Every year, the Seattle Cinerama plays Lawrence of Arabia around Easter. I don't know why this is a tradition--I mean Easter, specifically--but it's nearly enough to ensure I never leave Seattle. But there is a crying need to cut some new prints; on Sunday, the audio cut out every few minutes for a few seconds, which was really annoying but cleared up after about half an hour.

Last night, however--yes, I was there again--it was much, much worse. Eventually they had to stop the film, as it had become unwatchable, and refund everyone. Whole lines were being lost, conversations chopped up, and the announcement was that their DTS reader wasn't working, which is odd considering that on Sunday I just thought it was a worn audio track on the film itself. Anyway, being pulled out of the film violently like that was pretty upsetting. Not upsetting in the sense that I was angry, but like getting to your favorite part of your favorite book and having the phone ring. And the book taken away from you.

I probably won't be able to make it back with tkp, because she'll work on Sunday and I'll be practicing on Tuesday, but anyway I thought I'd talk a little bit about Lawrence, as if I haven't done enough of that over the years.

My love for this movie, and this man, confuses me a little. Or rather, I feel like it should. It's not so much that I directly relate to him, though my online moniker was his name among the Arabs until I changed it to the current one. And though I love the daroga, and actually relate to him more, I'd probably still have the other if I hadn't hastily abandoned it when my family discovered this journal.

What's odd to me about this is that T.E. Lawrence, and the film itself, are hardly politically consistent with my views. I mean, it's such an imperialist story; he and the film both are criticized for their statements about the Middle East and its people. He's a megalomaniac, a would-be "savior" for a group who "obviously" can't help themselves without the White Man, playing opposite blue-eyed Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal and Anthony Quinn's awful fake nose.

Shouldn't I reject this?
( Read more... )