Volkertafel

This is an essay I wrote for school. I think it is interesting.

The painting I discuss can be seen here: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkertafel


Volkertafel, Nations and Orientalism

One of the most interesting comic book characters is Snowbird. She is a Canadian superhero who can assume the form of any animal that can be found in Canada. But when she crosses the Canadian border she loses all her powers and falls ill (Woo, 76). This implies that there is some sort of natural law, which defines where a nation begins and ends. The case of Snowbird is a great example of how in our current (popular) culture and society the uniqueness of nations and the fact that there are borders between different nations is seen as something completely natural. These ideas about nations are now a completely normal part of our daily lives. When we open an atlas for example we find it pretty normal that every nation has a different color and that there are borders drawn between each nation.

The nations as we know them today, though, are not some natural phenomenon, but they are socially constructed and relatively new. The ideas that each nation is unique, that there are significant differences between the nations and that therefore each nation should have its own state really arose in the 18th century. As Joep Leerssen has stated in his book National Thought in Europe: "We have come to think of nation-states as an ideal systematic taxonomy of Europe where the French live in France and speak the French language, and the Germans live in Germany and speak the German language and each country has its own French or German cuisine,fashions, national anthem and lifestyle. But this simplystic ideal-type of the nation-state is ultimately the inheritance of the encyclopedic and Enlightenment-anthroplogical systematization of stereotypes, hearsay and cross-cultural caricatures"(Leerssen, 70) One such example of systematization of stereotypes is the 18th-century Austrian painting the Völkertafel (Or in English, The Tableau of Nationalities), one of the first cultural objects to endorse the idea that there are significant differences between the nations, that each nation is unique and that therefore every nation should have its own state. This though is not the only reason why this painting is interesting. It also endorses the idea that the western nations are somehow better,more civilized and more cultured than the eastern nations. This western view of the East or Orient is what, more than 200 years after the Völkertafel, Edward Said criticized in his book Orientalism. In this essay I am going to analyze how in the Völkertafel these ideas about nations, the 'West' and the 'East' are expressed and how they are still relevant today.

While it is not known when exactly this painting has been made it is assumed that it is painted sometime between 1720 and 1730. This was an interesting period in Europan history. In 1715 Louis XIV, to whom the famous words 'L'etat, c'est moi' are attributed, had died. It was the end of an era. The king would no longer be seen as the embodiment of the state. More and more it was argued that the state should be defined by the people who live in it and who share a certain cultural identity. And that the rulers of the state should rule in accordance with the values and needs of its people (Leerssen, 71-74). Of course there have been nationalistic ideas in Europe long before this period. But only now did European nationalism really take flight. The nationalist ideas to emerge in this period would change the European society in an unprecedented way. And they still have a major influence on how we organize our current society (Leerssen, 51).

In the Völkertafel we see 10 different people, who each represent a different nationality. From left to right these are Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Russia and lastly, as the painting states, either Turkey or Greece. This last part is obviously problematic, and I will discuss it later. The first thing to notice is that all the nationalities are dressed in significantly different clothes. We can also see that the people from an eastern nationality are dressed less seriously and in a more exotic way than those from the west. By representing them with these sophisticated coats and hats, the painting signifies that the western people are dignified, serious and rational. At the same time the eastern nationalities are represented with pyjama-like clothes, skirts and a turban. This signifies them as a bit aloof and irrational. It is also interesting that all the eastern people have beards, or moustaches, while the western people are shaven. This could imply that the eastern people are closer to animals and nature than the western ones. The fact that the painter chose clothes to emphasize the differences between the nations is also interesting. Clothes are a major part in our daily lives. Everyone wears them and one of first things we notice when we meet somebody is his or hers clothing. By showing that the nationalities differ so much in such a normal and basic part of our lives, the painting implies that the differnces between the nations matter a lot and cannot be ignored. Following this we could say that the painting makes the differences between the nations a normal part of our daily lives.

