Week 12 Discussion

 For this discussion post I am going to talk about what we've talked about this first half of this week, because I kind of exhausted everything in from week 9 to week 11 in the last three posts if that's okay.

We began this week recalling Me You and Everyone we know, and we got into groups to talk about the scene that a lot of had opinions, which was of course the park scene. In our group, I expressed my opinion that I 100% agree that this movie is about that need for connection. It is evident with the relationship with the little boy and the art curator. Through out the whole scene they are messaging each other it was hilarious for the audience, but it also served the purpose of showing the reason why these two people were really messaging each other was because they yearned for connection. This is supported by the fact that the two actually meet at the park. 

It was really funny when the person the little boy was talking to the whole time was the art curator, but their interaction, although flawed (which I will explain later), showed how they really just wanted a connection with another human. This is exhibited by the little boy affectionately moves the art curator's hair.

Now, although I understand that the interaction between the two was largely about connection I still think the kiss on the lips was highly understand. In my opinion, I think the scene would have been much more impactful if the two had conversation in which the two expressed that they understand each other in the fact that they really want connection. Of course they want different forms of connection, because the art curator obviously wanted a sexual relationship with an adult and to me it appears that the boy wanted a friend. It just feels weird to me that Miranda July explicitly wanted her to kiss him on the lips, out of everything she could have done in that scene. I would have been fine if she just kissed him on the cheek, but the way it happened the way it did to me makes that scene flawed despite me believing I get the point of it.

One thing I want to highlight that I think we didn't discuss in class as much was how the innocence of a child was so perfectly displayed in this film through the little boy. I am someone that has a soft spot for children (which is part of the reason I think I didn't like the kiss scene), and I think that innocence that we all have as children is such a beautiful thing. The typing scene of the little boy was so cute, where they show him copy and pasting words instead of taking the excruciating time it takes him to type one letter at a time with his pointer fingers and it really showed what I'm talking about. Also the part where the art curator asks him online if he's "touching himself" in a clearly sexual manner, but he doesn't know that obviously. I loved how the camera pans to his fingers touching each other so he replies yes, which was genius. It's moments like these that made me really appreciate how Miranda July captured a child's innocence throughout this film which I don't think we talked about enough.