SEX / CINEMA
In college I took an exquisite film analysis class discussing gender roles in horror film. If you want to discuss cinematic gender roles, there's really no other genre except comedy (notice it's the two extremes) that is even worth exploring. And there are several ways to look at it. The first and most obvious being what they talked about in the Scream rules: Sex Is Death in a horror movie. Notice how this only applies to a couple though when you know the guy's name? If Tiffany and Chad bump uglies in the creepy cobweb-filled bedroom in the abandoned cabin, they'll both be hanging from meathooks in no time. If instead you're watching Tiffany hump on Frat Party Guy #2 at the big grad party, she's a dead woman. As for FPG2, he'll likely be standing in the doorway wordlessly backlit watching the chainsaw decimate Tiffany's head before running away, wearing nothing but boxers and a blood smear across his hairless chest and being all but ignored by passerby.
Death As Punishment For Sex goes deeper though, in any horror movie worth paying attention to anyway, and probably not in a way one would automatically realize. And there is no better example to be had than the movie that is a centerpoint of all gender argument in horror: Psycho. Everything should apply to the remake as well but in my mind the remake/redux leads a pointless existence, it's all about the original Hitchcock film.
The gender roles in Psycho are simple. Marion, the female lead, is the heroine. The movie opens with her lounging in her underthings in post-coital bliss with her lover (not husband or boyfriend). From frame one, she is cast as a strong but inherently sexual being.
To step back for a minute, one of the greatest things about Psycho is its non-traditional narrative structure. Not wacky in the sense that Pulp Fiction or Memento are. But for about 40 minutes we watch a woman dissatisfied with her life seize an opportunity - a large amount of money crosses her path, and so she steals it (from someone too wealthy to really miss it, so it isn't like she's ruining someone's life) to escape her circumstances and start over, to run away to what she calls 'a private island'. She leaves the Los Angeles area and drives towards Fairvale, Arizona where her lover awaits, soon to hopefully become more. She drives at night and deviates from the main highway and winds up on a small road in the middle of an ugly rainstorm, and is forced to take shelter in the nearest place she finds - the Bates Motel. Behind the front desk sits an unassuming and handsome young man named Norman Bates, who Marion finds through polite conversation (that occasionally deviates into the awkward to downright unnerving) that Norman has taken over the run of the motel from his sickly mother. Marion overhears Norman's mother berate him from the nearby house they share. Over a late dinner, Marion and Norman connect on seen and unseen levels - he winds up convincing her through no effort of his own to return home to accept responsibility for her theft, and she inspires great longing in him for the life of freedom and leisurely lust someone caring for a sick elderly parent can't experience. Marion retires to her motel room for the evening, and before bed decides to take a shower. In the motel office on the other side of the wall, Norman spies on Marion through a surreptitious hole, watching her undress for her shower and his longing visibly turns into a sexual lust for her that we assume will come to pass during her stay at the motel. Why else would these two paths have crossed in the film's story? Why indeed....
To bring two horror gender roles to sparkling life. When Marion dies after multiple stab wounds in her shower at the hands of who we assume is Norman's unhinged mother, she is receiving the ultimate punishment for her self-assured sexuality. Both by having a somewhat illicit affair, and by awakening the sexual feelings in Mrs. Bates' son. Any mother/son team in horror is fraught with Freud, and by the time Psycho concludes we find out that Mrs. Bates is in fact long dead. Norman, who has a passion for taxidermy, has not only kept his mother alive in a sense by keeping her well preserved body nearby in the basement (wig, dress and all) but also kept her alive in his head, even going so far as to imitate her voice so they can have arguments out loud with each other. A woman who enslaved him in life succeeded so well that she continues even after her death, quashing her son's sexual instincts with what is apparently the more acceptable alternative - murder.
And don't forget, Marion's death in the infamous shower scene occurs about 45 minutes into the film. You spend the first half of the movie totally latched on to her story, and like a blow to the gut suddenly our main character is taken away from us, and we must instead move our focus to aftermath of her death as orchestrated by the mysterious and angel-faced Norman Bates.
