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shadowkatToday we got new monitor screens at the office - 20 inch screens, it inspired me to get a background for the screen. So picked forests.
New neighborhood has much cheaper grocery stores - a Food Town, where you can get a large steak for $6 in comparison to Whole Food's $21 per pound. And a Natural Food Coop on Courtelyou Road. Plus various fresh produce stores. There's also a lot of Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Indian markets. The US Post Office is just one block from the subway. And the Food Town? Two blocks. While the pharmacy is next door.
On TV Front?
I did see The Robot of Sherwood - actually first thing I did after I got my new DVR set up - was set it up to record Doctor Who. It was an okay episode. What struck me about it - is that much like last week's episode, there's an on-going theme regarding the Doctor's insecurity complex. After the past few seasons of giddy tom-foolery and reckless jumping back and forth through time and space - the Doctor is beginning to wonder if he is one of the good guys? Am I a hero? Do I live up to my legend? Is it but an illusion? And the writers are playing a bit with our perception of the hero and the reality. At the end of the day, The Doctor is just a man. Granted an alien man. But a man. (Alien by the way was a word coined by a science fiction writer...found that out recently.) But much like Robin Hood, he's worshiped and over time has become something else - an icon. And...how do you keep the trope fresh? Robin Hood, after all, has had many incarnations in stories...and the trope at times feels done to death. The Doctor too has had one too many incarnations, 12, (if you count John Hurt -13) in all. Each one slightly different than rest, yet also commenting oh so subtly on the last one.
Becoming a legend or an icon has a wearing effect on a person. It's easier to be a hero when you aren't seen. You don't have to live up to the image on the screen. A bit like OZ, standing shivering behind his curtain screaming out to Dorothy and company - don't look at the man behind the curtain, ignore the man behind the curtain. The Doctor and Robin Hood must feel somewhat the same way - as is indicated in their brief final exchange.
Robin: You're her hero.
The Doctor: But I'm no hero.
Robin: Neither am I. [Pause] But to her, you are. And hey, the way I look at it, it gives us something to live up to.
The Doctor wears the face of a cynical older man. No longer the giddy 20 something full of fun and play, and heroism. Over and over in the previous episode, Into the Dalak, he asks Clara Oswald, his impossible girl, whether he is a good man - to which, she finally responds, I don't know. In that episode, much like this one - he's looking for the good in his worst enemy. Is there such a thing as good dalak? When in reality he may well be hunting the good in his own soul. In this episode, Robot of Sherwood - he wonders if he is a hero. So he questions Robin, a legendary hero of British folklore, legitimacy. Is Robin real or just a robot, an illusion? Can heroes be real? Are there such things? He discovers that Robin is definitely real, but not necessarily always heroic.
The broader question is of course - to what degree can our heroes live up to our expectations? Are there heroes? I read an article recently about how television and fictional narratives were slowly turning away from the anti-hero and back towards the hero myth. There's been a gradual shift from the nasty vigilantes, dark knights, and
bad guy heroes - a la Walter White, Soprano, Batman (Nolan's Dark Knight), House. Our society is beginning to crave stalwart and true or someone who is honest and kind, at the very least.
But what toll does this take on the hero? To stay on that impossible pedestal? OR is Robin Hood correct - that it provides you with someone to live up to? I can try to be good. I can try to be a hero. I can live up to your perception of me. If you perceive me as a good man and a good hero - that is what I'll live up to. Which brings up another question - to what degree are our perceptions or rather what we choose to perceive responsible for how others behave? If we perceive only the bad or evil in another, should we be surprised that this is how they behave towards us? But if we perceive the good, the stalwart, the heroic - is that how they will behave? Is what we perceive - what we attract? Can it be so simple? Can our perception inspire behavior in another?
************
On a side note? Not sure about the new arc villain, who keeps plucking people who appear to have died from the brink of death. Do however like the relationship between the Doctor and Clara, which seems to be more platonic. Like I stated previously, I'm not sure romantic relationships work between the Doctor and his companions...
