Telling Language
1. “buckle your seatbelt Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye” Cypher, The Matrix
It's an old film, and I'd seen it only once before. This time, this line jumped out at me. It's delivered by the hard drinking crew member who will turn out to be a traitor desperate to return to a safe life, to Neo, the hero, and innocent, about to be initiate and it seems it jumped out at a lot of people too, as its all over the internet.
Unpacking some of the telling elements – because its in a film, it relays us information about the characters . status, attitude and relationships, but also meta-narrative information about the film.
The Matrix is a futuristic sci fi movie – a character referencing a 20th century film classic (The Wizard of Oz) grounds the film narrative in our future (or, it being sci-fi, at least one of our possible futures).
Cypher's delivery is not compassionate, but flippant and knowing. The phrase establishes a dominance relationship between Cypher and Neo, Cypher making it clear that a) he knows what is going to happen and b) he considers Neo an innocent, and weak though the comparison with the darling Dorothy.
It seems to me that the connotation that Dorothy is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is so strong, we almost experience it as a denotation. A secondary connotation follows of homosexuality, by way of Judy Garland, and her fan base, and it fits with Cypher's macho bravado for this to be an intentional negative implication.
The choice of comparison with Dorothy and Kansas is interesting: ostensibly the pattern is actually reversed in that Neo is about to leave behind the dreamworld of the Matrix, see it for what it is, and enter the real world with the potential to reach the human home world of Zion. But equally, he is leaving everything that is safe and awakening to a terrifying state – the journey away from the safety of Kansas. It is particularly telling in retrospect, as Cypher is revealed to be trying to return to the safety of the Matrix.
This state, where phrases become telling in relation to information only revealed later fascinates me. Is it a common element to most narrative, or a rare device?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
To me, telling language is a common element of any expanded expectation. For those engaged in the language, an expanded frame signals something a certain something missing that demands response. One example might be Keith Jackson's telling phrase, "Whoah, Nellie" which changed the frame of reference normally expected of the play-by-play announcer. "Whoah, Nellie," was an archaic reference to life back on the farm--an expanded frame suggesting unexpected action. Another telling voice in the same world was John Madden. Almost overnight, Madden reformed the role of color commentator. When he firsts came into the broadcast booth, the conventional wisdom (and more compelling language) was "keep it simple." The main rule was show up the night before the game, catch up on a few stats and then read from notes passed over by a researcher during the game. Madden's basic response to "keep it simple" was "Look, football is not a simple game." Today, the both the role and voice of the color commentator is much more telling than in the days where simplicity was the only key to success. In this way, if during the hearing of a story, one comes to learn that the world being viewed is significantly larger than first imagined, this is a sign of telling language.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I can't think of many specific instances off the top of my head; it does seem like the types of "telling" phrases that you both mentioned seem to appear at least somewhat frequently in movies. I don't remember which movie I was watching, but I think it had Brad Pitt in it, there was an occasion where an actor made a reference to another movie that he played in. It was a quick phrase, but anyone that knew even the simplest piece of that actor's filmography would have instantly known the connotations of what he was saying. The interesting thing about that to me was that the movie had a serious, immediate type of context that would have seemingly forbid such a reference. It seems to me that some of these telling statements seem to be a sort of reward for those that understand the meaning of the telling phrase. For instance, if I was watching the movie that Kat referenced with someone who had never seen the Wizard of Oz, then they may be wondering why I reacted to that telling phrase the way that I did. The inquirer would probably learn quickly that they would remain outside of the "know" until they had taken the time to watch the Wizard of Oz.
ReplyDeleteThe use of cultural references is an involvement strategy because it requires the listeners' participation in connecting the reference. You've done a good job with the Dorothy/Kansas remark in catching a number of implications. Keep going. What does the expression say about the culture in general? Is there a value placed on "being in Kansas"? Recall that the phrase originates in the movie with Dorothy speaking to Toto and guessing that "we're not in Kansas anymore." From there it evolved to refer to a naive, innocent, with the pejorative implication of "rube" or "hayseed",coming into contact with another reality - presumably a "truer" reality. Is this something more likely spoken by an city person to a country person? What value does it place on "innocence" v "experience"?
ReplyDeletebtw, Hugh, I remember Pat Brady constantly yelling "whoa Nelly Belle!" to his jeep as it drove out of control on the Roy Rogers Show.