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Post by ruthmadison on Mar 14, 2011 13:37:09 GMT -5
I lost track of time and didn't realize our meeting was tomorrow, so here is a thread for discussion of the movie.
Here are my thoughts about it:
I've wondered whether this movie was written based on the idea of devs, without understanding it.
It isn't very clear what Pumpkin's mental deficiencies are and he, strangely, seems to get less disabled as the movie goes on.
It bothers me that he no longer needs a wheelchair at the end, seems like he only had one because he was lazy in the beginning.
I thought it odd that none of the other "challenged athletes" were using wheelchairs.
I fail to understand what it is that makes Carolyn want to be with Pumpkin, but I wonder if my inability to understand it is what others think about me and my desires.
A few people bring up the idea that its Carolyn's compassion that leads her to have the feelings she has, but I think the movie shows that is not what is going on.
I found it interesting that the mothers of the athletes have competition among themselves.
I love the prank to the sorority where someone leaves a handicap parking sign with the words "For a good time, park here" written on it. Hilarious. Could put that on a shirt.
Side note, the movie was filmed at my grad school campus. It gets used for a lot of movies, but is usually well disguised, this movie made no attempt at all to disguise it and I recognize every building!
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Post by devogirl on Mar 14, 2011 14:19:15 GMT -5
Yeay, thanks for starting this up! Sadly, I have been super busy these past weeks and have not had a chance to watch the movie. And I won't be on chat because I'm going out of town. But I hope a lot of people join in!
Even though I haven't seen the movie, I have to comment on the issue of not defining his disability or its parameters. This seems SO common in movies and TV shows, especially with mental disabilities. Like Abed on the TV show Community, who they at first hinted was mildly autistic, then backed away from giving him a definite label, I think because they wanted an infinitely flexible comic character. If they never say what it is, they can keep making him do different wacky things each episode. Or like Timmy on South Park, sometimes he's nearly a vegetable and sometimes he's super smart.
My nerdy friends and I used to have a joke about Star Trek, that the writers would adjust the technology level on each episode: sometimes the crew had godlike powers to bend space and time, and sometimes they could barely run the turbolifts. It's like that with these characters too, the writers just dial the intelligence up or down as needed.
On a sitcom, that's not such a big deal, but with a serious story, it's just lazy writing IMHO.
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Post by ruthmadison on Mar 14, 2011 14:46:54 GMT -5
Yeay, thanks for starting this up! Sadly, I have been super busy these past weeks and have not had a chance to watch the movie. And I won't be on chat because I'm going out of town. But I hope a lot of people join in! Even though I haven't seen the movie, I have to comment on the issue of not defining his disability or its parameters. This seems SO common in movies and TV shows, especially with mental disabilities. Like Abed on the TV show Community, who they at first hinted was mildly autistic, then backed away from giving him a definite label, I think because they wanted an infinitely flexible comic character. If they never say what it is, they can keep making him do different wacky things each episode. Or like Timmy on South Park, sometimes he's nearly a vegetable and sometimes he's super smart. My nerdy friends and I used to have a joke about Star Trek, that the writers would adjust the technology level on each episode: sometimes the crew had godlike powers to bend space and time, and sometimes they could barely run the turbolifts. It's like that with these characters too, the writers just dial the intelligence up or down as needed. On a sitcom, that's not such a big deal, but with a serious story, it's just lazy writing IMHO. You're right, I hadn't noticed how common that is. I know you noticed that I did it too, I kept Stewart's exact injury vague because I was afraid of being inaccurate. I tried to do a ton of research, but there is so much variety in individual people's SCIs, and I was afraid if I defined it too much, I'd be told I wasn't right! Of course, I wrote the book before I had even met anyone with SCI and started it years before I had a relationship at all, so there were bound to be inaccuracies. I know many writers probably do this to keep things flexible and allow them to change the character's abilities to suit their purposes. That was not my intent, I had in my mind an exact idea of what Stewart's injury was, but now I can see why it is important to define it. |
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Post by Emma on Mar 14, 2011 18:44:36 GMT -5
or Arnie in What's eating Gilbert Grape. It always bothered me they didn't define what his disability was and he seemed to have an unusual mix of Mental Retardation and autism like issues. Oh yeah also Rainman is a REALLY bad example of autism despite it being one of the movies most people associate with autism. I haven't gotten the movie yet so will not have seen it before chat tomorrow  My Blockbuster is a little messed up right now and I was out of town so wasn't able to ensure I would get the movie in time. I'll be there to chat with you all though! The movie sounds interesting and I certainly will watch it when it finally comes. |
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Post by ruthmadison on Mar 15, 2011 12:36:20 GMT -5
That's interesting, I didn't think about Arnie or Rainman... you're right.
It's certainly an odd movie, focusing on the superficiality in our lives, but it seems to lack real emotion. It feels like a satire, without emotional depth. I wasn't able to connect to any of the characters.
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Post by ~Z28gal~ on Mar 15, 2011 13:28:15 GMT -5
P.S. For those scrambling to find Pumkpin (like me!) it's available on Amazon's "Instant Video"/"Video on Demand" as a rental. You can watch it streaming w/o downloading anything, or offline with the Unbox Player.
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Post by lavly on Mar 16, 2011 15:13:30 GMT -5
and again lavly has not read all of this link ... but wants to say thank you for chat ... it was just what i needed  it was so cool that we had new girls ...still cant get over how cute and smart devs are ... cant wait on the next one |
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Post by ~Z28gal~ on Mar 16, 2011 18:39:54 GMT -5
and again lavly has not read all of this link ... but wants to say thank you for chat ... it was just what i needed it was so cool that we had new girls ...still cant get over how cute and smart devs are ... cant wait on the next one ;D I second that! I LOVED the chat, I feel like I have a bunch of new sisters! You gals are awesome. Hugs! |
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Post by Emma on Mar 16, 2011 19:19:13 GMT -5
I love my dev chat evenings. You girls are the best!
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Post by lavly on Mar 16, 2011 20:08:15 GMT -5
lol ... i just laugh at this cos i was like ohh look ... one liners for me  yup yup dev sisters are way cool ! |
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Post by ruthmadison on Mar 16, 2011 22:41:37 GMT -5
We had a LOT of people there too! Fun and wonderful, as always.
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jess
Junior Member
It’s been a while... 👋
Posts: 52 
Gender: Female
Dev Status: Devotee
Relationship Status: Single
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Post by jess on Mar 17, 2011 0:37:04 GMT -5
it was nice to meet and hear all of you =)
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Post by lavly on Mar 17, 2011 7:56:49 GMT -5
jess that pic of you is so lovely |
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jess
Junior Member
It’s been a while... 👋
Posts: 52
Gender: Female
Dev Status: Devotee
Relationship Status: Single
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Post by jess on Mar 18, 2011 23:13:05 GMT -5
thank you can't wait to hear from all of you soon again |
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My Blockbuster is a little messed up right now and I was out of town so wasn't able to ensure I would get the movie in time. I'll be there to chat with you all though! The movie sounds interesting and I certainly will watch it when it finally comes.
