![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/226\/2012\/09\/uw_01843_sm.jpeg\" "\\"JOAQUIN")
<\/a><\/p>\nOctober 2012 Update: I have written two commentaries about <\/em>The Master. The first is posted below. The second (which is much shorter) was published later at Good Letters, the blog hosted by Image<\/a>. Both are written as conversations between moviegoers.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2013<\/p>\n Imagine three moviegoers\u00a0\u2014 Mr. Judge, Fangirl, and Mr. Long-winded\u00a0\u2014\u00a0emerging from a screening of Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s new movie,\u00a0The Master. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>They\u2019re quiet at first, as they find their way to the lobby and sit down with their friend Mrs. Yuk, a friend who walked out of the movie in the first 30 minutes. She\u2019s been waiting and grumbling for two hours.<\/p>\n Full disclosure: Three of these characters are amalgams\u00a0of moviegoers\u00a0\u2014 colleagues, readers, friends\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\u00a0who have sent me messages over the years; they are not meant to represent any person in particular. I actually sympathize with all three of them to some extent. But the fourth, Mr. Long-winded, bears an embarrassing resemblance to me. He\u2019s like me in his verbosity and<\/em> in his view of the movie. But I do wish I could be as mild-mannered and congenial as he is.<\/p>\n The following conversation is very long<\/em>. And near the end, you will encounter a major spoiler warning before these characters talk about the end of the movie.<\/p>\n Ready? Okay. The\u00a0camera zooms in. And the conversation begins with Mrs. Yuk, who cannot contain her frustration any longer.<\/p>\n \u2013<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk:<\/strong><\/p>\n Yuck. Just\u2026 yuck. What a perverse, disgusting movie. I should have known better. This is the guy who made Boogie Nights<\/em> and There Will Be Blood<\/em>. He makes movies about sick sexual perverts and horrible, violent men. I found it utterly offensive.<\/p>\n Mr. Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t offended. I just thought it was a bad movie. Seemed like it would go on forever without anything actually, you know\u2026 happening<\/em>. It was just a bunch of extreme acting and showy set design. The movie has no story.<\/p>\n Fangirl: <\/strong><\/p>\n Omigosh, you\u2019re so wrong. This is Paul Thomas Anderson we\u2019re talking about. And every movie he\u2019s made has been a bigger masterpiece than the last.<\/p>\n Mr. Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n Really? How was that<\/em> a masterpiece?<\/p>\n Fangirl:<\/strong><\/p>\n It just\u2026 it just\u2026 it was just so awesome! It was the most\u2026 the most\u2026 the best\u2026<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk: <\/strong><\/p>\n Blecch. It was pornographic. I feel like my head was thrown in a sewer.<\/p>\n Mr. Long-winded: <\/strong><\/p>\n Whoa, whoa. So may absolute statements!<\/p>\n Fangirl, I know you\u2019re crazy about Anderson\u2019s films. You seem eager to give it some kind of award, but all of these accolades don\u2019t tell me anything. Why does it have to be the \u201cmost\u201d or the \u201cbest\u201d anything? Is anybody in a position to declare such a thing? I want to know what the film made you think<\/em> about, what it made you feel<\/em>. I want to know if it makes you see anything differently in yourself, in others, in politics or religion. Don\u2019t you think you should give it some time, think about it, and see it again before you declare that it\u2019s a masterpiece?<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk, I agree that there was a lot of ugly behavior in the film. Parts of it were very unpleasant. But don\u2019t you think that the bad behavior was portrayed for a good purpose? Seemed to me that maybe we were supposed to consider why<\/em> these characters behaved badly, what was missing from their lives, and what forces were influencing their behavior. If the movie\u2019s making you miserable, by all means, leave the theater. But must you condemn the artist for exploring the subject?<\/p>\n And Mr. Judge, I\u2019m sorry you were bored. I had some trouble with the movie too, but I thought there were two substantial stories being told at the same time. Are you really going to just declare that \u2018nothing happens\u2019 in this movie? Or are you interested in hearing some other points of view first?<\/p>\n Fangirl:<\/strong><\/p>\n What\u2019s wrong with the movie? It should win all of the Oscars.<\/p>\n Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n Harumph. I defy you to find a story in that movie\u2026 or at least a story worth telling.<\/p>\n Long-winded:<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s a complicated movie. But this is the kind of moviegoing experience I always hope to have\u2026 something challenging and mysterious and surprising.\u00a0I don\u2019t think anybody will reach some kind of absolute, definitive description, especially after only one viewing. May I describe what I think are the two substantial stories in this film?<\/p>\n If we can all be a little open-minded, maybe we can share some of our\u2014<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk (interrupting, stands up): <\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s my observation: Blecch. Horrible. Offensive. I can\u2019t believe anybody with a conscience would sit through such garbage. I\u2019m a teacher, and I would never teach material like this to my classes. We only read stuff that has morally redeeming value. We don\u2019t spend time on stuff that\u2019s full of violence and sexual perversity.