About social icons and the American character
An extract from an IRC conversation (I’m TheVenetianMask):
bokbokbok forrest gump has an incredibly interesting life because he’s a symbol, right, so that part of the movie is obvious fiction
bokbokbok the parts where he’s on the bench are reality, his story is always fiction, “a dream about american reality“
bokbokbok so offering the woman a chocolate, commenting on the woman’s shoes. america is very boring but it has big dreams
bokbokbok that’s the message i see in that movie
bokbokbok why is america boring? people don’t talk to each other well. even at a bus stop, you are looked at as strange for talking sometimes
bokbokbok it’s not a talkative-in-public culture, but a lot of places aren’t
bokbokbok i like the ones that are
@TheVenetianMask actually
@TheVenetianMask america is seen as an extroverted culture
@TheVenetianMask I don’t know what’s the fuss about people not talking to strangers in public transport
@TheVenetianMask in fact, most people spends all day without any period for self reflection, I would think trying to fill all moments with talk is actually a bad idea
bokbokbok you’d rather be left alone?
@TheVenetianMask let people think about their life when they are in the bus
bokbokbok it’s not actually the volume of conversation, but the types which are allowed
bokbokbok “seen as socially acceptable“
bokbokbok by volume i meant quantity of public conversation. i don’t know if i can describe it
bokbokbok america is very extroverted, but very superficial and people are socially encouraged to sort of lie about themselves in the direction of image-consciousness, so almost all the conversation going by is phony
@TheVenetianMask yeah, that’s the impression from the other side of the pond
bokbokbok the cynical part of me likes that perhaps according to that movie, it takes a retarded person to actually experience the american dream
bokbokbok which is only possibly if you don’t do the classic american mistake of going “oh, i’m in a situation, what does my character look like while experiencing this situation?” so this retarded guy doesn’t see his iconographic life and actually gets happiness because of it
@TheVenetianMask that’s a good point. if you are going to be self conscious of your own iconic value you need the brain power to actually run with that flow, otherwise you would just ruin it by trying too hard
@TheVenetianMask brain power, emotional intelligence, natural instinct, whatever
@TheVenetianMask charisma
bokbokbok i completely understand your point
@TheVenetianMask I know people who has a very charismatic personality, but no iconic charisma
@TheVenetianMask jfk, for example, he was actually an introvert who didn’t enjoy much interaction. it’s the opposite of what the american stereotype may think you have to do to be charismatic
bokbokbok i agreed with the first term, brain power
@TheVenetianMask tell me how many americans are actively trying to be more introverted in order to be more charismatic
bokbokbok none are but a handful of successful ones who know that strength
@TheVenetianMask elon musk, founder of SpaceX… he’s really nervous in public. bill gates, also introverted
bokbokbok i like listening to programmers give talks at cons because i enjoy hearing a person who is honestly not good at talking in public, but very captivating because listeners perceive the depth of content there
@TheVenetianMask yeah!
@TheVenetianMask not that it needs to go to the opposite extreme, but certainly, an iconic life needs a bit of that depth and honesty from introversion
@TheVenetianMask or, in the case of forrest gump, that appareance of not being fully engaged with the world
@TheVenetianMask that sense of independence
bokbokbok his was an accident of his limited intelligence
bokbokbok to say that an iconic life needs depth and honest of introversion is to adequately describe the whole epidemic of american personality disorder
27/09/2012. 627 palabras. Categorías: Artículos. Etiquetas: America, carisma, cine, cinema, Estados Unidos, film, iconos, personalidad, psicología, sociología, y usa.
Fran Ontanaya