Sweeney Todd

Tonight, for my friend’s birthday, we went to a local movie theater to watch the new Johnny Depp/Tim Burton film - Sweeney Todd.  I found the movie to be, like many other Tim Burton films, disturbing yet oddly entertaining.  The story revolves around a deranged barber who returns to London after a 15 year exile and wreaks his revenge on the people of London (but especially one man – a judge who exiled Todd on fake charges, raped his wife, then stole his daughter).  The movie is rated R for “graphic bloody violence”, and with good reason.  Ironically, the use of excessive blood serves more as comic relief than anything else.  Ordinarily, I am easily frightened by horror films, but I find it hard to fear the character of Sweeney Todd.  For this, I praise Tim Burton.  How he turned a violent, vengeful, mass murdering barber into a sympathetic character, I will never know.  The film is morbid, bloody, and gut churning, but thankfully not nightmare producing.  I give it a recommendation for anyone that isn’t easily deterred by blood.

While Tim Burton has a frightening imagination, I still respect his abilities as a director.  Should I ever be faced with some need to write a critical piece over the symbolism of a movie, I will certainly choose one of Burton’s films.  The use of color and contrast is incredible.  Color, costume, and minute actions throughout the film play a huge role in characterization.  The scenes of Todd’s past life as Benjamin Barker, the happily married successful barber, are saturated with color and life.  Todd’s present life is drained, monotone, and grim.  When Mrs. Lovett fantasizes about  life near the sea, happily married to Sweeney Todd, her visions of bright color clash with Todd’s grim expression and reserved actions.  The effect is comical, but still essential to the scene.  Basically, we all know this would never happen, so we don’t even hope. 

Now that I’ve ruined the movie with critical commentary…  you should go see it.

Regret me not…

Live today through the future’s lense
Don’t want to wish you could reset and play it again
–Superchic[k]

I have certain opinions about the advertising campaign that the American Eagle clothing stores recently put out called “Live Your Life”.  It’s cute, it’s catchy, and it upholds very admirable values – depending on how you interpret it.  Most parents would fall into the assumption that the phrase is translated roughly to “Live life to the fullest”, which isn’t in itself a wrong or bad idea.  Unfortunately, the average teenager that borrows Daddy’s plastic to purchase the bags, sweatpants, and shirts emblazoned with the logo probably holds a different view.  To them the phrase is a cleverly disguised way of saying “Party now while you can”.  Neither interpretation is wrong (depending on how you define the word “wrong” and then how flexible your morals are) but neither interpretation is fully complete either.  What does “live your life to the fullest” actually mean?  and should we party now before we grow up and have actual responsibilities?

Personally, I adhere to the philosophy that one should live their life in a way that will allow them to continue to live and enjoy life later on.  -.-  Great job, Daphne, pat on the back… what the hell does that mean anyway?  It means doing my homework, sadly enough, so that I can stay in school, go to a nice college, get a nice job, and be able to support myself and my interests later in life.  It means not drinking or doing drugs (including pot, you idiots who think it’s harmless) so I don’t screw up my body chemistry, or get arrested, or lose my parents’ trust, or lose sight of what actually matters in life.  It means being a “failure as a teenager” (ie. not partying, or sleeping with jackasses, or staying out past curfew) and having my parents trust me so I don’t have to fight with them for every inch of freedom. 

The idea is to live responsibly  so I can continue to enjoy my life.   I don’t want to look back and regret any decision that I’ve made.  I want to be able to respect myself even when I’m older.  I would like to be able to look at my kids and say “Yes, it’s possible to get through highschool without screwing everything up”, “No, not everyone is doing it, and you can be happy without it”.  I believe it’s possible to live your life and to do so in a way that ensures happiness later on.  What’s the point in going all out if everything sucks later?

A Brief Introduction

All good things (Starwars for example) begin with an introduction.  Not that I presume that this blog is one of those ”good things”, but an introduction seems to be proper anyway. 

My name is Daphne.  I’m probably younger than you are (considering that I’m younger than the majority of the world’s population), but you can decide for yourself how young you think I am.  Let’s be honest – I am little more than a fictional character to you.  We have never met nor will we ever meet.  Like any fictional character, you will flesh out my personality to conform to the sort of identity that you think I should have.  You might see me as an academic scholar, or a caring humanitarian, or a lazy ne’er-do-well.  All of those characters would (and will) be supported by my true character, a multifaceted person with many contradicting interests and passions.  We have something in common.  You can decide for yourself what you think that is.

In case you had not figured it out, I have no intention of giving out the address of this blog to the people I know and love.  I’m really just doing this because I love to write.  I love the sound of my own writing.  Everyday, hundreds of opinions and reactions pile into the space between my ears and I now have an outlet for those experiences.  But the fact that I’m not advertising this blog doesn’t mean I have deluded myself into thinking that no one will ever read it.  If I wanted this to be confidential, I would have wandered over to Barnes and Nobel to buy a shiny new journal notebook (I have one, and I use it for the more private thoughts I have).  I don’t know if anyone I know will ever get a hold of this address, but I don’t plan on revealing anything incriminating anyway, so they can have it.

 Don’t worry, this won’t be another emo diary where I tell you how unfair my parents are and how I ponder suicide.  I’m not like that (if you hadn’t already come to that conclusion).

Well now that the introduction is over, we can actually begin…