11/10: What I Accomplished Today

1. Level 38 Human Paladin. Arathi Highlands.

2. Television and Pogo badges.

3. I'm still thinking about Sunset Boulevard from yesterday. Gloria Swanson was only 50, and the movie seems to feel it's inappropriate for her to be sexual, at least with William Holden. (And it is, but not because of either of their ages; she is his employer.) I made the comment a few months ago that, as longevity and general health increase, women (and men, but I'm going to use female imagery) are increasingly refusing to fit into the maiden-mother-crone model and "go gently" to that good night of grandparent-hood; they are seeing themselves as ingenues, as sexually desirable and active, until death. (A survey came out a few weeks ago indicating that a sizable percentage of people in their 80's are still participating in sexual activities.)

And hurray. That's as it should be. (At least in some ways.)

On the other hand, one of the problems with cross-generational relationships (and I don't have a problem with such relationships, as long as both people are able to decide to participate of their own free wills and volitions) is that sense of Being Sexual and Seducing. There's a line in the film that, whenever she senses the Holden character is getting bored, she puts on a show for him. And the show she puts on is really quite good: she does a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty dance number and then a spot-on Chaplin impersonation. However, at least one purpose for the former would presumably have been titillation, and it's hard to imagine the exquisite William Holden (or any man of his age at the time) as aroused by the flapper number. It's sort of quaint and charming, perhaps even funny, but it's lost much of its original impetus because the images just aren't right.

As I mentioned, we also watched the film a second to listen to the commentary, which was done by a young man who had written a book on Billy Wilder and particularly the making of this film. What was interesting is that Co-Vivant is 50 and I am 43, and in terms of watching this movie, those seven years seemed significant. He made several comments about Swanson's actions being "creepy" or "over-the-top," and yeah, I was totally with him. Co-Vivant was impatient with these comments and made disparaging comments about how young the reviewer must be, I finally confessed that I was with him on these; I, too, was finding Swanson's facial expressions or hand positions or whatever creepy and unnerving. The difference, I think, is that as a kid, her dad used to show silent movies on their Super-8 home movie projector; we had a movie projector, but we never watched silents on it. I saw a few silents as a kid, but most of my experience with silent movies has been as an adult. For me, they're a little quaint and precious; yes, I can watch the movie and derive the plot and follow the emotional line and such, but it is not a natural form for me. (It's like "movies as a second language.")

I don't think they have that sense of removal or disconnection for my Co-Vivant, so she's going to see Gloria Swanson's mode of acting (which is brilliant, don't get me wrong, and perfect for this movie) as less artificial than I am. She is more the film's original intended audience; in terms of movie watching, I'm a generation younger, and that matters for this film.

4. Played Frannie's Fashion Fits or some such. Pretty good game; it's time management, but the early levels aren't painfully clunky. This one may be worth a BigFish credit; I haven't decided yet.

5. Did auction checks in WOW. Couldn't gather sufficient mojo to get much playing done.

6. Read several magazines. Finished Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. Started The Last Empress, this month's book for Literary Society.