on the weekend i watched the movie "revolutionary road"
it is about a couple who wish to escape the "hopeless emptiness" of their lives. they want to move from suburban America to Paris.
it raised questions that i revisit at times
why is suburban life viewed as so much more empty and meaningless than life in the city?
what makes the difference between existence and life ?
as i sit i also wonder: most parents cannot imagine their life without their children but kids are very often represented as increasing a sense of emptiness. how does that work?
and does anyone feel like they live every moment or do they mostly exist while looking forward to the moments of life?
Wow, those are some excellent existential queries.
ReplyDeleteI live life toward the next moment, but am trying hard not to do that anymore.
and also, urban living has its own strange crowded emptiness at times too. I'm trying to think if it's ever portrayed that way in movies and literature--I guess so, like in "Sid and Nancy."
ReplyDeleteKia ora Kylie,
ReplyDeleteWe can try to be aware and vibrant each moment, but for someone like myself that is just too hard to do. So I try to recognize the ones I should be grabbing onto and be in that moment till it slips away. City or suburbs, when you raise a family, have a marriage or relationship, pay a mortgage and all the rest there is always going to be some mediocrity in there at times. Kia kaha!
Aroha,
Robb
Moving from a city of 1,000,000 to a town of 14,000... I can say I'll take small town anytime.
ReplyDeleteI always thought most people wait for that extra moment in life to come by. I agree i could not imagine my life without Helen and already she is slowly taking flight into adulthood. Mostly I live from day to day.
ReplyDeletePhew, some pretty big questions there! I was brought up in a London suburb and believe me I wouldn't want to go back. It was like being in a stagnant creek on the edge of some vast ocean. Mediocrity and respectability everywhere you looked, utterly stultifying. Give me the creative throb of a big city anytime.
ReplyDeleteI live in the moment.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen that movie The Swimmer with Burt Lancaster?
ReplyDeleteno,megan, i havent
ReplyDeletesounds like i should?
If one is gonna be struggling with the great mysteries of existence and mortality, it's better to do so in a place that your friends and family will envy.
ReplyDeleteIt puts a cool veneer on our shallowness. I know. I've done it.