I agree- the movie is really good. Have to admit- almost shed a tear because it was so cute :)
I would say that it's interesting how the man didn't want to be seen because of his diasability as he thought he was all of the sudden different. His fiancee on the other hand, did not respond to it the way Fiedler says we do when faced with disability. She did not pity him, or fear him, she viewed him as the same person. She also did not wish him away or to be cured, but accepted him the way he was (at least that's what i took from it).
I found that part to be interesting too, along with the part when the guy says that "Normal is normal and Cripple is Cripple. We make people uncomfortable and remind them that their body can be broken!"
I thought that was interesting because there are people like that and I have encountered a few of them, but in my own opinion, being 'cripple' [as they call it, not me] doesn't make me look at a person any less.
Also, I'm usually not interested in black and white films, but for some reason this one was different.
Anna, I think there were points where she feared him; Brock made it clear that we all have our moments of human weakness in dealing with disappointments and stress. But it's depicted as a pretty good relationship on the whole.
Lashera, I love that quote from Norm! I think I will put it on a list of "quotes to discuss" for Friday's class if I can.
I have mixed feelings about the relationship between Ken and Ellen (or was it Ellie? It seemed to change). At first she appeared to be OK with his disability, and practically begged him to marry her. Then, when he does, she suddenly realizes that maybe they shouldn't have? She should have been honest with him from the start, or at least been honest with herself.
Ellie may have not pitied Ken but she did give him false hope about their relationship which I find worse than pity; at least pity is consistent and not so wishy-washy. I understand she's human, and humans make mistakes, but that soured the relationship for me. Perhaps it had more to do with the script; her thought process seemed rushed and I did not get a clear sense of how she went from A-C in such little time.
While watching, I also noticed a comparison with Goffman and his theory that stigmatized people try to compensate for their stigma by engaging in activities that "normals" think they wouldn't be able to do (i.e. scenes of Ken driving a car, swimming, going bowling).
Overall, I enjoyed the movie; the friendship between the men was especially endearing.
Joann --don't rule out good ol' 1950 misogyny as an explanation for why her emotional response changes so quickly and why her weaknesses are presented as inevitable! Possibly to a guy writing a screenplay in that era, that's "how women are"! And Ellie, you'll note, is perhaps the strongest female character we see.
I enjoyed the movie as well ( a nice change of pace). I was really struck by two things in the film: one the scene where the women are questioning the doctor and also just the doctor himself. The movie seems to present parapelegia as a newer field of medicine and the earnestness and distress that the women show in questioning the doctor on walking and fathering children really caught my attention. You can see how torn they are between loving whatever guy their involved with or just completely abondoning that person because they didn't sign on for all of this. The doctor was my favorite character because he was the most complex. He was the only person in the movie that rose above (in my opinion) the us and them nature of relations with the disabled men. He does not baby the men or spare them the truth about their conditions, but he isn't cynical about their chance at recovery.
All in all I would have to say I was surprised that the movie wasnt about a great triumph in the history of humanity for these veterans. It took a sober approach to the lives of severly injured veterans and even the end wasn't wrapped in a big reassuring package that rights all the wrongs in the world of the film. That made me happy.
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I must say that I absolutely enjoyed (from what we watched), the film 'The Men.'
Very interesting, please post a discussion on here about it, I would love to participate!
I agree- the movie is really good. Have to admit- almost shed a tear because it was so cute :)
I would say that it's interesting how the man didn't want to be seen because of his diasability as he thought he was all of the sudden different. His fiancee on the other hand, did not respond to it the way Fiedler says we do when faced with disability. She did not pity him, or fear him, she viewed him as the same person. She also did not wish him away or to be cured, but accepted him the way he was (at least that's what i took from it).
I found that part to be interesting too, along with the part when the guy says that "Normal is normal and Cripple is Cripple. We make people uncomfortable and remind them that their body can be broken!"
I thought that was interesting because there are people like that and I have encountered a few of them, but in my own opinion, being 'cripple' [as they call it, not me] doesn't make me look at a person any less.
Also, I'm usually not interested in black and white films, but for some reason this one was different.
Anna, I think there were points where she feared him; Brock made it clear that we all have our moments of human weakness in dealing with disappointments and stress. But it's depicted as a pretty good relationship on the whole.
Lashera, I love that quote from Norm! I think I will put it on a list of "quotes to discuss" for Friday's class if I can.
I have mixed feelings about the relationship between Ken and Ellen (or was it Ellie? It seemed to change). At first she appeared to be OK with his disability, and practically begged him to marry her. Then, when he does, she suddenly realizes that maybe they shouldn't have? She should have been honest with him from the start, or at least been honest with herself.
Ellie may have not pitied Ken but she did give him false hope about their relationship which I find worse than pity; at least pity is consistent and not so wishy-washy. I understand she's human, and humans make mistakes, but that soured the relationship for me. Perhaps it had more to do with the script; her thought process seemed rushed and I did not get a clear sense of how she went from A-C in such little time.
While watching, I also noticed a comparison with Goffman and his theory that stigmatized people try to compensate for their stigma by engaging in activities that "normals" think they wouldn't be able to do (i.e. scenes of Ken driving a car, swimming, going bowling).
Overall, I enjoyed the movie; the friendship between the men was especially endearing.
Joann --don't rule out good ol' 1950 misogyny as an explanation for why her emotional response changes so quickly and why her weaknesses are presented as inevitable! Possibly to a guy writing a screenplay in that era, that's "how women are"! And Ellie, you'll note, is perhaps the strongest female character we see.
I enjoyed the movie as well ( a nice change of pace). I was really struck by two things in the film: one the scene where the women are questioning the doctor and also just the doctor himself. The movie seems to present parapelegia as a newer field of medicine and the earnestness and distress that the women show in questioning the doctor on walking and fathering children really caught my attention. You can see how torn they are between loving whatever guy their involved with or just completely abondoning that person because they didn't sign on for all of this.
The doctor was my favorite character because he was the most complex. He was the only person in the movie that rose above (in my opinion) the us and them nature of relations with the disabled men. He does not baby the men or spare them the truth about their conditions, but he isn't cynical about their chance at recovery.
All in all I would have to say I was surprised that the movie wasnt about a great triumph in the history of humanity for these veterans. It took a sober approach to the lives of severly injured veterans and even the end wasn't wrapped in a big reassuring package that rights all the wrongs in the world of the film. That made me happy.
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