Sunday, May 23, 2010

Countdown to DVD Release - Favorite Quotes

Quote #30



Michael you know that story about the God that banished all of his children to the underworld, and his youngest to get even castrated him with a sickle? Kind of extreme but I get it.
~Tyler
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LTavares2011 said...

"Michael you know that story about the God that banished all of his children to the underworld, and his youngest to get even castrated him with a sickle? Kind of extreme but I get it."
~Tyler

According to my little research, I think Tyler is referring to the myth of Uranus ( Father Sky), ancestor of most of the Greek gods. He and Gaia (Mother Earth) had many children but he hated the children she bore him. Uranus imprisoned Gaia's youngest children in Tartarus, deep within Earth, where they caused pain to Gaia. She shaped a great flint-bladed sickle and asked her sons to castrate Uranus. Only Cronus, youngest and most ambitious of them, was willing: he ambushed his father and castrated him, casting the severed testicles into the sea.

Tyler, citing this story in the diary, describes his feeling of loss of love and attention of his father, he feels that both he and Caroline and Michael were "exiled" by Charles. Yes, Michael, too. Michael may have tried to live in the world of his father to please him but couldn`t stand it and killed himself, a kind of "exile" too.
Tyler is disgusted with the attitudes of his father and tells Michael about his understanding of Cronus. It is pure catharsis but still powerful and full of meaning.
I love this intimate moments of Tyler with himself and with Michael. The interpretation of Rob is so subtle, discreet and emotional. He invites the audience to feel the emotions that his character is feeling at that moment. Touching and disturbing at the same time. Unforgettable

P.S. About Uranus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus_(mythology)

May 23, 2010 at 8:19 AM
WhyIstheRumAlwaysGone said...

Thank LTavares for explaining the myth! I kind of remembered it but had no time (=was too lazy) to do thorough research on it. It's a strange, wry scene, Tyler is so nervous, half-stamping his feet on the floor, yet he seems to be in control of his anger and resentment as he writes in his diary. I like his ironical tone when he says "a little bit excessive maybe ... but I get it". I noticed too that the god's son who kills Uranus is Chronos, the god of time, if I remember well - when time is running so short for Tyler, although we don't know it yet.
A friend of mine told me that Remember Me was a film which was too literate and complex for lots of people. It's true that many people didn't seem to have a clue at all about the Greek myths mentioned in the film, particulary this one. (line about the Greek God and his castrating sickle = short, blank moment of uncomprehending silence in the theater, and I've never, ever heard anyone laugh if only a little at this scene). Poor Greek Gods, forgotten by modern humanity! Many of the viewers did not seem to get the irony and true meaning of this scene, I think they just saw Tyler writing in hi usual coffee shop and being moody and a bit angry about his father. What does this mean ? Is it that a lot of our classical cultural heritage is getting forgotten? Or that the film industry has forgotten how to make films which really make you think? Food for thought...

May 23, 2010 at 8:57 AM
InstantKarmaGirl said...

Tyler's saddness floors me. This writing to his brother because it's his only means of expression makes me so sad.

May 23, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Heidi said...

LTavares2010-Thanks for sharing that explanation. I love that Tyler still has a deep connection with Michael through the diary and we as an audience get to experience that. There are so many layers of meaningful things in this movie that you catch something new every time you watch it. It seems to me people these days prefer fantasy over a more thought-provoking, realistic movie which is sad because then they can't appreciate this kind of film.

May 23, 2010 at 1:04 PM
jessegirl said...

Two Parts:
Thanks, LTavares, for that. Of course I knew it once upon a time, and am embarrassed that I’d forgotten which god. Actually, these were the Titans, who preceded the Olympians Greek Gods. And most interesting is that, as Cronus overthrew Uranus, so too did Zeus overthrow Cronus. I checked my trusty World Book and here’s the quote:
“Uranus feared his children would overthrow him, and so he confined them within Gaea’s huge body. With Gaea’s help, Cronus deposed Uranus and became king of the Titans. Cronus married his sister Rhea, and they had six children. Cronus feared that his children would depose him too and so he swallowed the first five of them at birth. Rhea hid the last child, Zeus, ....
After Zeus grew to manhood, he helped his brothers and sisters escape Cronus. Together, they deposed their father and Zeus became the king of the gods.”

