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edenfallingSo tonight I went to Uris library and rewatched The Night Porter, a movie about a rather twisted relationship between a man and woman in mid-century Vienna. Oh, and did I mention he was an SS officer at a concentration camp? And she was one of the inmates?
Watching, I kept feeling I ought to be thoroughly disgusted by this, and yet I was more creeped out by Bert, the nearly-naked dancing man, because his face was sickly and his nose bothered me. (Also, he's an exhibitionist and exhibitionism still squicks me slightly.) I think over a year of reading erotica (and what might as well be called porn) online has jaded me somewhat. I was bothered that they started the relationship in a concentration camp, but when I watched them in the "here-and-now" portions -- even when he hit her or chained her wrist, or when she scrambled across the floor like a little girl or an animal -- I kept thinking, "Well, if that's what they like, it's none of my business." And then I remembered that they were falling back into patterns established in a concentration camp, and I got bothered again by how easily I accepted things.
And then they really fall back into the past, with Max unable to truly defy his fellow former SS officers even though he knows they want to kill his "little girl" (whose name I keep forgetting, though I think it starts with an L). He barricades them in his apartment until they're delirious with hunger, at which point he gets back into his old uniform and dresses her in a little-girl dress, and they go out for a walk and his friends shoot them. I kept thinking, "Why don't they just go to America? Then she can divorce her husband and they can be deviant and happy together." And then I remembered again that he was in the SS! And he's a murderer! (Even "here-and-now," when he drowns his friend Mario.) Why should I want him to be happy? And she was happy with her husband before she saw Max again. Why do I want her to divorce him?
I think what's appealing about Max is that he does feel he did something wrong, though he doesn't want to face it. He just wants to bury it in the past, to lose himself in the shadows. His SS friends are determined that they did nothing wrong, that they should not feel guilt because guilt complexes are unhealthy, that they deserve to still have positions of power. In comparison to that, what's a little murder and sexual deviancy? At least he seems to have a rudimentary conscience. He's not making himself out to be a victim (which is, I think, the ultimate perversion). And in his own way, he does love his "little girl." (Maybe her name is Lucia?)
Um. Yeah. As I said before, I'm not taking a film course again. These things just wash over my mind and I get all out of whack afterwards. How am I supposed to work on my paper now? I'm in completely the wrong mental place!
Watching, I kept feeling I ought to be thoroughly disgusted by this, and yet I was more creeped out by Bert, the nearly-naked dancing man, because his face was sickly and his nose bothered me. (Also, he's an exhibitionist and exhibitionism still squicks me slightly.) I think over a year of reading erotica (and what might as well be called porn) online has jaded me somewhat. I was bothered that they started the relationship in a concentration camp, but when I watched them in the "here-and-now" portions -- even when he hit her or chained her wrist, or when she scrambled across the floor like a little girl or an animal -- I kept thinking, "Well, if that's what they like, it's none of my business." And then I remembered that they were falling back into patterns established in a concentration camp, and I got bothered again by how easily I accepted things.
And then they really fall back into the past, with Max unable to truly defy his fellow former SS officers even though he knows they want to kill his "little girl" (whose name I keep forgetting, though I think it starts with an L). He barricades them in his apartment until they're delirious with hunger, at which point he gets back into his old uniform and dresses her in a little-girl dress, and they go out for a walk and his friends shoot them. I kept thinking, "Why don't they just go to America? Then she can divorce her husband and they can be deviant and happy together." And then I remembered again that he was in the SS! And he's a murderer! (Even "here-and-now," when he drowns his friend Mario.) Why should I want him to be happy? And she was happy with her husband before she saw Max again. Why do I want her to divorce him?
I think what's appealing about Max is that he does feel he did something wrong, though he doesn't want to face it. He just wants to bury it in the past, to lose himself in the shadows. His SS friends are determined that they did nothing wrong, that they should not feel guilt because guilt complexes are unhealthy, that they deserve to still have positions of power. In comparison to that, what's a little murder and sexual deviancy? At least he seems to have a rudimentary conscience. He's not making himself out to be a victim (which is, I think, the ultimate perversion). And in his own way, he does love his "little girl." (Maybe her name is Lucia?)
Um. Yeah. As I said before, I'm not taking a film course again. These things just wash over my mind and I get all out of whack afterwards. How am I supposed to work on my paper now? I'm in completely the wrong mental place!
