Requiem For A Dream by Darren Aronofsky, one of the greatest movies of all time http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/10/requiem-for-dream-written-by-hubert.html - 10 out of 10

 

Requiem For A Dream by Darren Aronofsky, one of the greatest movies of all time http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/10/requiem-for-dream-written-by-hubert.html

10 out of 10

 

 

This narrative works splendidly on many levels, first of all, it is a majestic motion picture, with superb acting, a marvelous director, outstanding script, everything about it is phenomenal, and then you can learn so much from it, from how bad things can get when one is addicted – Things Fall Apart http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/04/things-fall-apart-by-chinua-achebe-is.html which is incidentally the name of a magnum opus by Chinua Achebe – to drugs or weight losing pills, or other substance  or activity.

 

The other way to benefit from this saga – in fact there are other countless perspectives, this being a masterpiece, it does have maybe as many angles as viewers – would be to see how low the protagonists have descended to a nadir and when comparing with them see how fortunate we are – one of the rules of happiness is called ‘Happiness Activity No 1: Expressing  Gratitude –counting your blessings for what you have either to a close other or privately, maybe in a journal, conveying gratitude to one or more individuals you haven’t properly thanked’ in The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

In the same marvelous, wondrous opus we have   Happiness Activity No 3: Avoid Over thinking and Social Comparison- using strategies such as distraction to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself with others only I have found a version in some other work, which suggests that we could look at those who have less, like Sara, Harry, Marion and Tyrone in the motion picture, and compare with them http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html

 

Aristotle has written some wise lines on drama, the way it should have reversal and revelation – as in Oedipus Rex, where the messenger brings the news that make the hero realize he had killed his father and married his mother http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/note-on-oedipus-rex-by-sophocles-and.html - - and how the hero must have traits that the audience thinks it has, the fall in the drama has to make sense, the main character could not be too close to perfection, for it would be hard to take, he must make some mistake, otherwise his descent would be unfair and the public will reject it

Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is to arouse “terror and pity” and thereby effect the catharsis of these emotions…in a tragedy, a happy ending doesn't make us happy’ indeed, as I was saying above, it could work in the sense that when we see what happens to the characters their fall will make us see that we are much better, also, alternatively, the rich, mighty could understand that they can experience misfortune and be more humble, prudent, become better at the end of a good drama, tragedy…

 

Over the past few weeks , I have been very upset with the downgrading of the service, facilities at the club Downtown – they do not take the trouble to fix anything, from the saunas that are decrepit and offer the incandescent temperature of 50 degrees Celsius up to about ten o’clock (maybe after I abandon the premises it gets to 120, so there is this caveat, albeit it is more than doubtful such miracle takes places, and besides, they have sent messages saying they are closed for some days) to…a cheap battery needed for the weighing gadget, the rusty seal for the airing system in the hammam, which could not be more than ten dollars.

Maybe it is like Requiem For A Dream, those personages are addicted to drugs, and we are dependent on these saunas, utilities, and we have nowhere else to go, and the chain that has a near (or perhaps absolute) monopoly in the market can play the game it wants, closing the outdoor Jacuzzi and blaming it on the Hotel…by the way, The Radisson is both a major disappointment and a puzzle in this beano

 

The Radisson is supposed to offer a high standard, their ads on CNN pretend that their clients are so spoiled, whereas what we see at this gym that is used by paying subscribers from this city (like myself) and the guests of the hotel…how is it that employees from the Radisson do not take the trouble to check, at least once in a while, the abysmal service (or lack thereof) that is on offer at this ‘wellness’ outfit, which has a policy of cutting expenses to the point where one has to keep wondering what is off next.

There is in fact some sort of race to the bottom, the outdoors Jacuzzi is closed by the hotel (at least that is what the spa claims) and then the other party in this ‘relationship’ cuts down the indoors one – it was off because a client has vomited in the water, says the manager, because evidently, the clients, hotel and higher echelons are responsible for that is wrong, and presumably, she is to be cherished for whatever works, when it does

 

One of the most influential, illustrious psychologists of our time, Malcolm Gladwell has a few miracle books, Outliers, Blink, Talking to Strangers, and the excellent The Tipping Point http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-tipping-point-by-malcolm-gladwell.html wherein he explains what happens in places that are neglected or abandoned (to joke, just like this Club and that side of the Radisson that refers to ‘spa’) where crime becomes rampant, and he cites the case of New York.

Where windows were broken, graffiti was everywhere, and the areas were dirty and run down, crime levels were high, but when authorities changed their strategy and started focusing on the ‘small crime’ and took care of those sectors – when they stopped the fellows that jumped to avoid paying at the subway, they found that many also had illegal guns, or/and drugs - and taking care of the ‘smaller problems’ helped with solving the major issues – in the same manner, I think the club would do well to fix the trouble (the hotel should do its job better too) because when they give the impression that they neglect and do not care, clients are more aggressive, pour water on the feeble stove in the sauna, and make it even more ‘capricious’, they turn their frustration towards the showers and other spaces and this becomes a vicious spiral, just like in Requiem for A Dream http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-tipping-point-by-malcolm-gladwell.html

 

Written by Revolutionary Realini – the link proving that is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html an article from Newsweek, covering the 1989 Revolution that ended the Ceausescu regime