"Before Sunset"

I am not surprised that it took nine years for Jesse and Celine to meet again. I would have said that I was surprised that they met again at all, but the fact that there is another movie was a giveaway. I was however, surprised that Jesse waited for Celine at their meeting place nine years before. I was sure that they would have both be absentees. Even so, I can’t help but think that Jesse was holding his breath and hoping that she wouldn’t show up while he was waiting.

As in the first movie, while Celine maintains a slightly more grounded view of their relationship, it seems that Jesse treats his relationship with Celine as a fantasy come to life, or an adventure. The time restraints and the tension constantly flowing between them adds to this. The ending is just as much a thrill for Jesse as it is for the audience. Will he stay? Will he go? What will become of these two people who clearly have chemistry?

I think the answer lies within the questions themselves. If he stays, we will no longer have to wonder what will happen. If they start a long-term relationship with each other, the thrill will cease to exist. So it makes sense that they are hesitant. Once again, both are in unfulfilling relationships and both feel the immediate relief of being with each other. Jesse even admits (right after he talks about how displeased he is with his wife) to having dreams about a life with Celine. He is constantly comparing his real relationship with his wife to his dream relationship with Celine.

Yet, they both know that if he stays and they turn their relationship into something more substantial, there is a chance of things falling apart. But then again, there is the much more appealing choice of separating, longing for each other, and fixating on memories that will always be happy and perfect; memories that they can use to write bestselling books and heartwarming songs. So even if he misses that plane, that doesn’t mean that he won’t be on the next one.

Real Sex and Desire

              Steve Almond was an inspirational speaker, especially for the creative writers in the audience. In my experience, the hardest part of creative writing is getting past the constant embarrassment of your own work. As Almond read his erotic stories he seemed to be unabashed. Yet there was still an organic awkwardness and a discomfort that surrounded the situation. Almond deflected this awkwardness from overpowering the audience with clever humor but he did not deny its presence.
          I personally enjoy reading and writing about the oddities of love, desire, and sex. The things that make people gag or shutter or wince are the things that I find the most interesting. I find it fascinating that although these moments are not as appealing as they are portrayed in movies or in books, people always go back for more.
              Almond’s story “Skull” specifically encompassed a lot of the things that we have discussed in class. The story emphasized how the psychology of desire supersedes the physical aspect in most situations. Desire stems from certain insecurities and uncertainties within us, as well as the things we wished we could receive from other people. Almond’s stories brought attention to the side of desire that isn’t so glamorous, but is extremely important. As he expressed, the type of desire that seems to be blemish-free (such as pornography) lacks the most essential parts of desire: the emotion.
              I believe that there is an overwhelming need to portray sex to be something that it is not. It is glorified to an extent that any realistic sexual encounter seems sub-par. People are becoming more and more obsessed with attaining the types of sex they see in movies or on television. Not only does this give people unrealistic expectations of sex, but unrealistic expectations of their sexual partners as well. People are expected to have perfect bodies that perform on cue. Children are growing up to think that they will never be loved if they can’t become these perfect, sexual beings and teens are treating sex as if it were merely a set of actions, detached from any emotional or mental states. This could be why people feel so uncomfortable listening to stories like “Skull”. It does not fit into the pre-constructed confines of what sex and desire is “supposed” to be.

Female Representations in "Halfaouine"

         In the film, Halfaouine, the female body was very important for the main character’s coming of age. There were many scenes from the perspective of the young boy, Noura, of women in the bathhouse. Dr. Robert Lang even spoke about how these scenes of nude women in the bathhouse would have been considered gratuitous if they weren’t so important to Noura’s developing sexulality throughout the film. Dr. Lang’s lecture had a lot to do with the male perspective of the film, which makes sense considering that the Tunisia depicted in the film was patriarchal. 
        Yet I couldn’t help but think of all of the various films I have seen that revolved around a boy becoming a man and finding his sexuality through a woman’s naked body. But what about girls? There is hardly ever talk of women coming into their sexuality. Where is a girl supposed to look to find her sexuality? 
Although Halfaouine addresses the police state of Tunisia, using Noura and his experiences as  an allegory of the changing country, I couldn’t help but feel that female sexuality was overlooked. It seems that in these movies where women’s bodies are objects or catalysts for an essential development in a man’s sexuality, there is an implication that women’s sexuality is always there, just latent, waiting for a man. There are a few instances of women who took charge of their own lives, such as Noura’s divorced aunt. But this does not equal the mounting number of women who were simply looked at with lascivious eyes by the men in the film.
This isn’t unlike the representation of women in American media. Women are often depicted as being constantly sexually aroused, just waiting for a man to “release” them. The representation in Halfaouine isn’t as vulgar as American media, but the women are mostly portrayed as objects.