I think I may have identified an emerging theme in American mythology last night. But in order to share that with you, I'm going to have to spoil "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian." Therefore, if you intend to see the movie and are under the age of 12, either mentally or physically, you might want to stop reading. The rest of you are good to go.
Photo:
Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart.
This movie is geared to the crowd that likes it when monkeys slap
people. Also, who like Hank Azaria doing a side-splitting
rendition of Boris Karloff-- or, for the younger among us, Stewie
from Family Guy. Also,
who like lead figurines of Roman generals come-to-life and riding
on squirrels. Or sticky, affectionate giant squids.
In the theater where I saw "Night at the Museum," the average age
was about 11.8 years, and during the movie I could hear nothing
but maniacal giggling all around me.
It was sort of glorious. I thought that kids were unflappable
these days, glutted with entertainment, heavy-lidded human slugs.
I guess there's a little goofiness left in America's youth after
all.
All of which goes along with the theme, a theme slotted in for
the adults in the audience-- just as Amy Adams' tight aviator
pants were slotted in for the long-suffering dads in the
audience.
The theme which is: despite the lumps we've taken over the past
eight years, we are still America, the land of opportunity.
In the first "Night," Ben Stiller was the "night guard" who saved
New York's Museum of Natural History from the mayhem caused when
an ancient Egyptian plaque brought the exhibits in the museum to
life.
In this one, Ben, single father of a resourceful,
computer-literate boy, has left the museum and started a
successful Ronco-style business.
But all is not well. Ben yearns for the sweet times when he was
managing chaos in the museum, and for some reason he comes back
one day to discover the place is downsizing and digitizing,
shipping out most of the beloved figurines and waxworks for
storage in the Federal Archives under the Smithsonian Museums in
Washington, DC.
This is all that needs to be said about the plot. The rest of the
complications and salvations are pure wackiness geared towards
the 10-year old wonder boy seated to my right, who bounced up and
down in his chair and chortled his way through it.
The theme of the movie aimed at parents relates to the color of
Stiller's (and America's) parachute.
About halfway through the movie, Miss Adams bursts into the movie
as the spunky Amelia Earhart wax figure come to life: cheerful,
ur-feminist, and wielder of slang from the thirties ("We're
jimmyjacked!").
She correctly identifies that though Stiller is rich, he is not
happy.
You can see where this is going. Stiller is on his way back to
being a night guard, and at the end of the movie he rams home the
point to Robin Williams as Theodore Roosevelt.
"You know what you were saying before, about the key to
happiness?" Stiller says. "I know what it is now. It's doing what
you love with people you love."
"I was going to say physical exercise," Williams deadpans. "But
that works, too."
The financial crisis of 2008, and the crumbling of the Bush
mythology with it, left our nation mythologically
fragile. But it seems there is a powerful new message out
there.
Given high unemployment and economic misery, this is, we might
say, prime time for reinventing oneself, changing careers,
getting in touch with one's inner heart's desire.
Changing a negative, in other words, into a positive.
Because America is the land of opportunity, and even if there are
no jobs out there, yet there have to be, because we are the
original can-do nation.
Speaking as one who spent this year pursuing his heart's desire
(writing), and having gotten into deep debt
fallen into deeper debt because of it, I am very grateful to be
going back to teaching in the fall, with a greater appreciation
of this profession as my heart's desire, too, after some time
away.
The point is that American mythology is malleable, and nimble. We
are going through a transformative time in our history, with the
job market morphing into something unrecognizable. Will the
American dream survive? A legitimate question.
Yet "Night at the Museum" seems to be saying that despite all the
questions-- and the change-- America remains the same.
A friend of mine took a step closer to his heart's desire this
week. Good for you,
Sean. I hope you hit this opportunity out of the ballpark. I
do believe that smart and dedicated people can succeed in this
nation. It just makes for a large number of 3 AM worry sessions.
I don't think teaching and writing are that far apart, motivation-wise - - we just want to tell what we know, and maybe someone else's life will be the better for it.
Posted by: Bob Mustin | June 16, 2009 at 09:12 PM
Absolutely right, Bob. Something to blog about and it will happen soon.
Posted by: DF | June 18, 2009 at 12:51 PM