The Wicker Man - Spoilers
Jan. 18th, 2004 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckWatched The Wicker Man with The Husband last night.
First, considering how this movie is always described, I expected it to be kinda dumb soft porn with a big fire at the end.
Actually, it was very well done. Good acting, decent script, eroticism just explicit enough but carefully used. And everybody in the town sang very well (was wondering if there is a soundtrack - should investigate).
Anyway, I would definitely recommend it.
Lead to a long, philosophical discussion with The Husband on various subjects. Up 'til after 2am.
All the "free sex" set me off wondering what I have often wondered - why are humans not more matrilinial? It makes much more sense than trying to trace heredity back through the male. Best theory is that it has to do with the apparently natural (or at least nearly unavoidable) patriarchical human state. Even though it seems to me to make more sense even in a patriarchical society for heredity to go down through your sister's children, once you are in charge, what if you don't have any sisters? You've got to get useful offspring somehow to inherit your power. Plus, once you've got all the power, maybe it's too difficult psychologically not to have all the power, and make your own offspring yourself rather than relying on your sister to pass on your genes. (Though that argument is weak, as really the child production power never comes back to the man, just transfers from one female, his sister, to another female, his mate, and his control over his mate is so unsure compared to control over the sister). And then, of course, there is the argument that men just aren't logical (even biologically).
Then, Husband asked if I thought Lord Summerisle was evil. Much discussion about whether there can be absolute evil, or whether evil depends on motivation and cultural context. We agreed that luring the policeman to Summerisle to be a human sacrifice was evil, both in an absolute sense and in the context of the religion as presented. Lord Summerisle was the correct sacrifice. And even if they weren't going to sacrifice him, a legitimate sacrifice should have come from within their own community. Using the policeman, after the elaborate scheme to bring him to their ceremony, was wrong even within their own context, and murder no matter how you slice it. However, much continuing discussion about whether human sacrifice could just be flatly condemned as evil on a higher moral level.
Good movie. And an example of why I married The Husband in the first place. We can talk for hours about stuff. (So eloquent.)
First, considering how this movie is always described, I expected it to be kinda dumb soft porn with a big fire at the end.
Actually, it was very well done. Good acting, decent script, eroticism just explicit enough but carefully used. And everybody in the town sang very well (was wondering if there is a soundtrack - should investigate).
Anyway, I would definitely recommend it.
Lead to a long, philosophical discussion with The Husband on various subjects. Up 'til after 2am.
All the "free sex" set me off wondering what I have often wondered - why are humans not more matrilinial? It makes much more sense than trying to trace heredity back through the male. Best theory is that it has to do with the apparently natural (or at least nearly unavoidable) patriarchical human state. Even though it seems to me to make more sense even in a patriarchical society for heredity to go down through your sister's children, once you are in charge, what if you don't have any sisters? You've got to get useful offspring somehow to inherit your power. Plus, once you've got all the power, maybe it's too difficult psychologically not to have all the power, and make your own offspring yourself rather than relying on your sister to pass on your genes. (Though that argument is weak, as really the child production power never comes back to the man, just transfers from one female, his sister, to another female, his mate, and his control over his mate is so unsure compared to control over the sister). And then, of course, there is the argument that men just aren't logical (even biologically).
Then, Husband asked if I thought Lord Summerisle was evil. Much discussion about whether there can be absolute evil, or whether evil depends on motivation and cultural context. We agreed that luring the policeman to Summerisle to be a human sacrifice was evil, both in an absolute sense and in the context of the religion as presented. Lord Summerisle was the correct sacrifice. And even if they weren't going to sacrifice him, a legitimate sacrifice should have come from within their own community. Using the policeman, after the elaborate scheme to bring him to their ceremony, was wrong even within their own context, and murder no matter how you slice it. However, much continuing discussion about whether human sacrifice could just be flatly condemned as evil on a higher moral level.
Good movie. And an example of why I married The Husband in the first place. We can talk for hours about stuff. (So eloquent.)
