Better Late Than...No Country For Old Men in Fiction and Film

It has dawned on The Common Man in recent weeks that this blog has morphed far more into a political site than he ever intended, particularly since the election really heated up in the fall. The Common Man's politics are important to him, and he refuses to apologize for that, but after rereading some of his earliest posts, he misses the playfulness of his earlier posts. His cynicism has crept in, and he misses being able to wax nostalgically about culture and life. He also notices that this shift in tone has corresponded to a decrease in posting. Part of that has to do with work heating up, and not being able to find enough hours in the day, but some of that is undoubtedly because blogging sometimes requires The Common Man to get angry, and he doesn't like to be angry. So, this week, even though it would be fun to make all kinds of shoe-throwing jokes about how the Twins or Vikings should snap up a certain right-handed journalist in Iraq, The Common Man is going to strive to focus on not-politics. Maybe he can be more upbeat.


Sometimes, the world is a profoundly dangerous and disturbing place (so far, so good. Very upbeat.), and people do not always comprehend the dangerous paths they are on, even as they move closer and closer to their own deaths. Regardless, you are responsible for those choices, and they ultimately will lead to a reckoning if you show even a moment of weakness or vulnerability. Only through strength can you survive what life throws your way.

That's the primary message The Common Man got from reading No Country for Old Men (2005), the excellent, haunting, and violent novel by Cormac McCarthy, and watching the movie adaptation by the Coen brothers. McCarthy's novel is set along the border of Texas and Mexico, and focuses on the struggles of regular people trying to adapt to a new world with a new set of rules, a world that has been fundamentally altered. The drug trade has begun to wreak havoc on the American southwest, and these men and women, who were part of the old world, have not yet adjusted to this new paradigm.

There is danger in their ignorance. When welder and Vietnam veteran Llewellen Moss stumbles upon a bloodbath in the desert and $2.3 million in drug money, he sees an easy payday. But when his conscience gets the better of him, and he returns to the scene, he becomes the target of a massive manhunt. Chased by an embodiment of death itself, a remorseless, creative, emotionless, and seemingly invincible killbot, Moss makes his way across Texas, trying to outrun his decisions. But, as he tells a hitchiker he picked up along the road, “You dont start over. That’s what it’s about. Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it…. You think when you wake up in the mornin yesterday dont count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it’s made out of. Nothin else. You might think you could run away and change your name and I dont know what all. Start over. And then one mornin you wake up and look at the ceilin and guess who’s layin there?" (227).

[Spoiler alert] The conclusion of Moss' story is at the same time tragic and inevitable, his unnatural death the natural conclusion of his decisions. His fight against his fate is both heroic and manly, very Cooper-esque, and his stoicism hides his growing desperation and dread of the end that is hunting him.

[End spoiler] The book is both meloncholy and colorful, very readable but also profound. The Common Man appreciates the grimness of its conclusion, and how vividly it draws its characters. McCarthy's novel expands a specific time period into a microcosm of human history, showing the inevitable march of "progress" and its consequences for the people caught up in it. The novel is well worth your time, especially if you're willing to read through grisly murders to get to an ending that is at the same time unresolved and extremely satisfying in its vagueness.

If, however, you're short on time and would rather watch the Cliff's Notes, you won't find a much more faithful adaptation of a book than Joel and Ethan Coen's celebrated film version. Dialogue is often lifted directly from McCarthy's novel, which is important given the importance McCarthy places on the way things are said, the short, measured lines his characters say underscores the culture they live in and their nature. Understanding they could not improve on the dialogue, the Coens largely left it alone. And scenes are recreated lovingly and painstakenly from the novel. While the Coens hide most of the violence behind props, it is still brazen and brutal. And the gore becomes less important than the reactions of those perpetrating the violence.