The text is where the painting becomes even more interesting. In the upper left corner it is written that this painting gives 'a short description of the peoples you can find in Europe and their character traits'. Beneath that we see a matrix in which in the first column we see the categories by which the nationalities are to be compared. There all kinds of different categories, like 'ilnesses', 'love-life' and 'intelligence'. Then for each nationality it is written how it relates to each category. For example in the category 'their country' it is said for Italy that it is 'very nice and well looking'. What is said about each country is not always positive though. For example in the category intelligence the Russians 'have none.' By comparing the nations through categories that are normal and unavoidable in our daily lives, like death, intelligence and bad habits, we again see that the painting tries to normalize the differences between the nations. The fact that it is a matrix is also very important in this aspect. To qoute Joep Leerssen again: "The matrix imposes as a form the implicit rule that for each of the characteristics a value must be filled in for each of the nationalities. It would not do to leave any of the squares blank. The comparative system imposes a discipline. Not only does it make it easier to visualize things, it forces one to follow the system in all its steps and elements. Nor would it do to list similar values in different squares. Each of the squares has to say something different. The matrix is a system of differences and that is what it must be. A matrix listing similarities would be, by its own rules, stupid' (Leerssen, 64). When it comes to defining a nation, this is something we still do. A teacher once gave a great example of this. In the Netherlands almost everybody is monogamous. Yet you will not very often read that monogamy is a characteristic that defines the Dutch. Mostly because monogamy is just as common to other western nations. The Netherlands will actually be defined by its windmills, tulips or legal drugs. These things are probably not as important to the Dutch as monogamy, but they are more unique to the Netherlands. This is of course not an example that is unique to The Netherlands. A nation is very often defined by the characteristics in which it differs most from other countries, instead of by the characteristics that are the most common to that country. And the nation is not only defined in this way by other nations, who may not know any better, but also by itself. Benedict Anderson's influential book Imagined Communities could offer an explanation for why this is the case. In his book Anderson states that a nation is an imagined community. What he means by this is that 'it is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them or even hear them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion' (Anderson, 6). It should not be very surprising then that according to Anderson printed literature played a major role in the rise of nationalism (Anderson, 25). Since you cannot know most of the members of our community personally, the best way to feel a bond between you and them is by reading about them in books and poems (or by seeing them in paintings). We identify with the characters in these books and poems, because we see they have the same problems, habits or values as us. In other words we realize that we are really a part of the same community, or nation, as them. But for us to truly love our nation, this is often not considered enough. We also have to believe that our nation is better than the other nations, and that it is unlike any other nation. So in many nationalistic cultural objects the differences between our nation and the other ones are emphasized. And not just any differences, but often specifically those that make our nation unique and better. For example the influential German nationalistic poet Ernst Arndt, tried to create a German identity through his poems and filled them with anti-French and antisemitic sentiments (Leerssen, 108). Lastly, in this aspect, it is interesting that while the Völkertafel is an Austrian painting, the Austrians are not represented in it. Thus the painter is not interested at all in giving a representation of his own nation. He is just interested in showing how it differs from other nations. After seeing this painting we do not know what an Austrian is. But we certainly do know what is not an Austrian.

Just like the image of the clothes of the nationalities, the text also shows that the painting has a worldview in which the 'West' is better and more civilized than the 'East' or Orient. We saw the painting supports and propagates the idea that there are differences between the nations. Yet it claims that there are no differences between the Turks and Greeks. This may be because the painter thinks that the two nations are basically the same and do not really have their own identity. Following the philosophy of the painting this makes them inferior to the other nations. There is another possible reason for the painter's claim that there are no differences between the Turks and Greek. It could be that he did not want to waste time exploring the differences between them, since they are nations that are not worthy of much attention. The painting views them as pretty awful. According to it they are lazy, stupid, narcissistic liars who dress like women. It is notable that in the current financial crisis a lot of these adjectivs are often used to describe Greece. And they are only used as a matter of jokes, but also in serious articles and proposals about how to tackle the crisis (van der Ziel,7). Another time when this painting claims that an eastern nation has no identity of its own is when in the category 'national character' is that the Russian national characater is 'very Hungarian.' This obviously is a negative thing by itself. But to make matters worse the Hungarian national character is considered to be 'the cruelest of all.' And in most cases the traits assigned to western nationalities are much more positive than those assigned to eastern ones. In fact the painting is exactly the kind of cultural object that Edward Said criticized in his famous book Orientalism. In his book Said claims that the 'West' has created a very negative idea of the 'East' or the Orient that has no real connection to reality. In many western cultural objects the Orient has been represented, among other things as an exotic place with irrational, violent, uncivilized people who give in to their most basic instincts. As opposed to the representation of the 'west' as a civilized place with cultured, peaceful, rational people with great values like democracy. Because of such represntations, Said claims many people in the western world now really believe in these distinctions between the 'West' and the 'East' (Said, 5-8). The connection between this and the nationalistic books and poems diuscussed, earlier is, I believe, not hard to see. The orieantilst cultural objects basically serve the same purpose as the nationalistic ones. Both want to create a community by differentiating it from other communities. In the last case the communities are just on a much bigger scale. With this in mind, Orientalism can become even more dangerous than it now sometimes is. One of the many problems of the current European Union is that most of its inhabitants do not see themselves as European. They mostly see themselves as Dutch, Spanish or French. While we can move freely in the EU the borders between its members still matter to its inhabitants. The member-states do not want to lose sovereignty to the EU and a member-state will often protest if an EU-decision is in the best interest of the EU, but will weaken the member-state. This makes the functioning and the policy-making of the EU much harder (Van Houtum & Struver, 143). It would help the EU a lot if it could create an European identitty and make sure that the inhabitants of Europe identify themselves as Europeans first. Europan history has provided the EU with a blueprint for how to create a common identity. If they follow that blueprint it is not unconceivable that they use the Orient to create a Europan identity in the same way that Arndt used France to create a German identity. This could dangerously heighten the tensions that already exist between the Middle-East and Europe

