Flowers for Algernon....the movie Charly....and profound thoughts.

Hi Steve, 

I don't know if you saw the Turner Classic Movie channel tonight, with Cliff Robertson starring in CHARLY, but that movie is so awesome, I just absolutely loved it.  The whole thing is based on the book Flowers By Algernon.  Algernon, you might remember, is the little white mouse that Charly adopts as a pet, and has him running through mazes and getting smarter and smarter, just as HE was doing himself.

Here is the finale, where he's on a stage, in front of a room full of doctors and scientists, discussing his brain surgery that caused him to transform from being mentally challenged, to a genius.

......and then the horrible and tragic realization at the end that it was all just temporary.....

Charly Gordon: Are there any questions? Did you enjoy the film? (a short film about how he was "before")
Convention speaker #1: Mr. Gordon... how do you feel at the present moment, about your development?
Charly Gordon: Grateful, sir.
Convention speaker #1: You are happy about it?
Charly Gordon: Yes.
Convention speaker #2: Why?
Charly Gordon: Because it has allowed me to... see.
Convention speaker #3: To see what?
Charly Gordon: The world.
Convention speaker #4: And what do you see in that world?
Charly Gordon: Well... my eyes are new, doctor, I...
Convention speaker #4: And what do they *see*, Mr. Gordon?
Charly Gordon: Things as they are.
Convention speaker #4: And?
Charly Gordon: And what they are becoming.
Convention speaker #5: Can you give me an example Mr. Gordon?
Charly Gordon: [quickly] No sir, you give me one.
Convention speaker #5: Very well...
Charly Gordon: Very well.
Convention speaker #5: Modern science. 

Charly Gordon: Rampant technology, conscience by computer. 

Convention speaker #1: Modern art. 
Charly Gordon: Dispassionate draftsmen. 
Convention speaker #4: Foreign policy. 
Charly Gordon: Brave new weapons. 
[laughter] 
Convention speaker #1: Today's youth. 
Charly Gordon: Joyless, guideless. 
Convention speaker #6: Today's religion. 
Charly Gordon: Preachment by popularity polls. 
Convention speaker #3: Standard of living. 
Charly Gordon: A TV in every room. 
[laughter] 
Convention speaker #4: Education. 
Charly Gordon: [agitated] A TV in every room. 
[more laughter] 
Convention speaker #1: The world's future, Mr. Gordon. 
Charly Gordon: Brave new hates, brave new bombs, brave new wars. 
Convention speaker #7: The coming generation. 
Charly Gordon: Test-tube conception, laboratory birth, TV education, brave new dreams, brave new hates, brave new wars; a beautifully purposeless process of society suicide. 
[silence] 
Charly Gordon: Any more questions? 

Now if THAT ending doesn't cause you to pause and think....nothing will.  It's an incredible book, and a very cool movie.  It has some 1960's "funkadelic" moments, sure, but overall, it doesn't take away from the story.  The part at the end where he's realizing that his old self, the mentally challenged self, is following him around, chasing after him, and he's running through a maze just like his little mouse did....well, that speaks volumes about mankind.

"A beautifully purposeless process of society suicide."  That line grabbed me and smacked me on the head when I heard it.  In fact, I had to come upstairs, get on the computer, FIND that quote, copy it and then toss it around in my head awhile before I sat down here to write it to you.  THAT is how much of an impression it made on me.

This film was made the same year I was born, 1968.  That last part of the quote really kills me, because NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN THIS WORLD SINCE THEN.  Seriously.  Sure, music and fashion have changed, people look and act more aggressive and rude now, but overall, "Education" is STILL "a t.v. in every room."  Isn't it.

And "the coming generation"......will lead to a "beautifully purposeless process of society suicide."  The end days.  The Mayan Calendar.  December 2012.  The end of the world.  Every word of this movie is relevant to our world NOW.....therefore, the message of the film is universal, and timeless.  And THAT is what makes a great movie GREAT.

Anyway.....human beings are really Algernon, ya know?  We run and run and run all through various mazes, trying to figure our way out of problems, and obstacles all our lives.  Eventually, though, and arguably even inevitably, you grow weary and exhausted, and give up running through mazes, and then you realize that you cannot run anymore, so you just die, without really accomplishing what your life's true purpose really is.

At least, that's what MOST people seem to do, the majority of people who aren't like Steve Jobs.  Know what I'm sayin'?  John Q. Public, who needs to be spoon-fed every bit of trivial and fluff-filled information in order to regurgitate it and call it their "own opinion," when really, we all know it's not.  Original thought is rare, originality and creativity are nearly non-existent too, and once you run through so many mazes, you just can't do it anymore. 

You also cannot run from the SELF you once WERE, either, and this movie tells you that---actually smacks you upside the head with it----so that you come away from it completely CHILLED down your spine, because it speaks to you so loudly, and sticks in your head.

Powerful stuff.  Made me think a lot.  (Can't you smell something burning?!) hehehe

I think back to when I first read Flowers For Algernon, and I can't remember what grade I was in, but it must have been sometime in junior high I think.  And at that point in my life, (which seems like somebody ELSE'S life), I didn't GET all of that stuff as much as I do now.  It's kinda like a film version or adaptation of "Another Brick in the Wall," by Pink Floyd, ya know??

You work and work, and run and run, overcome as many obstacles as possible, you learn a lot, you get rid of the mental challenges, and you become a "genius" at life and living. Then you slowly LOSE THAT ABILITY, like with Alzheimers, Parkinsons, or cancer. It just slowly gets taken away from you, until you are reverted back to infancy...and then you die.

It's just LIFE really.  A strange and sad commentary about WHY AM I HERE???

Well I gotta scoot to bed. Just wanted to spill some of the thoughts in my head about it.  I love symbolic stuff and things that make ya really THINK.  God, I really miss thinking.

Love, Rebecca