The acting is excellent. Javier Bardem, of course, received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the central antagonist, the philosophical and terrible killer tracking Moss. He is mesmerizing when he is onscreen, capable of making even an innocent grin feel venomous. Tommy Lee Jones simmers throughout the novel, struggling to control his frustration and his bewilderment at the changing world around him and his inability to stop its momentum. As he says at the start of the film, "I don’t want to push my chips forward and go out and meet somethin’ that I don’t understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He’d have to say 'okay, I’ll be part of this world.'" And when he realizes his ineffectiveness, he is driven out from that world, broken. Josh Brolin is also solid in the film, but his words are mostly irrelevant (in the film, anyway), as he serves mostly as the means to move the plot forward and reveal to the other characters (including his wife, played with remarkable vulnerability by Kelly Macdonald) how royally their lives have been fucked up by his choices.

The Common Man realizes how late he is getting to this film. It is, after all, almot a year since it won the Oscar, and more than a year since its release. But a recent conversation sparked The Common Man into reading the novel, giving him a better understanding of McCarthy's vision, and that of the Coens. Everyone dies, they want you to understand, and that death is ordained by the choices you make, even a heart attack at 84 can be traced back to a burger you ate at 37. As the killer tells Moss' wife, “Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased….A person’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning” (259).

And so the ultimate message of the film is that everyone is responsible for the decisions they make. It is the ultimate end to the argument for personal responsibility. But even so, it acknowledges that some things are beyond the control of the individual, and all that ultimately matters is the decisions that you make when dealing with those circumstances. Which is true from both a religious and non-religious standpoint. The only things that matter are what you do, even if they don't change anything all that much. The Common Man thinks Hemingway would approve of that message, and is going to go reread the last ten pages of For Whom the Bell Tolls now to confirm that.

A Clown to the Left of Me, A Joker to the Right...

Will someone please tell Joe the Plumber to shut up? Good gravy, Chris Crocker hasn't gotten this much undeserved media attention. What did the man do? He asked Barack Obama a question on the street. Obama deftly and patiently explained how his middle-income tax credit would save Joe money. John McCain uses Joe as an example in one of the debates, and Joe, smelling his chance at the brass ring, embraces the opportunity by saying he didn't trust Obama's answer and going on the campaign trail for John McCain.



On the trail, Joe paid back the McCain camplaign by agreeing that "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel" and by not showing up at campaign events at which he was scheduled to appear (which led to this wonderful video). Since doing nothing to help his candidate win, Joe has been linked to a book deal and a potential Congressional bid. And this week, Joe has again decided to show off just how much of a boob he can be, telling douchebag Glen Beck,

"When I was on the bus with [John McCain], I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans didn’t want it to happen - yet he voted for it. At the same time he’s talking about making someone famous if they even think about putting pork in the bill. We all know how much pork was in the $700 billion bailout package. Why did he vote for it? I asked him pretty direct questions, and some of the answers you guys are going to receive … they appalled me. I was angry. I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”

Joe's welcome to his opinion, of course, but The Common Man simply does not understand why anyone cares. This man has done nothing but demonstrate his lack of restraint and his ignorance since coming into promenence. How he could have any newsworthy truths to reveal about the political process or about life in general frankly baffles The Common Man. Who really cares what this fool thinks about John McCain, Sarah Palin, the bailout, gay marriage, or any one of a hundred issues for which he is unqualified to comment intelligently? As the recent election demonstrated, Joe is not exactly a bellweather for determining how the American people are thinking.

Does returning Joe to his normal plumber's life really do much to change the world today? Would it make this country's future any better? Maybe not. But maybe it's wrong to intimate that Joe speaks for "regular" Americans (whatever that means), whether you are lionizing those Americans or making fun of them. For that lends credence to what he is saying, and only does an injustice to lower-middle to middle class Americans who are struggling through today's economic crisis. It reduces them to a cliche, a caricature, and a punchline. And, of course, shutting Joe up would just make The Common Man feel better.