Throughout this essay I have argued that nations are socially constructed. This is a claim that should not be very surprising or controversial. In fact many of those who were involved in the creating of a nation openly admitted this. As the 18th century Italian politician and novelist Massimo D'Azeglio for example said: "Now that we have made Italy, we need to make the Italians." D'Azeglio took his own advice seriously and proceded to write historical novels in which he glorified and connected the Italian history and the Italian people (Leerssen, 142). Yet, today the claim that a certain nation is socially constructed or invented and not something natural is often seen as an attack on that nation. Many people who claim to love their nation, would be furious if you told them that their nation is socially constructed. A couple of weeks ago for example one of the American republican presidental candidates Newt Gingrich claimed that the Palestinians are an invented people. He said this in order to support Israel. This is a problematic statement, besides the fact that is Orientalist. The Palestinian people are invented, but so are the Israelis, the Americans, the Dutch, etc. And while I am not a fan of nationalism I would argue that the fact that your nation is socially constructed should make your nation more imprtant to you. Because this implies that your nation is build upon certain ideas, norms and values. And that you are part of that nation because you adhere to these norms, ideas and values, and not because, through sheer coincidence, you are born in it or live in it. This unfortunately also makes nations more dangerous, because they can more easily reject individuals this way.

Literature

- Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 2006. Print.

- Leerssen, Joep. National Thought in Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010. Print

- Said, Edward. Orientalism. Toronto: Pantheon Books, 1978. Print

- Struver, Anke & van Houtum, Henk. "Borders, Strangers, Doors and Bridges." Space and Polity. 25 Aug. 2010. 141-146. Print

- Woo, Benjamin. "Red and White Tights: Representations of National Identity in Canadian Comic Books." Diss. Simon Fraser University , 2006. Print.

- van der Ziel, Arjen. "Bij Grieken is belofte slechts intentie; interview Renee Hirschon, antropologe en Griekenlandkenner

8. Old and Wise &...

Lyrics

As far as my eyes can see
There are Shadows approaching me
And to those I left behind
I wanted you to Know
You've always shared my deepest thoughts
You follow where I go

And oh when I'm old and wise
Bitter words mean little to me
Autumn Winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine
And the sadness would be Lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

As far as my Eyes can see
There are shadows surrounding me
And to those I leave behind
I want you all to know
You've always Shared my darkest hours
I'll miss you when I go

And oh, when I'm old and wise
Heavy words that tossed and blew me
Like Autumn winds that will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that You were a friend of mine
As the final curtain falls before my eyes
Oh when I'm Old and wise

As far as my eyes can see


This is a very moving 'farewell song.' It's most probably about death, although any interpretation involving some sort of farewell makes (at least a little bit of) sense. It's a very famous song, but most people probably would have no idea what the Alan Parsons Project is, if you'd ask them. At least I had heard this song, long before I heard that there was a band called the Alan Parsons Project. It's not a really great name for a band. The movie I've chosen is John Wayne's final movie in which his character is dying of cancer. I thought that Wayne himself was also dying of cancer while making the film, but it turned out that was not the case. He died three years after he played in it. Still, this does add some poignancy to the film.

The Movie: The Shootist (Don Siegel, 1976)

One of the reasons I've started this blog was to urge myself a bit more to watch more diverse movies. There are whole genres and periods from which I have hardly seen any movie. I have hardly seen any movies from before 1970 and I am not very familiar with the great stars from that era. I have not seen Casablanca or Citizen Kane for example. I have hardly seen any movie from the great non-American/English directors. A Bout de Souffle is the only movie from the French New Wave I've seen. I have hardly seen any silents or any really experimental films. And I have hardly seen any true westerns. In fact I can list all four I've seen: John Fords' Stagecoach, Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, The Coen's True Grit and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. And now, The Shootist, which besides being my fifth western, is also only my second John Wayne film (after, obviously, Stagecoach), my second James Stewart film (after Vertigo), my second Lauren Bacall film (after Murder on the Orient Express), and the second film directed by Don Siegel I've seen (after The Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Don't worry, I won't do this again. I just wanted to show that I've seen very few films of these classic directors and stars.

Anyway, I liked The Shootist a lot and it may now be my favorite western. John Wayne may not have known that this was his last film, it is certainly made as it would be his last. Right at the start the movie wants to establish that John Wayne and his character J.B. Books belong to an era that that has either ended or is about to end. The movie introduces Books with black and white clips from John Wayne's old films in which he is young and energetic. But then the movie turns to color and we see the old John Wayne playing the now old Books. Books goes to some town where 15 years ago he was helped by a doctor (James Stewart). He has been diagnosed with cancer and wants a second opinion from the only doctor he trusts. The big news in town is that the British Queen Victoria has just died. It's 1901, the Victorian era and the 19th century has just ended. A new era and a new century is starting. And the town is preparing itself for modern inventions, like electricity and even more importantly cars. There will be no more cowboys on horses.

The doctor confirms that Books has cancer and that he has very little time left. Books wants to spend his last days calmly and die with some dignity and rents a room at Mrs. Rogers hotel. Now the rest of the movie we just see Books preparing for his death. The movie manages to be very entertaining, with quite some humor even, yet it is always respectful of Books and is never going for cheap sentimentality. As hard as he tries, Books just can't live out his final days peacefully. He is notorious and famous as a great shootist who has killed 30 men. Books claims they all had it coming. Mrs. Rogers is not very happy that he is in her hotel, because he scares away her customers. But when she hears he has cancer, she sympathizes with him and even creates some sort of friendship. Her son Gillom is excited that such a celebrity is in their hotel and bugs Books with all kinds of questions and wants Books to give him shooting lessons. Both Marshall Thibido and the local undertaker cannot wait to see Books dead and regularly visit him to see his 'progress.' And a journalist and an old love of Books try to persuade him to let them write and sell his memoirs. As I said this is all done very entertainingly and respectfully. The last sequence is a bit problematic though.

