helter skelter
The other day my daughter was in the truck with me and we were listening to the Beatles, one of her favorites that I also like. When the song "Helter Skelter" came on, she said that she wanted to skip it because it creeps her out. I asked why and she asked "Have you ever heard of a guy named Charles Mason?"
Although Charles Manson isn't a funny subject, the question struck me as funny. Once again, a prime illustration of the fact that my children think I just fell of the turnip truck. I do know of Charles Manson, as a matter of fact, and I agree that he's a creepy fellow.
I remember watching a television show about Charles Mason when I was younger - probably the 1976 movie - and my dad explaining to me a little about him. I think he was up for parole and my dad was trying to explain to me about race wars, and cults, and brainwashing. It was a lot to take in; my overwhelming impression was that it was kinda freaky but also fascinating that one crazy man could hold so much control over people. I think that's when I started to realize that lots of folks just want someone else to tell them what to do, what to think, and make them feel like they're a part of something.
When I started teaching, I went looking for movies of Shakespeare plays and discovered Roman Polanski's Macbeth. I watched it, thinking the whole time that it was a strange and dark adaptation of the play, which is one of my favorites. I began to do some research and found out that this film was Polanski's first after the murder of Sharon Tate by Manson's followers. It shed some light on the departures from Shakespeare's text - including the ending where Donalbain (the new king's younger brother) enters in the witch's lair much as Macbeth did before starting on his bloodthirsty quest for power. Blood, murder, ambition, guilt, never ending cycles of senseless violence, women performing dark deeds to benefit their man...connections between Shakespeare's original ideas and the horrible events of 1969.
As Ali and I talked about Manson, Sharon Tate, and ultimately Shakespeare, it occurred to me why literature and story telling is so important. The book, the play, the song, made for tv movies and dark films - they all provide a vehicle for discussing the human condition, for dealing with tragedy and making sense of what seems insane. They also showed that certain themes are timeless. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth sometime around 1605, perhaps as a commentary on the Gunpowder Rebellion and the attempt on King James' life. The Beatles recorded the song "Helter Skelter" on the White Album in 1968, Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969, and Roman Polanski released the film version of The Tragedy of Macbeth in 1971. Here it is 2010, and my daughter and I are discussing not only historical events, but the meanings behind them and how they apply to life today. Bad things still happen, ambition and the quest for power drive events, and chaos often seems to reign despite the attempts of good people to make good happen.
History isn't always pleasant, and sometimes facing and discussing what disturbs us helps to identify what we believe and teaches us to think. What's amazing to me is that these conversations pop up so unexpectedly. All I did was pick her up from school and let her pick the music....
Although Charles Manson isn't a funny subject, the question struck me as funny. Once again, a prime illustration of the fact that my children think I just fell of the turnip truck. I do know of Charles Manson, as a matter of fact, and I agree that he's a creepy fellow.
I remember watching a television show about Charles Mason when I was younger - probably the 1976 movie - and my dad explaining to me a little about him. I think he was up for parole and my dad was trying to explain to me about race wars, and cults, and brainwashing. It was a lot to take in; my overwhelming impression was that it was kinda freaky but also fascinating that one crazy man could hold so much control over people. I think that's when I started to realize that lots of folks just want someone else to tell them what to do, what to think, and make them feel like they're a part of something.
When I started teaching, I went looking for movies of Shakespeare plays and discovered Roman Polanski's Macbeth. I watched it, thinking the whole time that it was a strange and dark adaptation of the play, which is one of my favorites. I began to do some research and found out that this film was Polanski's first after the murder of Sharon Tate by Manson's followers. It shed some light on the departures from Shakespeare's text - including the ending where Donalbain (the new king's younger brother) enters in the witch's lair much as Macbeth did before starting on his bloodthirsty quest for power. Blood, murder, ambition, guilt, never ending cycles of senseless violence, women performing dark deeds to benefit their man...connections between Shakespeare's original ideas and the horrible events of 1969.
As Ali and I talked about Manson, Sharon Tate, and ultimately Shakespeare, it occurred to me why literature and story telling is so important. The book, the play, the song, made for tv movies and dark films - they all provide a vehicle for discussing the human condition, for dealing with tragedy and making sense of what seems insane. They also showed that certain themes are timeless. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth sometime around 1605, perhaps as a commentary on the Gunpowder Rebellion and the attempt on King James' life. The Beatles recorded the song "Helter Skelter" on the White Album in 1968, Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969, and Roman Polanski released the film version of The Tragedy of Macbeth in 1971. Here it is 2010, and my daughter and I are discussing not only historical events, but the meanings behind them and how they apply to life today. Bad things still happen, ambition and the quest for power drive events, and chaos often seems to reign despite the attempts of good people to make good happen.
History isn't always pleasant, and sometimes facing and discussing what disturbs us helps to identify what we believe and teaches us to think. What's amazing to me is that these conversations pop up so unexpectedly. All I did was pick her up from school and let her pick the music....
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