Of course, the problems associated with Joe the Plumber are nothing compared to the apalling scandal out of Illinois, where Gov. Blagojevich has been indicted on several charges stemming from egregious acts of political corruption, including trying to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat. Now this is a man who has truly done something that should make him famous. The name Blagojevich should echo through the halls of government as an example to those who would sell out their constituents. It won't, of course; politicians are notoriously confident in their own abilities to cover up their wrong-doing, and no one wants to remember a name like Blagojevich anyway. Within a year, he will be Governor What's-his-face or Prisoner 9938493.

There's nothing more to say, really, about Blagojevich that hasn't been said by comedians, pundits, and the larger media. The man is a scumbag who has dishonored himself, his family, and his state. He leaves behind a stained office and a significant obstacle for future governors to overcome, namely the distrust the public has for its elected official. It's remarkable that, today, so beloved a national figure rose in the same political system that spawned the likes of Blagojevich and his cronies. One wonders how Obama escaped relatively unscathed.

Sex Edutainment

Last week, The Common Man was driving home with The Boy, when his interest was piqued by an NPR story about teen sexuality, pregnancy, and television. And since teen pregnancy has been in the news a lot this past year (with, for instance, the success of Juno (good movie, by the way), the pregnancies of Sarah Palin's daughter and of Brittney Spears' sister, and the alleged "pregnancy pact" in Massachusetts), The Common Man listened closer. It seems the RAND Corporation has discovered that "teens who watch programs that contain a lot of sexual content are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy."



This is not to say that television is the cause of teen pregnancy and increased sexuality, of course, just that young people who like to watch shows where the characters obsess about sex and relationships tend to be interested in wanting those same things for themselves. And as Josh Schwartz, the creator of the CW show Gossip Girl, points out teens have been having sex and getting pregnant, "long before Gossip Girl … and long before there was even television." But popular culture is a driving force that stimulates demand, and it is worth asking the question of what role television (and film, and fiction) have played in the decisions teens make.

Back when The Common Man was The Awkward Teenage Boy, his father used to tell him about how he had never had a "girlfriend" in high school, per se, but that he had gone on dates with a lot of girls. That going steady, and officially beginning a relationship was a major step. The Common Man has no way of verifying if that's true or not, aside from anecdotal evidence. But kids today (and when The Common Man was in school) seem to be driven to find a significant other, such that monogamy was the norm. And when anyone is in a relationship, there is an inherent pressure to deepen the commitment and to "go further," to build trust and try new things, that often ends in sex.

And popular culture has certainly bought into this obsession. Characters find and woo their one true love, spend a few episodes (or a few seasons) exploring that relationship, have heartfelt and conflicted debates about whether they should have sex, and then have teh sex. Then, some time later, the couple breaks up, and it the characters both go on to significant and meaningful monogamous relationships with another character (hell, Dawson's Creek got SIX FREAKING SEASONS out of messing with this formula). And, of course, the current craze over Edward Cullen and the Twilight series of books and movies have the same underlying themes, as the female lead must decide whether to become a vampire and deepen her commitment to her undead boyfriend.

But it's silly to blame popular culture for teen pregnancy at this point. After all, teen birth rates (a silly term, who gives birth to teens?) have essentially been halved since 1957, according to the Guttmacher Institute. And during that time, popular culture has been working its sex-crazed, pro-monogamy mojo to the extreme. It's true that shows have been increasingly catering to a teen and tween audience, but it's not like teens didn't watch LA Law and Dallas, and Sixteen Candles and Say Anything in the past, shows and films the dealt with adult themes and crazy sex-having.

Indeed, teens that do choose to have sex today are better educated about the repercussions and apparently more careful about using contraception, and still fewer teens are having sex than during the sexual heyday of the 1970s and '80s. So, NPR, RAND Corporation, and morality activists everywhere, stop your hand-wringing and give some credit to today's teenagers, who on the whole seem to be able to make relatively good decisions regarding their sexuality. Most are smart enough to distinguish what they see on the tube from reality, and they should be encouraged to keep developing that skill. Let them watch what they want, but monitor it, and have informative, frank discussions with them about sex and what they see in the media.