Earlier the doctor told Books that a courageous man such as him should try to avoid dying in the enormous pain that all cancer patients die in. So Books arranges himself a final shootout with three of his former enemies, who, because of their criminal activities, are not the most beloved people in town. This sequence is wonderfully filmed and creates quite some suspense. But, besides the fact that it could be argued that the sequence posits that sometimes killing people is courageous and moral, it also does not make much sense. If after all Books kills his enemies, he won't die himself. Of course he eventually does kill his enemies and is then killed by the barman of the saloon in which the shootout takes place. This is a little bit silly and too coincidental. The barman is in his turn killed by Gillom, who the movie sets up as the new John Wayne. Ron Howard who plays Gillom, would not become the new John Wayne. He would become though the Oscar-winning director of A Beautiful Mind.

7. House of the Rising Sun &...

Lyrics

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one


I haven't got much to say about this song. I find it one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard. The clip is wonderful to see though. It is so dated. No one today would even think of filming such a clip in a non-ironic way. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans it has become a popular city to set movies in. Especially movies about people living in sin and misery. The destruction of the city can be used as a mirror or a metaphor for the lives of the characters and it can help establish a negative, unpleasant atmosphere.

The Movie: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog, 2009)

This is unfortunately the only film I've seen by Werner Herzog. I say unfortunately, because from what I've read about him and his movies, Herzog seems like a really interesting and odd director. This movie is probably the best starting point for Herzog's filmography though. It has a conventional plot and is filled with famous actors (Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes), but it is full of wonderfully unique and absurd scenes.

The plot is fairly straightforward. Terence is a lieutenant addicted to a lot of different drugs, because of his back pain. He does many bad things, but we sympathize with him, because we realize he is in pain. He also cares for his girlfriend and father and is genuinely good at his work. In his quest for the killers of a Senegalese family he goes too far and is put of the case. Yet in the end due to his help the case is solved and he is the redeemed hero. There are a lot of movies to which some version of this plot description applies.

The interesting thing here is that Werner Herzog doesn't seem to give a damn about whether Terence will redeem himself or not. Or whether we care about him or not. He is more (or only) interested in style and creating an everything-is-going-to-hell-atmosphere. Terence may be a bad lieutenant, but there is hardly a good character in the movie. And Terence can find drugs anywhere he goes. Besides in the end he may be redeemed, but that's only in the eyes of the cops. We know that he is still pretty much the same man he was at the beginning of the movie. That he is more loved know is only through sheer luck.

As I said the movie is full of crazy scenes. Werner Herzog is interested in nature and animals. He has made documentaries about people working with grizzlies and about life on the North Pole. In this movie there are many scenes involving animals. It starts with a close-up of a snake swimming through the floods of Katrina. At one point in the film we also get a close-up of a crocodile for no particular reason, but the fact that Herzog wanted to. And at one point during his investigation Terence has to drive around town with his father's dog on the back seat. But the most wonderful use of an animal may be during a scene where the police is spying on the criminals. The scene starts of pretty normal, if not for the fact that there are also two iguanas in the same room as the police. After this has been established we follow the scene from the point of view of one of the iguanas. But my favorite scene in the movie does not involve animals. You'll see it at the end of this review. In the scene you'll also see that Terence is played by Nicolas Cage, who is having the time of his life. And even if the rest of the movie were crap it would have been worth seeing it just to see Cage enjoying his role so much.

6. Paradise by the Dashboard Light &...

Lyrics

Section I. Paradise:

Boy: Well, I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday.
Parkin' by the lake and there was not another car in sight.
And I never had a girl lookin' any better than you did.
And all the kids at school, they were wishin' they were me that night.

And now our bodies are, oh, so close and tight.
It never felt so good, it never felt so right.
And we're glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife,
Glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
C'mon! Hold on tight! Well, c'mon! Hold on tight!

Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night,
I can see paradise by the dashboard light.

Girl: Ain't no doubt about it, we were doubly blessed.
'Cause we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed.

All: Well, ain't no doubt about it, baby, gotta go and shout it.
Ain't no doubt about it, we were doubly blessed.

Boy: 'Cause we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed.

Baby, doncha hear my heart? You got it drownin' out the radio.
I've been waitin' so long for you to come along and have some fun.
Well, I gotta let ya know, no, you're never gonna regret it.
So open up your eyes I got a big surprise.
It'll feel all right. Well. I wanna make your motor run.

And now our bodies are, oh, so close and tight.
It never felt so good, it never felt so right.
And we're glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
Glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
C'mon! Hold tight! Well c'mon! Hold on tight!

All: Though it's cold and lonley in the deep dark night,
I can see paradise by the dashboard light.
Though it's cold and lonley in the deep dark night, (Night.)
(Deep dark night.)
...Paradise by the dashboard light.

