Double venue last night

Last night was a busy night for me. There was a local production of the Vagina Monologues (by stating this, I will no doubt bring all the wrong types being redirected here by google) that I went to, which included the updated (I have no idea how recently) take on birth. I also went to the movie theater to see V for Vendetta. Before everyone thinks that I now have a paying job, I managed to see both the monologues and the movie for free. (I won't even mention the pitiful job fair I went to earlier in the day that several of the companies listed as attending had snubbed the fair.)

This particular production of the Vagina Monologues was a charity event whose proceeds were to be donated for breast cancer research. The person who was supposed to go had purchased the tickets but couldn't go. So, I was given the tickets. I went alone to go see it knowing only that it was a big hit off broadway, and that it was supposed to be very funny.

In an intimate black box theater with seating for fifty, I was one of five or six guys in the room. This was certainly one of those times where I wish I had a platonic female friend to drag along. Possibly, when asked why I came to see the show, I would use her as an excuse for making me go to this venue. Alas, I went alone and felt conspicously out of place, surrounded by a sea of estrogen. Not that I was being looked at strangely for being there alone (as far as I could see), but I certainly felt like I was a pervert (more google fodder) for going to a performance about vaginas. Then again, that was exactly what the monologues are about. (You may wish to skip my impressions about this show due to its graphical nature.)



As for my impressions of the presentation, I was impressed over the breadth of generally taboo items including perjorative words used to describe the female reproductive system that were covered. There were definitely funny parts intended to engender laughter. The orgasm skit probably brought down the entire house. Or was it the woman portraying an extremist view of woman's liberation? Other parts were uplifting, trying to reinforce the beauty of the female reproductive organs. There were graphic descriptions that my more active imagination gave images to that I had to wince at (think of a phrase used by one woman who survived the Bosnian conflict: my insides are swimming with poisoned sperm), which I could easily and vividly imagine after going to see every inch of the human body in all of its unembarrassed detail.

And then there were some serious monologues about the repression of women all over the world that left me very uncomfortable, not becuase I thought about perpetrating these things, but because of the intense emotions projected upon the audience. The author of the play was kind enough to gloss over the more graphic details of certain customs that involved knives and cutting off of the reproductive system. Not that the night wasn't uncomfortable to begin with, since the metal folding chairs we were seated upon weren't designed to leave us comfortable anyway. (Try sitting still in a metal folding chair for two hours and see if you can last.)

Then there was the monologue about comfort woman, and their desire for an apology. I was amazed at how those crimes were overlooked and I certainly don't recall learning such things had happened in any of the history books. It made what I thought would be a light evening into a much more serious affair. Finally, there was the very graphic description and wonder over the trials of birth. Which makes me glad to be a man. Very glad.

In a thoughtful mood, I left to go see V for Vendetta. This movie had come out the week before and I wasn't really interested in seeing it, but I had a free movie pass and my friends wanted to see it. In a typical fashion of the brothers Wachowski, who also created the movie The Matrix, it was a dark movie that tried to show a vision of what might happen if we permit our government to overprotect us from danger. This theme was quickly lost during the progression to its predictible end. Within the first fifteen minutes, you are told how the movie ends. Love conquers hate, right wins over wrong, the weak are strong, yada yada yada. Think Resident Evil with explosions, a mask, and torture.

However, like The Matrix, there is a lot of cool things going on within the context of the movie. As you can imagine, there is the obligatory scene where the hero is outnumbered and kicks the crap out of the bad guys. Much like the lobby scene in The Matrix. This scene ended in a very telling way that shows V is human after all. Introduced in this movie is a subject matter that I won't touch on due to the volatile nature of the subject, same sex relationships. It was tastefully done, I think. I still wouldn't be surprised if it offended many people of more conservative or traditional preferences.

