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| title: "Logbook—December 2023" | ||
| date: 2023-12-31T10:18:10-05:00 | ||
| tags: [reading, film, logbook] | ||
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| In which I read *Bullshit Jobs: A Theory* & *Swimming in the Dark* & *Silence: A Novel* & *Way Back to God: The Spiritual Theology of St Bonaventure* & *Doppleganger: A Trip into the Mirror World*; & watched *The Grapes of Wrath* & *May December* & *The Holdovers* & *The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes* & *Napoleon* & *The Muppets Christmas Carol* & *Home Alone* & *Poor Things* & *It's a Wonderful Life* & *Saltburn* & *The Color Purple* (2023). | ||
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| *Bullshit Jobs: A Theory* (David Graeber, 2018). (Technically I finished this on the last day of November, but as I finished it after posting November's logbook I'm listing it here.) I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. Graeber offers a number of useful insights when it comes to the fact that many people seem to be doing a lot of pointless work; I especially appreciated the way he distinguished productive labor from caring labor. But the theory of bullshit jobs---that almost half the population works jobs that offer no value to society---seems to be based on speculation more than anything else. Part of the issue for me is that a bullshit job is determined by if the person doing the job feels the job is bullshit. Graeber acknowledges & defends the subjective nature of his definition: basically, people know their own work best & so are in the best position to judge whether the job is bullshit or not. & maybe so. But I wonder whether that speculation justifies the kind of work he does in the book. Even if its foundations strike me as a little shaky, I still think the book is worth reading, especially for the later chapters. | ||
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| *Swimming in the Dark* (Tomasz Jedrowski, 2020). I didn't find this as engaging as I'd hoped. Part of the problem, I'm sure, is the fact that I listened to it on audiobook & that I sometimes had to take long breaks from listening, so my encounter with the story was somewhat disjointed. I liked the way *Giovanni's Room* cropped up throughout the narrative, & were I to read this again I'd be paying attention to how *Giovanni's Room* & *Swimming in the Dark* rhyme. | ||
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| *Silence: A Novel* (Shūsaku Endō, 1966). One of my absolute favorite books, which I've read at least three times now. On this read I was especially struck at Rodrigues's attitude toward the Japanese Christians. He regards them as little more than children, helpless without his priestly paternalism. But Rodrigues is wrong about this---the Japanese Christians show themselves to be devoted Christians with or without priests, organizing their own ecclesial communities & even enduring martyrdom. Much of what Rodrigues must do over the course of the story, then, is relearn what it means to be a priest. | ||
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| *Way Back to God: The Spiritual Theology of St Bonaventure* (Douglas Dales, 2019). I'd hoped I could use this as a textbook for my "Bonaventure---Life & Writings" course, but I don't think it will work. Dales shows deep familiarity with the writings of Bonaventure, but the book assumes a little more theological knowledge of its readers than I think I can expect of my students. Still, *Way Back to God* offers a helpful orientation to Bonaventure's writings as a whole. | ||
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| *Doppleganger: A Trip into the Mirror World* (Naomi Klein, 2023). I only just finished this yesterday so I'm still sorting through my thoughts. The Doppleganger throughline often opened up fascinating perspectives on modern politics & society, though at times the metaphor felt a little strained. I admire how Klein does not merely dismiss those living in "the mirror world" (anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, QAnon devotees, etc.) out of hand. She acknowledges that they have good reaosn to be frustrated with & suspicious toward governments & elites, but those frustrations & suspicions often get misdirected & coopted by systems of capital. The last part of the book offers very helpful reflections on solidarity & care (dovetailing, to some degree, with Graeber's *Bullshit Jobs*). | ||
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| *The Grapes of Wrath* (John Ford, 1940). Number 23 on [the AFI's list of Top 100 films](https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies/) (which Jacqueline & I are about 75% of the way through!). A moving set of vignettes on how poverty degrades the poor, without being (I thought) too oversensationalized about it. Plus, it's a rare pro-union film (compare it to films like *On the Waterfront* or *The Godfather*). Henry Fonda delivers a very strong performance. | ||