You got to do what you can and let Mother Nature do the rest.
Well, ain't no doubt about it, we were doubly blessed.
'Cause we were barely seventeen and we were barely...

Boys: We're gonna go all the way tonight.
We're gonna go all he way an' tonight's the night...
We're gonna go all the way tonight
We're gonna go all he way an' tonight's the night...
We're gonna go all the way tonight.
We're gonna go all he way an' tonight's the night...
We're gonna go all the way tonight
We're gonna go all he way an' tonight's the night...

Radio Broadcast over grunting, panting & moaning sounds:{1}

Ok, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker goin' here, two down, nobody on,
no score, bottom of the ninth. There's the wind-up and there it is, a line shot
up the middle, look at him go. This boy can really fly!

He's roundin' first and really turnin' it on now, he's not lettin' up at all,
he's gonna try for second. The ball is bobbled out in center, and here comes the
throw, and what a throw!

He's gonna slide in head first, here he comes, he's out! No, wait, safe--safe at
second base, this kid really makes things happen out there.

Batter steps up to the plate, here's the pitch-- and he's going, and what a jump
he's got, he's tryin' for third. Here's the throw, it's in the dirt-- safe at
third! Holy cow, stolen base!

He's takin' a pretty big lead out there, almost darin' him to try and pick him
off. The pitcher glances over, winds up, and it's bunted, bunted down the third
base line, the suicide squeeze in on! Here he comes, squeeze play, it's gonna be
close, here's the throw, there's the play at the plate, holy cow, I think he's
gonna make it!

Section II. Let Me Sleep On It:

Girl: Stop right there! I gotta know right now!
Before we go any further...
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?
Do you need me? Will you never leave me?
Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?
Will you take me away? Will you make me your wife?
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?
Do you need me? Will you never leave me?
Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?
Will you take me away? Will you make me your wife?
I gotta know right now, before we go any further,
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?

Boy: Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby, let me sleep on it.
Let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the mornin'.
Boys: Well, let me sleep on it. Baby, baby, let me sleep on it.
Well let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the mornin'.

All: Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby, let me sleep on it.
Well, let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the mornin'.

Girl: I gotta know right now!
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?
Do you need me? Will you never leave me?
Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?
Will you take me away? Will you make me your wife?
I gotta know right now, before we go any further,
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?

What's it gonna be boy? Come on. I can wait all night.
What's it gonna be boy? Yes or no?
What's it gonna be boy? Yes -- or -- no?

Boy: Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby, let me sleep on it.
Well, let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the mornin'.
Girl: I gotta know right now!

Both, singing on top of each other.

Boy: Let me sleep on it!!!
Girl: Will you love me? Will you love me forever?
Boy: Baby, baby, let me sleep on it.
Girl: Do you need me? Will you never leave me?
Boy: Well, let me sleep on it.
Girl: Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?
Boy: I'll give you an answer in the mornin'.
Girl: Will you take me away? Will you make me your wife?

Each line sung seperately.

Girl: I gotta know right now, before we go any further.
Do you love me? Will you love me forever?
Boys: Let me sleep on it.
Girl: Will you love me forever?
Boys: Let me sleep on it!
Girl: Will you love me forever?

Section III. Praying for the End of Time:

Boy: I couldn't take it any longer, Lord, I was crazed!
And when the feelin' came upon me like a tidal wave,
I started swearin' to my god and on my mother's grave,
That I would love you to the end of time.
I swore I would love you to the end of time!

All: So now I'm prayin' for the end of time to hurry up and arrive.
'Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you,
I don't think that I can really survive.
I'll never break my promise, or forget my vow.
Boy: But god only knows what I can do right now.
All: I'm prayin' for the end of time, that's all that I can do. (Woo, woo!)
Prayin' for the end of time, so I can end my time with you!!!

Boy: It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.
Well, it was long ago and it was far away.

Girl begins her part (see below)

Boy sings at same time as Girl:
And it was so much better than it is today.
It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.
It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.
Fade.
It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.
It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.
It was long ago and it was far away.
And it was so much better than it is today.

Girl:
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
Fade.
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.
It never felt so good. It never felt so right.
And we were glowin' like the metal on the edge of a knife.


That's a lot of lyrics! This song will become pretty tedious if you listen to it very often, but I do like it a lot. It's completely unique and is basically a long joke, with the punchline being the final third. The lyrics are so rich that there were quite a lot of movies I could choose to relate to it. First of all I could choose a movie about lovers who through some fantastical means are literally stuck for eternity with each other. But that kind of movie is not really my favorite and there are probably a lot of other songs to come that could be related to such a movie. Secondly I thought about a movie that presents baseball as a metaphor for sex/love. But, I think, practically every movie about baseball does this in one way or another. Anyway in the end the song is basically about a boy and a girl who are happily in love with each other at the beginning. But now, after their marriage, for some reason they aren't happy with each other and their lives at all. Well the movie I chose is a very recent movie about two such people. I also chose it, because after seeing Drive I was curious what else Ryan Gosling had done.

The Movie: Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010)

Blue Valentine is a movie about Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling). We follow them at two separate times in their lives. During the first stage of their relationship, when they are happy and completely in love with each other. And six years later, married, with a daughter, but constantly fighting and being unhappy with each other. They are quite obviously on the brink of a divorce.

