Garden State
© James C. Hess
As some readers of this effort know, about a year ago I posed a question that provoked responses unrelenting, unapologetic, all of them along the spectrum of human emotion: Anger, hatred, disbelief, frustration, disgust, happiness, delight, dismay, confusion, contrite, prejudice, bigotry--just to name a few.
And then there was the matter of the threats against my person, some veiled, some implied, some not so hidden in their intent and desire.
For those who don't know about this particular adventure in my life, for those who are curious about what it was I said by way of a select question, one that incited others to emotional outbursts and apparent violence, here is the question:
How important is honesty in writing?
That's it. That's the question. Without alteration or paraphrasing, that's it.
When I decided to ask this question I knew I would get a response to it. After all, honesty is a proven point of contention for a great many, especially those who make their living in politics and the news media, where honesty, more often than not, is viewed as a liability and not an asset. What I didn't know, what I didn't expect, was the form many of the responses would take. So when the aforementioned anger, hatred, disbelief, prejudice, bigotry, etc. manifested themselves against me I had to wonder what exactly was going on, and decided further, more in-depth, examination and consideration of the matter was required.
Honesty, I have concluded, albeit superifically, especially when it comes to something as personal as writing or behavior, is a curious thing: Humans, generally-speaking, expect honesty from others, but are contradictory and decidedly hypocritical when it comes to themselves.
Bluntly, then: We lie to ourselves and allow such things, but take great offense when others do the same, either to themselves or toward us.
And how do we know when someone is lying? Often by way of body language: Eye contact, crossed arms and/or legs, language, tone of voice, etc., all collectively defined as behavior.
Which brings me to a film I recently saw, "Garden State". Here is a film that should succeed on all levels engaged, but doesn't. Instead, it fails without exception, and the singular reason is because of behavior on the part of the actors, which, simply, is not honest.
Understand, the performances put forth are acceptable, and good, but because of how they are executed by the given actors they are not enough, and, consequently, the film must and does fail.