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| *May December* (Todd Haynes, 2023). I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. I enjoyed Natalie Portman's performance as a frankly bad actress who gets much too involved in the lives of her subject & her subject's family. Most affecting, though, was Charles Melton's performance, particularly toward the end of the film. He must be a contender for an Academy Award. | ||
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| *The Holdovers* (Alexander Payne, 2023). A heartwarming, if somewhat familiar, film about a group of misfits who are forced to become something of a family together. I thought the film did a good job of showing how pain & tragedy often lie just below the surface of our actions. | ||
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| *The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes* (Francis Lawrence, 2023). This was enjoyable enough---I'm a bit of a sucker for this sort of dystopian literature/film---but not particularly good. | ||
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| *Napoleon* (Ridley Scott, 2023). I'm not a big Joaquin Phoenix guy, but this was a great performance. He presents Napoleon as an overweening, boasting, but ultimately smaller-than-life bully. (You can draw your own comparisons to contemporary political figures.) The film is less interested in what made Napoleon a charismatic leader or a military genius than in the destruction he wrought in his wake. At first I thought that was a shortcoming of the film, but now I see that that's the point. | ||
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| *The Muppets Christmas Carol* (Brian Henson, 1992). This is, I think, my favorite Christmas movie. *A Christmas Carol* is an excellent Christmas ghost story, of course, & the juxtaposition between Michael Caine's totally straight acting against the antics of the Muppets is so funny. | ||
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| *Home Alone* (Chris Columbus, 1990). I really do not care for this movie but it's a favorite of Jacqueline's, so we watched it in the days leading up to Christmas. Macaulay Culkin is incredibly charming in the lead. | ||
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| *Poor Things* (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023). This movie was extremely disappointing. The performances all around were strong & the production design was distinct & consistent (if a bit wearying). But this tale, a *Frankenstein*-inspired *Bildungsroman* of a young woman named Bella (Emma Stone), is only interested in Bella's sexual liberation & sexual growth, to the almost complete exclusion of any other liberation or growth. The film is so singularly focused on sex that there's no room for anything else. A real missed opportunity. | ||
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| *It's a Wonderful Life* (Frank Capra, 1946). I don't know how many times I've seen this, but what I was most struck by on this viewing is how the film isn't really about George at all---rather, it's about his community. George spends the entire film thinking his community is too small for him, & that the greatness he seeks can be found only in what is grand. What saves him in the end is not the singular greatness of a rich man like Henry Potter---who of course, is not great at all---but the more mundane greatness of his community. This is what makes his life wonderful---not his accomplishments or the sights he's seen or even the people he's helped, but rather the community that enriches his life with more than just money. | ||
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| *Saltburn* (Emerald Fennell, 2023). Like *Poor Things*, this was very disappointing. I didn't know what to expect (I knew basically nothing about the film going in) but the film seems much more interested in shocking its audience than in saying anything clear. I suppose [Wesley Morris's pan](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/movies/saltburn-review.html) is the closest you can do to identifying the film's theme---"toxic elitism"---but even that's strained at best. | ||
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| *The Color Purple* (Blitz Bazawule, 2023). Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, & Danielle Brooks's performances really shine in *The Color Purple*. The final act of the movie feels a bit rushed---some character growths don't feel quite earned---which saps the movie of some of its emotional impact. But on the whole, this film is a moving story about resilience & solidarity in the face of adversity & trauma. | ||
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| I also kept logs in [November 2023](/posts/20231130_logbook/) & [October 2023](http://localhost:1313/posts/20231031_logbook/). |
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| title: "1231_top Ten" | ||
| date: 2023-12-31T10:17:42-05:00 | ||
| tags: [literature, film] | ||
| draft: true | ||
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| <!--more--> |
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