Smooth Talk

Joyce Carol Oates is a better writer than Joyce Chopra is a director. It is usually futile to argue that the movie should have presented a story exactly how it was written. However, I think the way the ending was written in the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" is actually very filmable. While it is ambigous, the final three shots of the movie "Smooth Talk" leave some things unclear anyway. For instance,the way the audience isn't sure if Connie was raped or not. The absotutely jarring thing, is the way the film simplifies the Arnold Friend character. In the movie, since Connie returns alive and her death isn't up to debate, his status as a fantastic character is no more. He is reduced to "some creep". Arnold Friend is supposed to be "the imagination, the devil, death, and all that" according to Oates herself. It is much more satisfying to speculate, then to have it in your face and somewhat obvious. Perhaps I shouldn't rag on it though, when I have only seen select scenes that were shown to us in class.

Why the little e's?

e.e. cummings poem "in Just-" describes a scene that is ambiguous and has an interesting juxtaposition of childhood play and foreboding descriptions of a certain balloon man. At first reading I did take the balloon man as a somewhat benevolent figure. Yet, as I looked over it again, the words "goat-footed" , "queer", "lame" of course do not signify good things. "goat-footed" definitely gives you the image of a cloven-hoofed fiend like in the previous story. The nature of the words set against the backdrop of such innocence only makes the children seem more and more like prey. I have read posts where some have taken this purely as a portrait of joyful springtime. I disagree, yet is it perhaps a comment on the duality of our perceptions? Is the balloon man a benign creature, or a sinister monster?. It could be left unclear because it would reflect how such a suspicion would actually play out; you'd never know.

Where are you going, where have you been?

This story made me think about the Nirvana song "Rape Me". Although it is actually an anti-rape song, at first I thought it was about being desperate to the point of desiring such a thing. Connie is sure of herself; she is aware of her mother's jealousy. Yet as with any 15 year old, she is riddled with insecurities. She is actually attracted to Arnold Friend in a way, despite how obviously sinister his demeanor. She is attracted to someone who is attracted to her, especially so brazenly as Arnold Friend. I read a post where someone argued that Connie was to blame since she went along with Mr. Friend. While this claim seems a bit simplistic and irrelevant, it did make me think about the attraction aspect.
I overheard a conversation once at the lunch table in high school between two girls, where one of them remarked, "Well, I'd be getting raped. You would be having sex with a stranger."

Its very cool how Arnold Friend's name can be written as "A. Friend" and is only one letter away from "An old Friend". There's actually a story called The Three Brothers by J.K. Rowling where the wisest brother greets death "as an old friend." Along with his alarmingly extensive knowledge of her and his ill-fitting boots, this reinforces his parallels to the devil.
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"contains elements of the cautionary tales of youth. The kinds where it would be very unwise to mimic the main character's actions. The author Joyce Carol Oates dedicated her story to Bob Dylan, and his song "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" was an influence:

You must leave now, take what you need you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out, the saints are comin' through
And its all over now, baby blue

The images evoked are of departure and a loss of innocence, like how Connie is taken from her house by Arnold Friend. Of course "the vagabond who's rapping at you door/Is standing in the clothes you once wore" also relates.

First Day

When Sexson walked in and said his little joke about the atmosphere being as somber as an Ag class, I figured that this is going to be an enjoyable course. I've never had a blog, yet there are a couple I admire. So this will be somewhat interesting to do. I am rather curious about Dostoevsky so it's exciting that we are going to be reading his novel The Brothers Karamozov.