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When I taught social psychology, I was always most eager to make students think carefully about the dark side of social influence. The Milgram studies, undertaken in the aftermath of The Third Reich, which showed that people would — despite their obvious misery and discomfort — administer a probably fatal shock to someone in another room, because they were told to (note: there wasn’t an actual person in the other room). My students said “oh, that was the 1950s, it wouldn’t happen now.” The Zimbardo prison study, which was shut down much sooner than anticipated because the students randomly assigned as prison guards became sadistic, and those randomly assigned as prisoners became profoundly withdrawn, depressed. My students said,”oh, that was the 1970s, it wouldn’t happen now.” “Not me, I wouldn’t have gone along.” “Not me, I wouldn’t have become sadistic.” “Not me.”
In a way, this gets at the essence of social psychology; especially in our western culture, we like to believe that we ourselves, our minds, our choices, are responsible for what we do and believe. Me, I decide. We become uncomfortable when told that the situation is leading us to behave in a particular way; we resist believing that something outside us influences us without our ‘knowledge’.
I think it’s extremely important to recognize that it’s not just those people back then, those people in that country, those people in that culture, those people. Them. We are them. (Of course people are also capable of rising above the situation, of acting from a thoughtful place; I’m not making an “always” claim here.)
Because this is important to me, I have been drawn to thinking about the horrors of the Holocaust. I tend to read about it if I hear of a good analysis, or fictional work. I tend to watch the movies – fiction or nonfiction. I was so moved by Everything Is Illuminated, the book and the movie.
So I watched a movie last night that was recommended by Tammy, a ravelry friend and regular commenter on my blog — Conspiracy, which is about the meeting outside Berlin in which the “final solution” was laid out and set in motion. Tammy mentioned it because Colin Firth is in the movie, and I’d just written about another of his movies, A Single Man. I looked up Conspiracy and saw that Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, and Stanley Tucci were in it – I love all three of them! It wasn’t available for instant streaming, so I moved it to the top of my regular queue, and we watched it last night.
The actors were wonderful, without exception. I wondered how they dealt with the roles they were playing – Tucci especially, who did a truly incredible job playing Eichmann. I felt a cold shiver all through my body and in my stomach when he came on the screen. Eichmann. The cinematography was beautiful, the direction subtle, the performances very strong. I have to see more movies with Colin Firth, and soon!
But I find that as I get older, it’s harder and harder to bear these things. It’s harder and harder for me to listen or watch as a people are described and treated as ‘vermin.’ As inhuman. Not human. Less than human. I never found it easy to bear, but I could bear it because I wanted to think, understand, remember. Now I’m not so sure I can bear it. I cried throughout the movie. I was so nauseous I thought I’d be sick. Often I couldn’t even look at the screen. Almost the entire movie was set around a long table, with the parties to the meeting simply talking – no actions were performed, nothing actually implemented, just talking. And I couldn’t watch.
It’s a very powerful movie, I highly recommend it. I didn’t know anything about that meeting, I didn’t know this part of history at all. When I was a little younger, I could’ve watched it more easily.
Now, I need a lot of knitting and contemplation to get myself back in order. Hello, Peasy.
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It looks like the heat wave has broken, finally – it’s only 78 right now, and the high is only supposed to be 87. Downright cool. Still, it’s the middle of summer so hot days are always in the neighborhood. If you are a knitter, you may be like me, and just wish to while away the hot days knitting with the a/c on, and watching a movie. I have a couple of recommendations for you:
#1 – One of my all-time favorite movies, Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch, and starring Johnny Depp. This link will take you to a short video by A.O. Scott of the NYTimes, reviewing the movie and showing some great scenes and surprising cameos (Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Mitchum!). You can’t stream it on Netflix, but you can add it to your queue. There isn’t anything I don’t love about this movie – the actors, the story, the absolutely GORGEOUS black and white cinematography, the striking imagery, the weirdness, Gary Farmer as Nobody, Johnny Depp as William Blake, the references, the landscape, the ending, the feeling, the music, the depiction of the west, the depiction of native american culture, everything. Ostensibly, it’s about the journey of William Blake, out to the west, and then his journey after being shot. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s literary, full of symbolism and metaphor, it’s spiritual, it’s just amazing. I don’t even know how many times I’ve watched it, and I always want to watch it again. It’s meditative and moody, and so am I so I absolutely love this movie.
#2- A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford and starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Again, not available for streaming but you can queue it on Netflix. I’ve never seen any Colin Firth movies, but I want to, after seeing his performance in this movie. Of course it’s a very stylish movie – veering occasionally into a little too much focus on the style of it, leaving me to wonder if I was just watching an extended ad for some vague product, but it has enough substance, finally, to overwhelm that feeling. Colin Firth gives such a subtle performance; he conveys every kind of feeling you might imagine, even though he’s playing a man who is relatively buttoned up….but not really. You just have to look closely, as he says once. Julianne Moore is gorgeous, enhanced by the wonderful style of the 1960s. It’s a haunting movie, and I was completely taken aback by the ending. I wanted to watch it again from the beginning, as soon as the last credit rolled. If you like a lot of action and excitement you won’t find it here; but if you enjoy lingering, and thinking, and being absorbed by a mood, you’ll find that here.