Signage

A troubling story out of Olympia, Washington highlights one of the real disappointing aspects of American culture and politics today.

In protest of a nativity scene on Capitol grounds, atheists in Olympia, Washington, put up an obnoxious sign celebrating the winter solstice and actively dumping on the religion of every single person who does not believe what they do. As you can read, the sign celebrates the winter solstice (Fine, you want to celebrate a winter holiday, that's OK with The Common Man, though it should probably be pointed out that the solstice was used as a holiday for early religions for countless years before you decided it was a secular day.), while calling religion "myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." Dan Barker, the founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (who put up the sign), despite his sign's cartoonishly ridiculous hyperbole, said "It's not that we are trying to coerce anyone; in a way our sign is a signal of protest. If there can be a Nativity scene saying that we are all going to hell if we don't bow down to Jesus, we should be at the table to share our views." Later, he commented, "When people ask us, 'Why are you hateful? Why are you putting up something critical of people's holidays? -- we respond that we kind of feel that the Christian message is the hate message. On that Nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways." Reports indicate that, amazingly, he said this without a hint of irony. There is a threat of internal violence emenating from every single depiction of a cute little baby boy lying in a manger with his mother, father/Joseph, and ox and sheep. That ox, man, he's an intimidating bastard.

Look, The Common Man has no problem with atheists. He does not understand them, as he thinks atheism is the antithesis of logical thought, but he hopes that atheists would provide him the same respect for choosing to be Catholic as he has for their beliefs (or non-beliefs). But often today, The Common Man has been befuddled by the growing phenomenon of evangelized atheists, who see it as their mission to spread their non-religion as obnoxiously as possible. Christopher Hitchens, of course, is the most visible face of this movement, but Barker and his organization appear to be fighting the same battle, using the same in-your-face, belittling, and, frankly, mean tactics. It's not that religions themselves have not been guilty of the same behavior in the past (and present), just that it is sad to see any group casually and cruelly dismiss the beliefs of another.

The story of the atheist sign, however, continues, as it was stolen from the Legislative Building less than an hour after it was put up. After some time, it was found in a ditch and dropped off at a local radio station. There is no word, of course, about the religious views of the thief (though The Common Man is sure you can guess) who violated the eighth comandment, but this kind of childish display is just as bad as the taunting of the atheists, and only does nothing to soften the debate.

Two weeks ago, Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com wrote that he thought Republicans lost the election this year because, in part, they have forgotten how to persuade. The rise of talk radio, according to Silver, has fooled conservatives into believing that stimulation is the same as persuasion, "almost uniquely to radio, most of the audience is not even paying attention to you, because most people listen to radio when they're in the process of doing something else. (If they weren't doing something else, they'd be watching TV). They are driving, mowing the lawn, washing the dishes -- and you have to work really hard to sustain their attention. Hence what [David Foster] Wallace refers to as the importance of "stimulating" the listener." Silver goes on to argue that the McCain campaign focused on stimulation rather than persuasion, mistaking creating a spectacle for converting hearts and minds.

Silver's theory certainly sounds plausible to The Common Man, but The Common Man would humbly suggest that conservatives are not the only group who has forgotten how to persuade. Indeed, Americans seem to have become so enamoured of the shrill, incoherent simultaneous back-and-forth that they hear on radio and see on television that they have begun to accept provoking a response to be the same thing as persuading an audience to agree with their position. Persuasion is a manly art, one that seems to be rapidly wasting away. The Common Man hopes that the recent success by the Obama campaign to win over reluctant voters inspires other groups to attempt dialogue, rather than shallow, showy, but ultimately counter-productive displays like the ones above.

The Common Man Givith...

