Sunday, November 30, 2008

What's Worse - Settling or Always Looking for Something Better?

While we were in Barcelona, we found a theater with a bunch of screenings of films in English. I couldn't talk the person I was with into seeing Rachel Getting Married, and I had no real interest in Body of Lies, so we saw Vicky Christina Barcelona.

The only other Woody Allen movie I've seen is Matchpoint, and for the most part, the movie was entertaining enough. The narrator was obnoxious, because everything he said was obvious anyway, and at one point, I turned to the guy I was with and said, "this was definitely written by a man." I'm just not sure I buy the idea of one guy being that charming and amazing. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of Penelope Cruz outside that setting, and not just her as the crazy ex-wife.

One thing that I noticed that's kind of weird about myself was my reaction to the end of the movie (spoiler alert): I was really disappointed that Vicky stayed with her husband. It felt like she was simply settling and compromising. I'm not saying she should have run off with the artist, but it seemed like she was setting herself up for an unfulfilled and less than happy life.

A few weeks ago, Pivo and I actually got into a drunken discussion about this type of thing. It seems like the book The Game (apparently there's a TV show as well now) has become quite popular within the unit. A sergeant told me about it months ago, and gave me his copy as a must read to understand men. I still haven't read it. One of the other platoon leaders has also read it, and he lent it to Pivo recently. Pivo was talking about a part of the book where the main person, Mystery (?), got Scott Baio's girlfriend's number. I don't even know who Scott Baio is, but apparently it was supposed to be a big deal. I just made the comment that if you're dating someone, you shouldn't give or get someone else's number in front of that person. It's just rude - if the relationship really isn't working, end it; don't make sure you have a back-up before ending it and just stick around because you don't know if you can do better. Also, at some point, people make a commitment to each other which means they stop looking around for someone better to come along (while wasted, Pivo agreed with me on that point - I haven't asked while sober).

So based on that, I should have been happy with the ending of Vicky Christina Barcelona. I guess the difference is that Vicky seemed to be resigning herself to a life that was less than happy. While the guy may have been the catalyst, it was more about her realizing her discontent but accepting it. In the other case, it seems like people just can't be satisfied with their situation and think they should constantly be looking for something else. And of course, the whole lack of etiquette irritated me.

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