Book of Eli

I went to see The Book of Eli tonight. I'm not going to review it (or give spoilers) here, and I'm not even particularly going to recommend it, although it has plenty for thought and discussion and so it is worth your time if that's your interest (and if you can stomach the violence that earned it an R rating). If you do see it, I hope you'll attend not only to the main theme (about the book and all it carries with it), but also to the ways in which gender, race, and ethnicity are marked in the film, and that you also consider how cultural values (such as literacy, physical appearance, cleanliness, sexuality, and nonviolence) are proscribed/inscribed in the story. Watching it with a disability lens was fascinating for me, as this highlighted (intentionally or unintentionally) some of the movie's major themes around power and perception; this lens also showed some of the film's major gaffes (making me doubt, for example, that people with awareness of disability were involved in the film making -- an experience somewhat like watching some stories about women that are written by men, when all you can do is ask "what were they thinking?").

But as I'm reflecting on all that tonight, I'm particularly struck by one specific quote from the film. Without giving anything away, I can say that a female character has left a town, and a male character is telling her that she should return. And then she says something like, "but that place sucks!" And he replies, "then go change it!"

In my everyday life, I've been feeling increasingly frustrated lately by people (myself included) who seem to spend a good bit of time and energy complaining about what's wrong, what they don't like, what "sucks." And so I loved this comeback -- not arguing against, not empathizing with, not taking a position either way -- just simply saying, "then go change it!"

In real life, it's never that simple, I know -- there are good reasons for venting our frustrations and articulating what we see as wrong, and there are times when it's not at all possible to just "go change it." And beyond that, most of life is not even so clear as this, and so the aspect that I think "sucks" may be quite different if viewed from another perspective or in the context of the bigger picture, and so my attempt to create change might in fact be disruptive, harmful, or just plain wrong, particularly once you take privilege or other factors into consideration. But still, this simple language of "then go change it" struck me, as a helpful reminder that just complaining, or even complaining and leaving, is not always our only option.

You'll have to go see the film to find out whether she did "go change it" -- and I'd recommend coffee with a friend afterwards to discuss whether this was even an appropriate exchange, in the movie or in our lives. But, at the very least, it strikes me as a good moment for reflection.