It has never happened before, but in light of recent events, The Common Man is forced to strip the television executives in charge of the Sunny Side Up Show on Sprout TV of their hard-won Beacon of Manhood. It's not that they have done anything wrong necessarily. Kelly is still bubbly and adorable, and the show still entertains The Boy. But someone far more deserving has come to The Common Man's attention, such that he is unable to justify selfishly awarding the Beacon to a bunch of soulless TV execs who cast a hot girl for their morning program.

Who could have the pull to so drastically alter The Common Man's plans? His name is Earl Stafford. If you haven't heard of him before now, that's ok. He's not a famous man. And he hasn't done anything earth-shattering like curing a disease or inventing the flying car. No, his claim to manliness is far more humble. He's just a wonderfully generous man.

According to CNN.com, Stafford "has spent $1 million to give hundreds of poverty-stricken and terminally ill Americans, along with wounded men and women in uniform, an inauguration experience that would ordinarily run each of them thousands of dollars or more." Stafford's plans for his guests include "high-end hotel rooms and luxury suites, food and drink, a (heated) viewing spot right above the parade route, even gowns and tuxedos to wear to celebratory balls, and a beautician to help [them] get ready for it." He is also prepared to lay out another $600,000 to pay for meals and private balls for those he is bringing to Washington.

Why? Stafford told the Washington Post,

"We wanted to...bless those who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to be a part of the great celebration, the inauguration and the festivities. Our objective is to bring in a cross-section of society — those who are distressed, those who are terminally ill, those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, those veterans who are wounded and served our country.... We've gotten away from those core values that made America great. We just need to get back to caring about one another."

Barack Obama's inauguration is "a transition in history, if you will...and everyone should be included."

Look, professional douchebags like Sean Hannity have done a lot to pervert what the phrase "great American," in the last few years, as though what you believe is a far greater criteria than what you do. Stafford, through his generosity, his patriotism, and his good will is the perfect embodiment of what Americanism and masculinity should be. Good job, Earl Stafford. You sir, are a great American as well as a great man. And, if you have a couple extras, could you send a couple tickets The Common Man's way?

Tangents

The bane of The Common Man's existence in elementary and middle school were the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. The award was created by Lyndon Johnson in 1966, who used the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (established by Eisenhower in 1956) to promote it and the tests by which the awards were won. So, every year, The Common Man and his classmates had to spend a full week of gym doing the shuttle run, pull-ups, sit-ups, the 100 yard dash, and other events designed to make The Common Man realize just how slow he really was. It's not that The Common Man was out of shape, mind you (that's what college was for), rather that he was just very unathletic. What little success he did have as an athlete was achieved largely on guile, aggressiveness, and dumb luck. But during these tests that actually measured physical ability, The Common Man was left in the dust by the Jeremy Beaulieus and the Jason Youngs of the world who were gifted with phenomenal speed, strength, and flexibility.

Despite his hatred of these tests, however, The Common Man appreciates their ability to help us understand what is happening to America's school children. According to a report released by the California Department of Education, the athletic prowess of their students is decreasing. The Sacramento Bee reports that "roughly a third of California students met all standards measured on the state's annual physical fitness test last school year. Elementary kids were even less fit; only 28.5 percent measured up. In Sacramento County, 29.1 percent of elementary students tested met fitness standards." This is in part, the D.o.E. believes, because recently constructed schools tend to have no actual gymnasium. Rather, they have multi-purpose rooms that double as assembly rooms or cafeterias. On many winter days, then, when it rains, California students are forced indoors, but without a place to play. And in several schools, the breakfast and lunch programs offered by the school leave the room available for only an hour anyway.

It is also worth noting that, according to the national Parent Teacher Association, 40 percent of elementary schools have eliminated recess entirely, and many more have cut it back. The pressures on educators to increase test scores in order to secure funding and save jobs, and the need to save money on school construction, has severely limited the exercise that America's children are getting. No wonder, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 17 percent of schoolchildren are obese in America. Bring back recess and gym!



