{"id":66,"date":"2008-09-21T16:43:20","date_gmt":"2008-09-21T23:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whitefly.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2008-09-22T22:59:47","modified_gmt":"2008-09-23T05:59:47","slug":"whats-wrong-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whitefly.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"What’s Wrong With You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was watching the Darjeeling Limited<\/a> today and realized that it contains a line I always liked.\u00c2\u00a0 The Darjeeling Limited is, of course, a train, that is at least partially representative of the path of the characters’ lives.\u00c2\u00a0 The opening scene is of, presumably the main characters’ father, missing a train.\u00c2\u00a0 As you find out later, the father has died.\u00c2\u00a0 Early in the movie the brother’s train takes a wrong turn, much like the character’s lives already have, and their train must be righted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My favorite line is uttered by Rita, an Indian woman working on the train played by the beautiful Amara Karan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She has been taken advantage of (and incidentally has taken advantage of) Jack Whitman<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 As he is kicked off the train, she poses a question to Jack.<\/p>\n

\n

“What’s wrong with you?”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Her inquiry is in response to the brother’s antics on the train up to that point in the movie.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each of these brothers lives are off-track for one reason or another.\u00c2\u00a0 Jack Whitman is completely broken-hearted having just broken off his relationship with his girlfriend, played by Natalie Portman<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Francis Witman’s<\/a> face and the rest of his body have been broken in a physical and visible way (he’s wearing bandages through most of the movie) by an automobile accident.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter<\/a> Whitman<\/a> is married and about to have a child, but is obviously very broken by the death of the three brother’s father.\u00c2\u00a0 They are also all self-absorbed, hurtful to one another and unable to cooporate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The question posed to Jack is intentionally metaphorical and existential.\u00c2\u00a0 What is<\/em> wrong with Jack?\u00c2\u00a0 Where are these brothers and what are they doing?\u00c2\u00a0 Each brother is lost along their spiritual journey.\u00c2\u00a0 Each is trying, in their own misguided ways, to find their way through this life.\u00c2\u00a0 Each is carrying emotional “baggage” conveniently represented by a large set of matched luggage.\u00c2\u00a0 The luggage previously belonged to their now-deceased father.\u00c2\u00a0 Each brother carries three or four pieces of the luggage.\u00c2\u00a0 Only when they are together is the entire set collected.\u00c2\u00a0 Each brother now carries a tangible small piece.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, near the end of the film, the brothers must abandon their luggage in order to catch their train, no longer the Darjeeling Limited.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a scene shortly after Rita’s question, the brothers push their father’s car out into the street during a flashback.\u00c2\u00a0 They inadvertently cut a large truck-driver off.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter yells at the driver out of the car door and he steps out of his truck in order to deliver a sound beating.\u00c2\u00a0 The brothers each in turn suggest, strongly that the man return to his truck.\u00c2\u00a0 He does.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the only scene, so far, in which the brothers work together.\u00c2\u00a0 A, relatively, positive outcome is the result.\u00c2\u00a0 You receive your first hint of the place in which they will find themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In another of my favorite movies, De De<\/a> asks Joe the same question.<\/p>\n

“What’s wrong with you?”<\/p>\n

“I don’t know.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t… know.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the context of Joe Versus the Volcano<\/a>, the question is clearly allegorical and existential as well.\u00c2\u00a0 Joe<\/a>‘s soul is being destroyed by his repetitive, do-nothing job as a marketing assistant for a medical supply company.\u00c2\u00a0 His spiritual journey requires him to attempt his own suicide before he conquers his fear of death and overcomes his lack of love for life.\u00c2\u00a0 Joe meets the same girl<\/a> three times over, but is only able to connect with the one who is willing to help him conquer his fear of death.\u00c2\u00a0 I always felt that the point of meeting the same girl three times before falling in love was that falling in love does not have much to do with the other individual, but more to do with your own state of mind.\u00c2\u00a0 In any event, he finds his spiritual peace in the context of his near-death and remains pessimistic, but with Patricia<\/a> (the third incarnation of the same woman) by his side, he has positivity that contradicts, yet accepts and loves his character.<\/p>\n

So, I ask you… and I often ask myself…<\/p>\n

“What’s wrong with you?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t have an answer, yet, but I think its a very important question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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