The movie has quite a lot of problems. Unfortunately some of this problems come because it really tries to do something different than an ordinary Hollywood drama about such people. Many movies for example would try to give a reason why the marriage of Dean and Cindy has gone so wrong. This one does not do that, because it wisely recognizes that sometimes shit just happens, without there being a particular reason for it. People change. What we loved once, we may not love forever. The problem is that I found it hard to believe that the young Dean and Cindy would six years later behave like they do in this movie. This would have probably been easier to believe if there was a clear reason given for it. Dean's character development was especially horrible. That is good news for Ryan Gosling who shows he is a great actor here with a lot of range. He basically plays two completely different people in one movie. I even found that his older version of Dean doesn't look like I would expect the young Dean to look in six years.

Another laudable thing that backfires for the movie is its insistence on keeping the story realistic. Unfortunately during the first hour that makes it incredibly dull. Dean and Cindy aren't very interesting, the dialogue is utterly unoriginal and for a long time there really isn't a single memorable/beautiful shot or scene.

Yet in the end the movie somehow works. In the end I did feel for the characters. That's partly because of the movie's structure. We've seen the happy times of Dean and Cindy. It's sad to see that the happy times have now ended and they are now mostly miserable with each other. And some scenes work very well in retrospect In the middle of the movie there is a scene in a sex-motel where Dean and Cindy went to try to spice up their failing marriage. They dance to a song and it seems that at that moment their problems can be solved. The scene is sweet, but at that moment in the movie isn't really special. Besides their stay in the sex-motel eventually only worsens their problem. But near the end of the movie we see a scene from the happy times. Cindy has just introduced Dean to her parents and they go in her room to make love. Dean plays a song that, he says, will always be their song. And while it's not surprising that this is the same song that was played in the motel, that scene now grows in poignancy. We realize that no matter how bad things will be, there will be always things that will bind them. And that when they hear a certain song, or see a certain shirt they will always think happily about each other and the good times they shared.

Lastly the movie also works because Gosling and Williams act brilliantly. Especially in the final scene where they manage to make clear that they really are unhappy because of the problems they face, that they really wish they could solve them, that there is a big chance they won't solve them and that this fact makes them feel really awful and sad.

Lists!

At the end of the year all over the internet people make lists of their top movies of the year. These are all fun to read and make, so i decided to make a top 5 for every year, until the year of my birth.

2024

1. Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola)

2. A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg)

3. Anora (Sean Baker)

4. A Complete Unknown (James Mangold)

5. The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)

2023

1. May December (Todd Haynes)

2. Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)

3. Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)

4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude)

5. Hit Man (Richard Linklater)

2022

1. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)

2. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)

3. Stars at Noon (Claire Denis)

4. How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Daniel Goldhaber)

5. LOLA (Andrew Legge)

2021

1. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

2. The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

3. Bad Luck Banging, or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)

4. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)

5. Annette (Leos Carax) 

2020

1. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)

2. Shirley (Josephine Decker)

3. Horse Girl (Jeff Baena)

4. Tenet (Christopher Nolan)

5. Riders of Justice  (Anders Thomas Jensen)

2019

1. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)

2. Portrait of A Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)

3. Take Me Somewhere Nice (Ena Sendijarevic)

4. Midosmmar (Ari Aster)

5. Gemini Man (Ang Lee)

2018

1. Creed 2 (Steven Caple Jr.)
2. And Breathe Normally (Isold Uggadottir)
3. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
4. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)
5. Duelles (Olivier Masset-Depasse)

2017

1. The Little Hours (Jeff Baena)
2. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola)
3. Thelma (Joachim Trier)
4. Mother! (Darren Aronofsky)
5. Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer)

2016

1. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
2. Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
3. Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Love)
4. Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater)
5. My Aunt in Sarajevo (Goran Kapetanovic)

2015

1. The Second Mother (Anna Muylaert)
2. The Martian (Ridley Scott)
3. Results (Andrew Bujalski)
4. Victoria (Sebastian Schipper)
5. 21 Nights With Pattie (Armand Larrieu)

2014

1. White God (Kornel Mundruczo)
2. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
3. Aanmodderfakker (Michiel ten Horn)
4. Beyond the Lights (Gina Prince-Bythewood)
5. Bird People (Pascale Ferran)

2013

1. Child's Pose (Calin Peter Netzer)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen)
3. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
4. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
5. Hard To Be A God (Aleksei German)

2012

1. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
2. 21 Jump Street (Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
3. Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)
4 .Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
5. The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

2011

1. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)
2. Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi)
3. Oslo, 31 August (Joachim Trier)
4. Killer Joe (William Friedkin)
5. Shame (Steve McQueen)

2010

1. Four Lions (Chris Morris)
2. The Social Network (David Fincher)
3. Beginners (Mike Mills)
4. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
5. Schemer (Hanro Smitsman)

2009

1. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
2. A Serious Man (Joel Coen)
3. Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
4. The Informant! (Steven Soderbergh)
5. Everyone Else (Maren Ade)

2008

1. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
2. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
3. Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller)

4. Departures (Yojiro Takita)
5. Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes)

2007

1. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
3. Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck)
4. Into the Wild (Sean Penn)
5. Juno (Jason Reitman)

