Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: No Prompt Necessary.
Let me put this in perspective for you all. I am so fascinated and intrigued by Errol Morris, that I have struck an accord with my Dad: hassle-free (and highly skillful, I might add) lawn care for the rest of the summer without charge – in exchange for the DVDs Fast, Cheap and Out of Control and Fog of War. Cha-ching!
I don’t even know where to begin. FTC day yesterday we spoke a lot about reality. I buy the whole concept that it is difficult to tell what is real when you are looking at a photo, or film. What is staged, what isn’t – I get it. All I can keep thinking, though, is what I know is real – my reaction from the films, especially Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Not only was I nearly brought to tears and fits of laughter at numerous moments, but all night it had me questioning complex things in life that I have not previously taken the time to truly examine.
Life, the imitation of it to comprehend reality.. the comprehension of reality in general.. the social and cultural norms of humans in our society in relation to others—animal or otherwise.. the list continues at a rate that I just cannot keep up with.
It also got me thinking about control. A underlining element of the film seemed to be control, specifically human control, over living things or things that are imitating the living. Not only the aspects of control humans have, but the things that are out of their control – in the case of the topiary garden, natural disasters. The robots, maybe a shorted circuit. The naked mole rats—an tragically timed run in with an elephant. And most importantly: death. While there is so much that is under our control, there is so much that is outside our capability of control, and I am inclined to believe will always remain outside of our grasp.
I want to add one more thing to my statement above, about FTC day and how we were talking about reality and what to believe. It takes a leap of faith, I suppose. It’s something I think I’m somewhat familiar with—anyone who believes in a higher being (also known as God) has to be willing to make that leap of faith. There isn’t hard forensic scientific evidence that God exists, but yet I believe it. I go back and forth with this argument a lot (yes, with myself), but right now I can’t help but think how sad it is to always be questioning everything. I feel as though that’s kind of what you’re encouraged to do in school, find proof—in math, in science, even in art—the proof that what you’re looking at is an authentic painting from.. whoever. I can’t imagine a world where everything I saw had to be backed up with some kind of concrete undeniable evidence—I’m not even sure it’s possible, and I don’t think I want it to be.
I know someone mentioned the global warming issue in class in relation to this – that the film, for example, An Inconvenient Truth could have fabricated pictures, etc. I only have one thing to say about that topic: so? Let me explain that a little. What would this fabrication be doing? Causing people to believe that the earth is being warmed? And what is the outcome of that? They try to lessen their environmental footprint by recycling and carpooling? To me it just seems that even if parts of it are fabricated, if the truth is being expanded, the outcome is helpful, not harmful. I’m not really outraged at believing in something that forces me to put my plastic water bottles and aluminum cans in the recycling bin rather than the trash can. I mean, for goodness sakes, they’re right next to each other.
Okay that might have been a bit of a digression – but it still loops back (isn’t it ironic that I said loops? Didn’t even plan that! Ha-ha!) to a concept I’ve been thinking a lot about since FTC day and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Reality, believing in something as real, and it’s consequences.
I can’t wait to see the movie again. I have one last thing about it that I have to say: the final scene… I mean… geeze. I don’t even have words for it, it’s so powerful and so… yeah. I think our response in class was perfect.