New neighborhood has much cheaper grocery stores - a Food Town, where you can get a large steak for $6 in comparison to Whole Food's $21 per pound. And a Natural Food Coop on Courtelyou Road. Plus various fresh produce stores. There's also a lot of Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Indian markets. The US Post Office is just one block from the subway. And the Food Town? Two blocks. While the pharmacy is next door.
On TV Front?
I did see The Robot of Sherwood - actually first thing I did after I got my new DVR set up - was set it up to record Doctor Who. It was an okay episode. What struck me about it - is that much like last week's episode, there's an on-going theme regarding the Doctor's insecurity complex. After the past few seasons of giddy tom-foolery and reckless jumping back and forth through time and space - the Doctor is beginning to wonder if he is one of the good guys? Am I a hero? Do I live up to my legend? Is it but an illusion? And the writers are playing a bit with our perception of the hero and the reality. At the end of the day, The Doctor is just a man. Granted an alien man. But a man. (Alien by the way was a word coined by a science fiction writer...found that out recently.) But much like Robin Hood, he's worshiped and over time has become something else - an icon. And...how do you keep the trope fresh? Robin Hood, after all, has had many incarnations in stories...and the trope at times feels done to death. The Doctor too has had one too many incarnations, 12, (if you count John Hurt -13) in all. Each one slightly different than rest, yet also commenting oh so subtly on the last one.
Becoming a legend or an icon has a wearing effect on a person. It's easier to be a hero when you aren't seen. You don't have to live up to the image on the screen. A bit like OZ, standing shivering behind his curtain screaming out to Dorothy and company - don't look at the man behind the curtain, ignore the man behind the curtain. The Doctor and Robin Hood must feel somewhat the same way - as is indicated in their brief final exchange.
Robin: You're her hero.
The Doctor: But I'm no hero.
Robin: Neither am I. [Pause] But to her, you are. And hey, the way I look at it, it gives us something to live up to.
The Doctor wears the face of a cynical older man. No longer the giddy 20 something full of fun and play, and heroism. Over and over in the previous episode, Into the Dalak, he asks Clara Oswald, his impossible girl, whether he is a good man - to which, she finally responds, I don't know. In that episode, much like this one - he's looking for the good in his worst enemy. Is there such a thing as good dalak? When in reality he may well be hunting the good in his own soul. In this episode, Robot of Sherwood - he wonders if he is a hero. So he questions Robin, a legendary hero of British folklore, legitimacy. Is Robin real or just a robot, an illusion? Can heroes be real? Are there such things? He discovers that Robin is definitely real, but not necessarily always heroic.
The broader question is of course - to what degree can our heroes live up to our expectations? Are there heroes? I read an article recently about how television and fictional narratives were slowly turning away from the anti-hero and back towards the hero myth. There's been a gradual shift from the nasty vigilantes, dark knights, and
bad guy heroes - a la Walter White, Soprano, Batman (Nolan's Dark Knight), House. Our society is beginning to crave stalwart and true or someone who is honest and kind, at the very least.
But what toll does this take on the hero? To stay on that impossible pedestal? OR is Robin Hood correct - that it provides you with someone to live up to? I can try to be good. I can try to be a hero. I can live up to your perception of me. If you perceive me as a good man and a good hero - that is what I'll live up to. Which brings up another question - to what degree are our perceptions or rather what we choose to perceive responsible for how others behave? If we perceive only the bad or evil in another, should we be surprised that this is how they behave towards us? But if we perceive the good, the stalwart, the heroic - is that how they will behave? Is what we perceive - what we attract? Can it be so simple? Can our perception inspire behavior in another?
************
On a side note? Not sure about the new arc villain, who keeps plucking people who appear to have died from the brink of death. Do however like the relationship between the Doctor and Clara, which seems to be more platonic. Like I stated previously, I'm not sure romantic relationships work between the Doctor and his companions...
no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 07:14 pm (UTC)