What I find interesting within the myths is that Uranus feared he would be overthrown. Cronus, having done that to his father, also fears it. And it comes to pass. Two things: one, the father’s fear; two, the repetition, the cycle. That is, somehow that cycle must be broken. So the father banished his children because he was afraid. Now if Tyler imagines himself as Cronus, as with most revenge, he, himself, could be symbolically castrated by one of his own sons, and so on, and so on. (I think Zeus did something to break this cycle but I have to bone up on my mythology to find out.) Which means that Tyler would find himself in the position his father is in too.

May 23, 2010 at 4:46 PM
jessegirl said...

Part Two:
But I think you’re right, LTavares, that the reason Tyler thinks of this is the feeling of abandonment/banishment he has. For doing so much harm to his children Charles has to pay, thinks Tyler. But, these are thoughts, safely put down in a journal, ostensibly written to Michael, but they will never amount to more than that. Tyler is trying on thoughts for size and passing them through the filter of his conscience. And he’s nervous, as Rum says, jiggling his leg under the seat (yeah, I noticed that). Even as thoughts, even as symbols, they are violent and gruesome and very hateful. ITA, LTavares, that it is catharsis for Tyler. Thought about, written, over and done.

Karma...while I agree it is sad that Tyler seems to have only this mode of communication, I think it is fantastic and healthy that he is doing so. And I think that when he overcomes the bigger issues, he will proceed to participate more fully in normal ways.

Rum and Heidi...I think that you’re right and that, unfortunately, this cultural heritage is being lost and that the masses (which create big box office) don’t care to think or even feel deeply. I think people don’t read as much now—scanning websites doesn’t count—and when they go to the movies they just want escape and entertainment. It is sad that even we couldn’t call these myths to mind immediately. Remember Me managed to slide some of this in somewhat seamlessly though. I know most people didn’t get it fully, but it’s there anyway.

May 23, 2010 at 4:48 PM
soozy said...

This quote that he writes to Michael shows just how broken his relationship is with his father. Father and sons' have turbulent relationships at times....not unlike mother's and daughters....but to me, quoting this says that he doesn't think its repairable; he's given up.

Part of me wonders.....you know the book that he gave Caroline...the one about mythology? He said Michael had given him the same book...I'm thinking that's where he got this story. How interesting is it that Michael passed this information on to him...he who had his own issues with Charles...another of the children banished in Tyler's eyes, I'm sure....

And the fact that he was opening up to the only person he knew who would understand....his dead brother who struggled with his father also....wow.

May 23, 2010 at 7:56 PM
WhyIstheRumAlwaysGone said...

@soozy, I had thought about the same thing. Tyler carries on in his life with lots of things Michael made him discover and love. Maybe Michael was a sort of role model for him, an older brother he adored and wanted to emulate. Tyler plays the guitar, even though he says he's not very talented, because Michael was a musician and probably taught him some music. Tyler works in a bookshop because he loves books (and his bedroom is is stacked full of them), although he tells Caroline that Michael banged him on the head with the Greek mythology book to make him read it. So you can easily magine that Tyler as a little boy wasn't very keen on reading but that Michael made him discover that books were great. This particular myths book, he says, is his favorite ever. Maybe he was about Caroline's age when he got if from Michael. So when Tyler gives a new copy of the book to his sister, he is actually transmitting her what he himself has inherited from Michael. He is also assuming the role of caring, older sibling just as Micheel apparently used to do for him. And the book clearly had a great influence on him, as the various references to the Greek myths seem to imply ; for Tyler, anyway, the book has a strong connection to Michael. There are so many layers in this film! It's so rich!

May 24, 2010 at 6:04 AM

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