2006

1. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)

2. Das Leben der Anderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

3. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
4. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
5. Running Scared (Wayne Kramer)


2005

1. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
2. Match Point (Woody Allen)
3. Good Night and Good Luck (George Clooney)
4. Munich (Steven Spielberg)
5. Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July)

2004

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
2. Collateral (Michael Mann)
3. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
4. Closer (Mike Nichols)
5. Kill Bill 2 (Quentin Tarantino)

2003

1. Good Bye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker)
2. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
3. Pirates of the Caribbean (Gore Verbinsky)
4. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)
5. House of Sand and Fog (Vadim Perelman)

2002

1. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
2. Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese)
3. Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
4. Secretary (Steven Shainberg)
5. Changing Lanes (Roger Michell)

2001

1. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
3. Ocean's 11 (Steven Soderbergh)
4. Heist (David Mamet)
5. A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard)

2000

1. Love & Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood)

2. A Friend Like Harry (Dominik Moll)
3. Snatch (Guy Ritchie)

4. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
5. Shaft (John Singleton)

1999

1. The Matrix (Lena Wachowski)
2. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
3. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)

4. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
5. The Insider (Michael Mann)

1998

1. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen)
2. A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi)
3. Happiness (Todd Solondz)
4. Little Voice (Mark Herman)
5. The Truman Show (Peter Weir)

1997

1. Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant)
2. L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
3. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. La vita e bella (Roberto Benigni)
5. Grosse Point Blank (George Armitage)

1996

1. Fargo (Joel Coen)

2. A Summer's Tale (Éric Rohmer)
3. Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen)
4. Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)
5. The Rock (Michael Bay)

1995

1. Nixon (Oliver Stone)

2. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)
3. Seven (David Fincher)
4. To Die For (Gus Van Sant)
5. The Usual Suspects (Bryan Synger)

1994

1. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

2. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
3. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis)
4. Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen)
5. Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori)

1993

1. The Fugitive (Andrew Davis)

2. Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
3. Six Degrees of Separation (Fred Schepisi)
4. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
5. Red Rock West (John Dahl)

1992

1. White Men Can't Jump (Ron Shelton)

2. Orlando (Sally Potter)
3. Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)

4. Glengarry Glenn Ross (James Foley)
5. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)

1991

1. Jungle Fever (Spike Lee)
2. Slacker (Richard Linklater)

3. The Doors (Oliver Stone)
4. Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou Zhang)

5. Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow)

1990

1. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)  

2. Truly Madly Deeply (Anthony Minghella)
3. Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne)
4. The Comfort of Strangers (Paul Schrader) 

5. Metropolitan (Whit Stillman)

1989

1. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)

3. Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)

4. Back to the Future 2 (Robert Zemeckis)

5. The Abyss (James Cameron)

5. Stairway to Heaven &...

Lyrics
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misleading
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it makes me wonder

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking
and it makes me wonder
really makes me wonder

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean from the May Queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, Ooh, it makes me wonder

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady, can't you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering w

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all is one and one is all, yeah
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying the stairway to heaven

Stairway to Heaven is an absolutely brilliant song. There are other songs I like more, but this may be the most perfectly executed song ever. You get the feeling that Led Zeppelin knew exactly what they were doing writing this song. It feels as if both lyrically and musically there is not a note or lyric too much or too little. Led Zeppelin was very often influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ring-books. And especially the first third of the song reminds one very often of that. It's probably no coincidence that the score of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies often feels at least a bit influenced by it.

The Movie: Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001,2002,2003)

Usually when I write about a movie, I have seen it very recently before I write about it. This is not the case here. I have seen the Lord of the Rings movies twice in their entirety and have no desire to see any of them again. I admire the craft and effort that went into them. The care that went into the making of it is really admirable and can really be seen on screen. The costumes are great, the special effects are often flawless, there are quite a lot of beautiful images and it's often well-acted, especially by the older cast. Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean and Christopher Lee are very good. Unfortunately the same can not be said about Elijah Wood and Sean Astin as Frodo and Sam. I found them to be mostly annoying and unfortunately we spend most of the movies with them. But that's not really the biggest problem for me. Most of the time I found it all incredibly boring and I really didn't care much about what would happen to anybody except for Gandalf and Aragorn. All this dwarfs, elves, and especially hobbits I found utterly uninteresting and often annoying. That is not exactly anyone's fault. There simply is no genre I like less then this one.

That said I didn't really dislike these movies until the third one. In the first one the creation of the fellowship of the ring was very reminiscent of the creation of a heist team in a crime movie, where every member has its own specialties, or in this case powers. The second one was the best and had some much needed humor in the woods with the talking trees. The final battle was also set up very well and brilliantly executed. I think it's the best part of the movies. But then the third one came. It felt like watching three hours of boring hobbits walking and talking dramatically about their lives and fates. And the ending! It could have ended at least ten times before it finally did. At least it ended with Frodo going on an adventure with Gandalf. After being stuck for so long with Sam, one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen on film, I felt that it was perfectly logical that he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

4. Child in Time &...

Lyrics

Sweet child in time, you'll see the line
Line that's drawn between good and bad
See the blind man shooting at the world
Bullets flying, ooh taking toll
If you've been bad - Oh Lord I bet you have
And you've not been hit oh by flying lead
You'd better close your eyes, aahaouho bow your head
Wait for the ricochet

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oh, I wanna hear you sing..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oaoh..
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
AAA-AAA-AAA!!