It's remarkable what power three little letters have. Consider: Recess, that disappearing hour of awesome in the middle of the school day, was awesome. This fixture of elementary school life for The Common Man allowed hours of freeze tag, kickball, and touch football for The Common Man as he grew up. It promoted social and physical growth and made Mrs. Seifert's fourth-grade math class somewhat bearable. The Common Man has only good memories of recess, except for the one time he got in a fight with Jason Magnuson in third grade and both participants ended up crying and holding their groins in the aftermath.

However, recession generally sucks. And according to the National Bureau of Economic Statistics, America is mired within one. Spawned by an unholy alliance of risky debt, high oil prices, and unsustainable growth, the recession has already dramatically altered the course of this nation by providing Barak Obama an easy victory over John McCain. And as it either drags on or is abated by new stimulus packages, the strength of the economy will have real effects on the U.S.'s ability to wage war in the Middle East, protect and support its allies, and counter the increasing economic strength of China and India (not to mention the military aggression of growingly fascist Russia). So it is fair to say that, like the worldwide Depression of the 1930s, the current economic crisis has a similar potential to change and fundamentally reorder the global powers.

By global powers, of course, The Common Man means the Disney Corporation. According to NPR, Disney's profits have slipped sharply as American families are taking fewer and less expensive vacations. Orlando, in particular, has seen a 10 percent drop in hotel reservations, and Florida has seen about a million fewer tourists this year. In response Disney has been offering free nights at its hotels and free food vouchers for its attractions. Disney is close to The Common Man's heart. It is, after all, where he and The Uncommon Wife fell madly in love after they snuck away from a dry wedding party to get liquored up at the House of Blues. But even so, The Common Man anticipates that Disney's bottom line will continue to suffer as more Americans cut back on extravagances, and the company continues to charge an arm and a leg to get close to Mickey.

Wake Up Call

Generally, after watching Sesame Street on the PBS offshoot channel Sprout with The Boy on Monday mornings, The Common Man zips over to his local PBS channel to catch another episode, which he and The Boy watch a few minutes of before he loses interest and wants to do something active with his little 2-year old self. Today, however, they accidentally hung around Sprout for a few extra minutes while The Common Man cleaned up breakfast.

And for his tardiness, The Common Man was rewarded with a few minutes with Kelly, one of the human actors who rotate co-hosting duties on the channel's Sunny Side Up Show (with a bird puppet named Chica).
Kelly's disarming, non-threatening cuteness, enthusiastic bubbliness, and little girl pigtails make her the perfect choice to host the show in the morning. Indeed, perfect for the little children who instinctively love adults who talk in a happy voice and smile a lot. And perfect for daddies who missed out on their morning caffeine-fix and needed something else to, um, get them going. Kelly's got the mid-twenties, enthusiastic-about-being-awake-at-8-in-the-morning, I-could-totally-be-your-girlfriend-and-wouldn't-at-all-be-a-hassle-and-would-totally-think-everything-you-said-and-did-was-just-super-and-would-totally-stroke-your-male-ego look down cold.

Now, The Common Man is not foolish enough to think that Kelly's off-camera persona matches her character that smilingly wonders what day of the week it is and reads off birthdays with a foam-rubber bird who speaks in squeaks. But reality need not enter the equation at 8 in the morning, staving off the squeaky-silliness of Elmo. The Common Man's mini-crush on the comely co-host makes the morning routine just a little more entertaining for The Common Man, and makes the happy-happy-joy-joy of children's TV a lot more bearable, helping him to be an enthused and exciting playmate for The Boy for the rest of the morning.

So this week's Beacon of Manhood goes to whoever hired the lovely Kelly to brighten The Common Man's morning. The Common Man salutes your foresight and understanding of the male psyche. Now, The Common Man demands that you get rid of the neutered male co-hosts who take the other two-thirds of the mornings away from Kelly, and disappoint all the dads (and non-traditional moms) out there who are so looking forward to some bouncy, happy pigtails. Instead, they see this:



Ugh. Buzz-kill.