<\/p>\n Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n What do you teach?<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk:<\/strong><\/p>\n History. Shakespeare. The Bible.<\/p>\n Everybody blinks at Mrs. Yuk. Then, together:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Goodbye, Mrs. Yuk!<\/p>\n Mrs. Yuk goes to catch the bus.<\/strong><\/p>\n Long-winded:<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, let me start with this: Do you know that Bob Dylan song \u201cGotta Serve Somebody\u201d?<\/p>\n Fangirl:<\/strong><\/p>\n Omigosh\u2026 Bob Dylan is the best! I loved it when Cate Blanchett played him in that movie I\u2019m Still Here<\/em>. [Long-winded and Judge exchange glances.<\/em>]<\/strong>\u00a0And I love that song! \u201cIt may be the devil \/ Or it may be the Lord \/ But you\u2019re gonna have to serve somebody\u2026<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n Long-winded: <\/strong><\/p>\n I propose that this is a movie about how we all have to serve somebody, and the master we choose will either increase our joy and freedom or choke the life out of us.<\/p>\n Sometimes we serve masters who do us harm. They lie to us, betray us, neglect us, exploit us, abandon us. But we stay because we\u2019re seduced by charisma, or because we want something they have.<\/p>\n Sometimes we serve ourselves. We serve our ego, or our sex drive, or other appetites. When we do, we isolate ourselves from relationships and other sources of grace. That\u2019s called hell.<\/p>\n Sometimes we serve others in truth, grace, and love. When we do, we\u2019re set free from slavery to ourselves or anyone else.<\/p>\n Fangirl: <\/strong><\/p>\n Doesn\u2019t the cult leader say something like that near the end of the movie? \u201cIf you figure a way to live without serving a master\u2026 then let the rest of us know, will you? You\u2019d be the first person in the history of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Long-winded:<\/strong><\/p>\n Careful, we don\u2019t want to get into spoiler territory. Others may be listening.\u00a0Let\u2019s go to the beginning, when we meet the poor, troubled seafaring soldier named Freddie Quell. Who has Freddie been serving?<\/p>\n Judge (guardedly<\/em>):<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s been serving his country. In the military.<\/p>\n Long-winded:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Right. He\u2019s been sailing with other soldiers. And we see them behaving like animals. They\u2019re prone to drunkenness, to crass behavior, to testosterone-driven tribalism. They fight, they wrestle, and their sexual obsessions and fantasies lead to obscene games on the beach with a naked woman that Freddie sculpted out of sand. Freddie is clearly messed up. He treats the sand-castle woman with sexual aggression and scorn, and then masturbates into the ocean.<\/p>\n Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s when Mrs. Yuk picked up her purse and headed for the door.<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s fine. It\u2019s pretty ugly stuff.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s revealing of Freddie\u2019s character. Like all of us, he has self-serving fantasies and destructive impulses. But\u2026 unlike most people, Freddie has no self-control, and his conscience is drowning in alcohol.<\/p>\n But we also see him lie down beside the sand castle woman alone, as if he\u2019s thinking of someone, something he once. Soon the tide will wash this woman away. Maybe the sea represents the way that time can take things away from us that we\u2019ll never get back.<\/p>\n Judge:<\/strong><\/p>\n Like the 2 1\/2 hours I spent watching this movie.<\/p>\n Long-winded:<\/strong><\/p>\n When Freddie returns, he\u2019s given a pep talk about how he\u2019s free to go and start life over again. He could start a business! Start a family! Put the war behind him!<\/p>\n But we can see that Freddie isn\u2019t ready to just step into a normal life. He\u2019s clearly damaged. He\u2019s tortured by his experience in the war\u00a0\u2014 we get only one brief flashback, and something has clearly shaken him up. He returns a changed man, with\u00a0the physicality of someone 30 years his senior. He seems bent and burdened by memory, damage, and loss. He\u2019s hard and hollowed out, like a twisted piece of driftwood. And he has the demeanor of a battered dog\u00a0\u2014\u00a0sullen, twitchy, fearful, and explosively angry.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s still good at three things: taking photographs, mixing dangerous cocktails, and then drinking his own concoctions.<\/p>\n So he gets a job as a photographer in a department store, and what does he photograph? Well-dressed, well-adjusted people. Families. Beautiful women. Successful and professional men. He\u2019s focusing and honoring all of the treasures that are out of his reach: beauty, love, success, dignity.<\/p>\n The closest he gets to love is a few sexual thrills with a flirtatious shop girl inside his dark room. But even then he\u2019s drunk on paint thinner, which is about as corrosive a beverage as you can imagine.<\/p>\n What happens to people who are denied love in childhood? What happens to the alienated, to the lonely? What happens to those who can\u2019t catch a break? Add post traumatic stress disorder to the mix, and Freddie is a walking time bomb. As he takes pictures, we can hear an infant\u2019s raging wail in the background, and it\u2019s hard to tell whether that\u2019s real or whether it\u2019s Freddie\u2019s state of mind, a rage of protest against a cruel world.<\/p>\n<\/a>Long-winded:<\/strong><\/p>\n