Sweet child in time, you'll see the line
Line that's drawn between good and bad
See the blind man shooting at the world
Bullets flying, mm taking toll
If you've been bad - Lord I bet you have
And you've not been hit oh by flying lead
You'd better close your eyes, aahaao bow your head
Wait for the ricochet

Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oh, I gotta hear you sing..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oaoh..
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
Oh..
AAA-AAA-AAA!!

Oh..god oh no..oh god no..oh..ah..no ah..AAh..oh..AAWAAH!!..oh

The song is very good, but at 10 minutes and 20 seconds, it is too long. Anyway, the song seems to be about a child in wartime, who doesn't yet understand the severity of war. There are many movies that deal with this subject. I chose to discuss a movie by Steven Spielberg which I hadn't yet seen.

The Movie: Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg, 1987)

As far as I can remember E.T. was the first movie that I've seen that was considered to be a classic. I didn't like it much back then when I was something like 8 years old, and I still don't really like it. It's way too sentimental for my taste. But, while I can't say that there is a single movie by Spielberg that is really among my favorites, I find all his other movies, I've seen to be very good or at least entertaining. Even Hook is not that bad. (Though I haven't seen either his best considered movie, Schindler' List or his worst considered one, 1941) He really knows how to make his movies compelling and interesting and how to create great shots and scenes. I just find it very unfortunate that he tends to become very sentimental near the end of almost all his pictures.

Empire of the Sun surprised me quite a lot. It's not his best (that's Munich) or his most fun (that's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), but it's certainly his most beautiful and audacious one. It's quite unlike anything else I've seem by him and I would actually say it's more an art-house film than a blockbuster. If you are interested in a movie that tells a story with a logical plot, this is not exactly the movie you should watch.

It starts pretty normally though. For a while it looks like this is going to be a movie about how the old life of the British aristocrats in China came to an end due to the Japanese invasion of China during the second world war. The prologue of the movie is full of scenes which signify that this wonderful life is slowly coming to an end. During a costume party in one of this 'British' houses, for example, our main protagonist Jamie Graham, played by a 13-year old Christian Bale, goes out to play with his plane and finds that not very far from the party a Japanese plane has crashed. And next to it there is a whole contingent of Japanese soldiers waiting for a provocation from the Brits, so they can fight them. This prologue comes to an end when during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and the ensuing confusion on the streets, Jamie gets separated from his parents. This is a masterfully directed sequence full of some wonderful images. Spielberg manages to both show us the chaos and make us aware at all time what exactly is happening and what the dangers are for our main protagonists.

The rest of the movie we will follow Jamie. After being separated Jamie goes home, hoping to find his parents there. But the house is now Japanese property, just like many other houses in the neighborhood. We see the Japanese taking the furniture out of all this houses, which is a set-up for some of the most wonderful shots I've seen in a long time, later on in the movie. Anyway, when Jamie runs out of food, he has to leave his house ends up with Baisie (John Malkovich) and Frank (Joe Pantoliano), two scheming merchant seaman. Due to Jamie's fault all three of them end up in a Japanese workers camp. This is where we'll stay until almost the end of the movie.

Before the camp scenes I already thought that the movie was a bit too far-fetching in the depiction of Jamie's independence. He wasn't troubled at all by the fact that he was now alone and one point I was even reminded of Home Alone. Well, this is even more enhanced in the camp scenes and this confused me quite a bit at first. Jamie copes very well inside the camp, showing such wit, intelligence and courage that it hardly would be believable in an adult, let alone a kid. On top of this Spielberg doesn't present life in the camp as grim for Jamie. In fact you could almost say he enjoys himself. I found it weird how Spielberg could present such a simplistic view of both childhood and the workers camps. But then came a scene in which Jamie is sent by Baisie under false pretenses to search for mines in a certain area of the camp. Baisie wants to know whether he can escape using that path. Jamie finds no mines and narrowly escapes a suspecting Japanese soldier. In a completely unrealistic scene Basie and his men welcome him back as a hero. And through the cinematography used in the scene Spielberg shows that he intends the scene to be unrealistic. Now I realized that I wasn't watching a drama about the experiences of a boy in a Japanese workers camp. I was watching the boy's (re-)imagination of that period of his life. The movie is an often grim fairy-tale about memory and about how re-imagining horrific things might make our life better at that moment, but in the end it is pretty dangerous. We lose sight of what is real and forget it. In the end, the camp is liberated and Jamie realizes he has completely forgotten how his parents look like. In the end, I believe, the movie wants to make the point that no matter how grim reality is, we have to face it. Because, well, it is the reality after all. And as I said before Spielberg reaches this conclusion with some some great scenes, even some funny ones, and, in my opinion, the most wonderful shots in all of his movies.

Lastly Christian Bale might give his best performance here and it's always great to see a slightly villainous John Malkovich. It's also funny to see a very young Ben Stiller in a small role.