I got a few rows of knitting done last night, on my little socky-poo:
heading down the foot toward the toe
I’ll say one thing: these are going to be warm socks! I tried this one on, oh so carefully, and the fit is wonderful, and the squishiness guarantees warmth. Now if I can just imagine the day when I’ll long for warmth. 
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I’ve got a batch of ciabatta rising, and I’m coming down the final stretch with the wedding shawl, after spending much of yesterday hauling ass. (Sorry Marn, you can’t see it yet – but anyone who is on ravelry can see it on my project page.) I watched three movies yesterday while I was knitting, and I want to heartily recommend one of them.
If you have Netflix streaming, you can watch it immediately, or at least add it to your queue. It’s Unmistaken Child, and it’s about a Tibetan monk’s search for the child who is the reincarnation of his master. It’s enormously touching, and when he finds the child, it’s hard to argue that he isn’t truly unmistaken. It’s fascinating to watch the Dalai Lama rename the child. It sounds silly to say this, but I forget that among all the rest, he is a Buddhist, enmeshed in the practices of his culture. When he does the variety of things required with the child, it kind of startled me. He seems so western to us – he speaks everywhere, he participates in western research, he exhorts us to peace, like so many other people do – but he is entirely Buddhist. It’s easy to see him grinning, in his big old glasses, and think he’s just a kindly older guy with incredible compassion and wisdom. And he is….but he’s ohsomuch more.
The movie has kind of haunted me since I finished watching it. Tenzin Zopa, the monk who searches for his reincarnated master, touched me and it’s hard to think about him without crying, for some reason.
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you’re welcome.
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knitting in croatia
If you met me, you’d see a tall 51-year old woman with a big smile and bad posture. You’d hear my deep Texas accent, which I can’t seem to hide even for delicate New Yorkers’ ears, no matter how hard I try. You’d also hear about all the things I love – my dear husband and our many travels; my oldest daughter and her husband, who live in Austin; my 2nd daughter and her husband, who live in Chicago; my son who lives here in Manhattan and who is a dashing man about town; and my youngest daughter, who is a sophomore in college, far away in Texas. You’d hear about social psychology, since I have a PhD in the subject and until very recently, acquired books in social psychology for a famous university press, the one that published the very first book. Now, I am a writer and editorial consultant, and I assist publishers with market research for online product development.
You’d also hear – of course – about all the creative things I love to do, and have been doing since I was five years old. I started embroidering pillowcases during play periods in pre-school, and graduated to crochet when my Aunt Meecie (Aint Meecie, if you’re from the south) taught me how to chain stitch. I’d chain stitch my way through skein after skein of acrylic yarn, always begging my grandfather Big Daddy to run to Ben Franklin’s for more yarn. He’d grumble, then put in his teeth and make a yarn run. Gradually my handwork and creative outlets became more sophisticated, and I branched out: handwork such as knitting, quilting, spinning, weaving, lacemaking, a bit of crocheting, and sewing; photography; and baking.
Or we could talk about books! I’m always up for a discussion about any books by Rushdie, or Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian, anyone? anyone? Bueller?), or Victor Hugo, or Vonnegut, or Robert Solomon, or Moby Dick, or poems by Yeats or Heaney or Milosz. Lots more – I love to read. Or we could talk about movies – I tend not to find blockbusters very interesting, but can talk til the cows come home about “littler” movies.
my other blog
Food is always an easy subject to talk about, since most people like it. My husband and I keep a food blog called Luscious – check it out! I love to bake, though when my kids were at home, I cooked big dinners every night. Now, I’m just the baker, and baking bread is one of my weekly activities, most weeks. See? I haven’t met a recipe I didn’t love to bake. My husband does the cooking for us, and he’s a wonderful natural cook, no recipes for that guy. He has a fantastic taste imagination, and daydreams about what to make us for dinner.
I also really love art of all kinds, especially the art of a young printmaker and book artist based in Chicago whose work can be found here. Check her out, and buy something!
And finally, just so you don’t think I’m all fancy Manhattan-like, my secret shames include America’s Funniest Home Videos, Poptarts, and Cap’n Crunch. I can’t stop laughing at the first one, and could eat the last two until the end of my days.
I adore your comments, and try to answer every single one. But if you want to talk off-line (well, off-blog-line anyway), feel free to email me; I also have a little business making mastheads for blogs and websites, so you can write me about that too! The icon below is a clickable link to my email address:
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