Anyway, the point is that that characters of the story and we as readers give Draco Malfoy a bad name because of the abusive bullying behavior he mimed during his younger teenage years. But the most important thing to keep in mind is the conscience he develops in his mid to late teens when most people (boys later than girls) develop greater powers of analysis and understanding of their identities.

His troubled youth set against a backdrop of dramatic social and political upheaval in the wizarding world was magnified because he was so closely affiliated with the Dark Lord and quite closely acquainted with a boy of his own age who stood against everything he had learned during his childhood. This was what became such an emotional abuse because his choices were the difference between life and death, love and hate.

So how abused was Draco Malfoy? Quite a bit, perhaps not physically, but emotionally by a father who expected him to be the top ranking student and best Quidditch player as he so expressed in sharp manner at Borgin and Brukes in Knockturn Alley in Chamber of Secrets in addition to supporting the Dark Lord eventually, whose punishment was an ice bucket of disappointment with which Draco would be doused - an emotional abuse that could only have worked on someone compassionate enough to love his abusive father enough to never want to disappoint him. Look no further than Sirius Black for example, who ran away from home instead of tolerating his family for another day, a family who also favored the Dark Lord's views.

References

[1] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3 The Burrow

[2] Interview with Jason Isaacs link: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/harry-potter-deathly-lucius-malfoy-jason-isaacs-draco-hero-tom-felton-movie/

Hello World [a]

I believe a writer or literary artist's job is to manipulate and craft how we feel as a reader or an audience member. You may have noticed, the title of my blog is called the The Art of Crafting Emotions. The reason for this is that I love filling my life with stories from all walks of life. I am writer myself and as such, I normally don't find people who are willing to listen to (or heaven forbid engage in) in-depth discussions as I pick apart and analyze the crap out of characters and storylines from books, movies, TV shows, songs, and the occasional fan fiction / alternate universe story. As much as I love to talk, there are people who might want me to "stop inflicting [my] opinions on the world" [1]. Ergo, I decided to inflict my opinions on the cyber-world. (That was an invitation for you to roll your eyes there). 

If you are a keen reader (and likely a bored individual, if you happen to be surfing through blogs or Buzzfeed when you should be working or otherwise being more productive), you may have noticed that I just threw in a quote from one of my favorite TV shows in the preceding paragraph. (If you are a really keen reader, you will have also noticed the irony of it, given the circumstances in which the original quote was uttered). 

I happen to be one of those eccentrics who actually quote stuff in real life, so naturally I transfer that tendency into my writing as well. But, as a member of the scientific community in the STEM field, I have picked up this useful skill of citing everything that I quote or refer to in my papers / publications that I will employ right here using a semi-MLA citation format. If anyone out there cares to correct my citations or picks up on something that I missed, go ahead and comment on the post. All opinions / comments are welcome, barring a profuse effusion of profanity. On another note, if I feel like something other than a quote requires an explanation or a reference, I will denote those with an alphabet citation (like the one in the title of this post).

References 

[1] BBC's Sherlock, Season 1 Episode 3 (The Great Game)

[a] Hello World is normally the first program that a fledgling programmer would write when picking up a programming language like C++ or Java.