The only gripe I have, being the engineer that I am of course, is the horrendous departure from physics. When you blow up something in a movie, it always looks like a controlled and sequential explosion. In the movie, the authorities try to track down the type of explosive used, and the actress responds, This was homemade, it will take us more time to track it down. Uhm. If this is really an Orwellian society, it would already have been flagged as suspicious, especially if it is stolen as V alludes to in the movie. You would have had databases that would have allowed you to get that information quickly. Worse, they tried very hard to make you think that fertilizer is well, explosive. Thanks to the Patriot Act, I can't say anything further on why it is incomplete. (However, if you paid attention at all to the Olkahoma City incident involving Timothy McVeigh, you probably know what is missing too.)

In contrast to my griping, I genuinely liked the movie for the intent of the movie, in spite of its flaws. It reminded me of Cyrano de Bergerac, a play written by Edmond Rostand (get a free copy of the play here). When V introduces himself to Natalie Portman's (more google fodder here) character Evey, he launches into a soliloquy very reminiscient to Cyrano's Nose soliloquy, which happens to be one of my favorites. This is what V says:

This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it
vestige of the vox populi, now vacant,
vanished, as the once vital voice of the
verisimilitude now venerates what they
once vilified. However, this valorous
visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands
vivified, and has vowed to vanquish
these venal and virulent vermin
van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the
violently vicious and voracious violation
of volition. The only verdict is vengeance;
a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain,
for the value and veracity of such shall
one day vindicate the vigilant and the
virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of
verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an
introduction, and so it is my very good
honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Compare that to the (abridged) Nose soliloquy, which occurs as Valvert tries (and fails) to insult Cyrano about his oversized nose:

Ah no! young blade! That was a trifle short!
You might have said at least a hundred
things
By varying the tone. . .like this, suppose,
Aggressive: 'Sir, if I had such a nose
I'd amputate it!' Friendly: 'When you sup
It must annoy you, dipping in your cup;
You need a drinking-bowl of special shape!'
Descriptive: ''Tis a rock!. . .a peak!. . .a
cape! --A cape, forsooth! 'Tis a peninsular!'
Gracious: 'You love the little birds, I think?
I see you've managed with a fond research
To find their tiny claws a roomy perch!'
Truculent: 'When you smoke your pipe
suppose that the tobacco-smoke spouts from
your nose--Do not the neighbors, as the
fumes rise higher, cry terror-struck:
"The chimney is afire"?'
Considerate: 'Take care, your head bowed
low by such a weight lest head o'er heels you go!'
Tender: 'Pray get a small umbrella made,
Lest its bright color in the sun should fade!'
Cavalier: 'The last fashion, friend, that
hook? To hang your hat on? 'Tis a useful crook!'
Dramatic: 'When it bleeds, what a Red Sea!'
Simple: 'When is the monument on view?'
Rustic: 'That thing a nose? Marry-come-up!
'Tis a dwarf pumpkin, or a prize turnip!'
Or parodying Pyramus' sighs. . .
'Behold the nose that mars the harmony
Of its master's phiz! blushing its treachery!'
--Such, my dear sir, is what you might have said,
Had you of wit or letters the least jot:
But, O most lamentable man!--of wit
You never had an atom, and of letters
You have three letters only!--they spell Ass!
And--had you had the necessary wit,
To serve me all the pleasantries I quote
Before this noble audience. . .e'en so,
You would not have been let to utter one--
Nay, not the half or quarter of such jest!
I take them from myself all in good part,
But not from any other man that breathes!

Not exactly the same ideas, but the character, a man of verse and intelligence who is deformed in some way, but powerful and skilled, seeks to hold strong against those who are in power. Perhaps to defend some idea that is the essence of what humanity is about. However, I am getting carried away. Back to the movie.

Though V for Vendetta was poorly executed in some parts, V's excellent introduction immediately won me over. Besides that, there was the excellent use of Tchaikovsky's Overture of 1812, which the composer reluctantly wrote to celeberate Russia's victory over Napoleon, and in its excess makes a caricature of that victory. A celebration of a false victory. In the movie, it is used to awaken the slumbering citizens, an awakening with several meanings. I would watch the movie again just to see what else I can pick up that I may have missed.

Lol. I just wrote an epic. Kudos to those who made it all the way to the end.