Waking Life

[CowardlyLion]

Alright, this film is pretty thought-provoking, as it questions existence and reality and spews out amazing philosophies and viewpoints. In fact, the whole film is basically just characters rambling on about ideas. I figure that not many people have seen it so I might as well share it with you all. It is created through the same methods as A Scanner Darkly (another film that you should definitely check out if you haven't seen it), by drawing over an actual video recording frame by frame. The main character also played a role in the movie Dazed and Confused. Hope you guys dig it, I sure did.


Link to the video incase the embedded version does not play: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0854515095

[wolf89]

Watched it when insanely drunk once and can't remember any of it

been meaning to re-watching it....

[CowardlyLion]

It's definitely worth re-watching; a little far fetched for some people, sure, but all around a very nice film!

[grillis]

Watched it when insanely drunk once and can't remember any of it

this

[christophera]

There are two kinds of sufferers in this world: those who suffer from a lack of life and those who suffer from an overabundance of life. I’ve always found myself in the second category. When you come to think of it, almost all human behavior and activity is not essentially any different from animal behavior. The most advanced technologies and craftsmanship bring us, at best, up to the super-chimpanzee level. Actually, the gap between, say, Plato or Nietzsche and the average human is greater than the gap between that chimpanzee and the average human. The realm of the real spirit, the true artist, the saint, the philosopher, is rarely achieved.

Why so few? Why is world history and evolution not stories of progress but rather this endless and futile addition of zeroes. No greater values have developed. Hell, the Greeks 3,000 years ago were just as advanced as we are. So what are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question, and that’s this: Which is the most universal human characteristic – fear or laziness?

[CowardlyLion]

That's definitely one of my favorite parts of the film, Christophera.

[christophera]

that old man is also a character in Slacker, which is like an earlier version of Waking Life.

[nowaysj]

I figure that not many people have seen it so I might as well share it with you all.

Thank god you are here to share with us!

[knell]

i found it really enjoyable and cerebral, although i like the experimental nature of it more than the ideas presented within.

either way, it gets people thinking, which is never a bad thing

[CowardlyLion]

that old man is also a character in Slacker, which is like an earlier version of Waking Life.

I'll have to look into it! So it's like Waking Life, just people scene after scene philosophizing?

i found it really enjoyable and cerebral, although i like the experimental nature of it more than the ideas presented within.

either way, it gets people thinking, which is never a bad thing

By "experimental nature" do you mean the style of filming, or the style of how it goes about the storyline?

[christophera]

waking life is heavier on the philsophy but they're similar in style

[CowardlyLion]

waking life is heavier on the philsophy but they're similar in style

I'll most definitely have to look into it! Thanks for sharing it with me man

[gwa]

yeah it's wicked, one of the best things i've seen

[noam]

one of my all-time faves

the philosophy gets a bit bland once you've deciphered exactly what they're going on about as its all a bit much to take in at first

but it has some really fine moments in it, the part which Parson quoted is a percy

the analysis of the evolution of man to neo-human is also pretty sick

and the section on DeBorg is awesome too

If the world that we are forced to accept is false and nothing is true,
then everything is possible.
On the way to discovering what we love, we will find everything we hate,
everything that blocks our path to what we desire.
The comfort will never be comfortable for those who seek what is not on the market.
A systematic questioning of the idea of happiness.
We'll cut the vocal chords of every empowered speaker.
We'll yank the social symbols through the looking glass. We'll devalue society's currency.
To confront the familiar.
Society is a fraud so complete and venal...
that it demands to be destroyed beyond the power of memory to recall its existence.
Where there's fire, we will carry gasoline.
Interrupt the continuum of everyday experience...
and all the normal expectations that go with it.
To live as if something actually depended on one's actions.
To rupture the spell of the ideology of the commodified consumer society...
so that our oppressed desires of a more authentic nature can come forward.
To demonstrate the contrast between what life presently is and what it could be.
To immerse ourselves in the oblivion of actions and know we're making it happen.
There will be an intensity never before known in everyday life...
to exchange love and hate, life and death,
terror and redemption, repulsions and attractions.
An affirmation of freedom so reckless and unqualified,
that it amounts to a total denial of every kind of restraint and limitation.
- Hey, old man, what you doing up there? - I'm not sure.
You need any help getting down, sir?
No, I don't think so.
Stupid bastard.
No worse than us. He's all action and no theory.
We're all theory and no actions.
Why so glum, Mr. Deborg?
What was missing was felt irretrievable.
The extreme uncertainties...
of subsisting without working...
made excesses necessary...
and breaks definitive.
To quote Stevenson:
"Suicide carried off many.
" Drink and the devil...
took care of the rest."

[CowardlyLion]

Glad you all share the same interest in philosophy that I do! It's definitely a very great movie. I do agree with you, Noam, on occasion the things they say are rather far fetched.

[noam]

i dont necessarily think its far-fetched just a tad basic at times

[CowardlyLion]

Ah I see! I'll have to re-watch it and be sure to fully take in what they're saying. Sometimes the most basic of thoughts are the most provocative of thoughts, though

[noam]

yeh thats true and i think thats what the film is essentially trying to do - be thought provoking

i think 'bland' is the wrong way to describe it

basic is a much better way

sick film either way, love it, the rotoscope effect especially!

[jameshk]

I wish google video worked for me.

[CowardlyLion]

Yeah I know what you mean! I do agree as well, but everyone has a unique opinion, of course. I definitely love the rotoscope, too. I can only imagine how much time it took to do. Have you seen A Scanner Darkly?

Damn, James, that's a shame!