So what is the lesson? Pay attention the next time you settle into a horror film, a classically well-formed one in particular. Sex brings death for women, and sex brings torment for men. What is one to make of just a regular person trying to have sex in a horror flick, which let's face it the average character tries to do a lot of? Those who seek sex have a death wish. The virgins always survive. I can't think of one exception. If you can, PLEASE tell me! Maybe people who criticize horror movies for being a bad influence, ill guided, etc., need to look closer. Maybe there is a more of a morality play here at work than the average viewer is open to realizing. Not all lessons come in a shiny happy coating, in the movies or in life.
FOOD
My life is rather full of those 'Maybe it's just me' moments. Which I don't have any large objection too, not all enjoyments need be shared. But then again I have moments where I wonder if ANYONE else feels like that?!? For example, I discussed my favorite thing in the world, food porn, with My Lobster and joked about how there probably aren't many people in the world who could become sexually aroused at the sight of a man standing over a grill putting The Most Perfect Cross-Hatch Ever on a steak. (More on the [sexual] power of food to follow below.) And while it doesn't seem wrong, it seems a tad odd. Luckily he feels the exact same way – caloric consumption borders on religion. Ahhh, bliss.
I enjoyed one of my Best Meals Ever last weekend, 5 courses of epicurean bliss at Ambience in Sacramento. To wit:
Course One - Roasted fig and apricot halves stuffed with goat cheese and pecans with a garlic arugula chiffonade salad
Course Two - Dayboat scallops in a saffron cream sauce with chardonnay butter, with mushroom agnoloti and wasabi-scented caviar
Course Three - Asparagus puree with lemon creme fraiche
Course Four - Seared buffalo with a port wine reduction and tarragon-balsamic reduction, over garlic crusted yukon gold potatoes and grilled asparagus
Course Five - Raspberry and mango mousse cake with fresh berries and mango puree
I have gone through a wonderful evolution in my life over the past approx. 6 years. Tipping those damn scales at 241.3 pounds, I finally decided to do something about it and joined Weight Watchers. Over about 18 months, I got down to 186 pounds. I've gained most of it back, I'm back at 229, which I'm not exactly okay with, but I take full responsibility for of course. I don't lie to myself about bad habits or pretend that chocolate-dipped strawberries are a health food. But here is an upside, and something I'm so very grateful for. Anyone who has known for many years knows that back in the day I was an insanely picky eater. I was a nightmarish eater as a kid and only got marginally better as a teenager and into my 20s. And I thought I knew how to cook, I thought I appreciated food. I was wrong. I enjoyed food - but I didn't appreciate it or having a proper understanding or respect for it. My mind was closed even though my mouth was WIDE open.
Joining Weight Watchers reintroduced me to food. If I wanted to survive, not spend my days starving, to succeed in my goals, I had to relearn that relationship. I had to try new foods, I had to learn new ways to prepare and combine meats and vegetables to keep myself interested. When food smothered in cheese and/or deep fried is no longer an easy and feasible option, things have to change. And over time I learned how amazing food can be. How different things can be prepared different ways and create entirely new flavors. How boiling vegetables destorys their flavor and nutrients, and that grilling or steaming them not only is healthier but their flavors become new and enhanced and downright heavenly. That chicken can be grilled or roasted or baked, that chicken can be my canvas and that my spice rack can be my paint.
I firmly believe that life should be lived with passion, and that nothing as blissful as a custom we enjoy 3 times a day should be treated lightly. Not every meal needs to be an event, sometimes simplicity is key. But don't waste an opportunity. If there is a food out there you cannot stand, try it in its finest preparation. Maybe there is a peace to be found there. Try not to intimidated by an odd texture and instead try to appreciate the nuances that come from it, how the texture would change your perception of the flavors. Also enjoy how food and cooking is an art form that engages all 5 senses. Think about cooking bacon. You recognize the smell immediately. People can be downright comforted by the sound of bacon sizzling in a pan. When you place the bacon in the pan it evolves from a cold meaty strip into a crispy rippled treat - the meat changes color, the fat becomes translucent and provides the bacon with its own oil to cook in. And then the taste. They say bacon makes everything better, they even put it in ice cream. And that's just one food - a slice from a piggy's belly and look what we get out of it.
So before I make the vegetarians vomit, I'll wrap this up. Just know I'm grateful for the evolution a totally unrelated goal gave me - my intention was to lose weight. Instead, I discovered a passion. I'm now the adventurous one, frustrated by a hesitation I see in others to try the wackiest thing on the menu. Our food is just one way we can infuse true delight into our lives - experience it, people, for the wonderful wonderful thing it is.
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