Me and You and Everyone We Know is, quite literally, about Me and You and Everyone We Know or, speaking in broader strokes, the interconnectivity between people and relationships that fuels society. Every major character in the (rather large) cast of the film is connected to every other character in some way, either directly or through their interactions with another character. For example Richard and the two teenage girls share concurrent stories involving love, and though the characters never truly meet in the film (except perhaps, very briefly) there are both connected through Richard’s coworker and thus the comparison between their stories becomes more apparent.
Also important to note is the presence of similar motifs and themes running through each individual character’s stories. The idea of being “wounded,” either physically or emotionally is an important part of each character’s story and and, again, serves to link them all together through one common thread. This motif is symbolized physically onscreen by Richard’s burnt hand and the bandage he keeps it under throughout the course of the film, only removing it at the end of the film when his emotional wound (his pain regarding his wife’s divorcing him) has been healed as well.
Indeed, each major character in the film suffers from some kind of wound. Christine is wounded by Richard’s initial refusal of her due to his own trauma from the divorce. Peter and Robby, Richard’s children, are themselves wounded by their parent’s separation. The museum’s curator, wounded by her own loneliness finds solace in both Christine’s work and her cybersex chats with Peter and Robby. In this way every other character in the film finds some kind of respite from their wounds in the arms of another character.
5 comments:
Dominic Lee.
Me And You And Everyone We Know.
In my opinion, this is a film that expresses through its plot and cinematography the awkwardness of human beings in relationships,as it tries to expose our inability to engage or act in a certain level of intimacy without some kind of filter or barrier. These "barriers", are what I think Miranda July places the most focus on in her film, as throughout the movie they can be noted, such as the importance of technology,shown through the innocent but almost obsessive relationship between Robby and the person of the chat room, and the importance of the "intangible", such as a persons opinion, which is heavily shown through the two girls and peter, and even Richard and Andrew.
In the beginning of the film the first thing the viewer interacts with is the image of what appears to be a man and woman looking out at a beautiful sunset at the beach; a romantic setting, with a romantic dialogue, or monologue as we realize when the movie progresses to the introduction of the main character in the most awkward way imaginable, just an example of the way the movie takes advantage of what is typically perceived and shows it in an uncomfortable yet still generic way.
Miranda July’s “Me You And Everyone We Know,” is a story that attempts to make each of us take notice of ourselves, the lonely world we've constructed, and the struggle of our desire to live and love. This film centers around the themes of communication and relationships.
This film is full of quirky and awkward characters that are put in everyday situations. Even though these characters seem more eccentric than most people do, they are as normal as the next person. The characters in the film are trying to find meaning to their lives. Richard is a perfect example of this. Richard lives a very mundane lifestyle and feels as if everything in his life has gone wrong. He is going through a divorce and his children have a strained relationship. Throughout the film, we see Richard looking a birds and he even has a picture of birds. Richard looks at the birds with envy because he sees how peaceful and carefree the birds are. To Richard, birds represent everything he wishes he could be. RIchard wishes he could be free and without restriction.
In this film, Miranda July really pokes fun at the awkwardness of people and the situations they find themselves in. The lack of communication and people expressing their emotions is the root of alot of conflict in this film. Whenever Richard and his wife have contact, it is always negative and the effects the divorce has on the children is negative and that is very prevalent in the film based on the relationship the boys have with their father.
The interaction between the main characters is fascinating and also very quirky. One memorable scene is Christines walk with Richard outside of the shoe store. Christine sees the walk to the end of the street as their entire life together, when they get to the sign they are at the halfway point. It's their relationship and for Richard, it's still at the beginning, the good part, when everything is fresh and new and full of possibility. They part ways and when Christine confronts him a few moments later the reality is that he's not ready for her, though he enjoyed the fantasy for a few brief moments.
Kyle Rollins
Christine plays the conscience of the film because she is the only character who wishes people would express their feelings. Throughout the film Christine reminds the characters to live life to the fullest and say what they mean In this film, Miranda July was just stating the point that everyday people tend to make their situations harder than they have to be because their is a communication barrier among all of us and if we remove the barrier we will be able to fully understand each other.
Dan -- a good start, with room for development. You touch on the theme of interconnectivity, which I agree is essential to the film and its themes. But is that all July is after, you think? I suggest she is saying something more than "we are all connected," and is instead using interconnectivity as a means to get at something deeper she's saying about relationships, about identity and emotional risk/safety, or perhaps our primal needs in a culture of technological surrogates. Whatever it is that you think, try placing this squarely within your opening thesis statement. You'll have a chance to practice this again and again as the semester continues.
@Dominic:
"our inability to engage...without some kind of filter or barrier" is a great start on a thesis statement. Ideally, you would then expand on this idea with further argument, and then provide details from the film that support it. I see that you're attempted this, but your supporting paragraphs are a little vague and unfocused. Keep working on staying succinct and to your own point. Also, intrigued by this idea: "the importance of the 'intangible'." What does this mean to you? If this were a formal essay, I would ask you elaborate on this point, as it seems potentially original and interesting.
@Kyle:
Like the others, you have some strong points nestled within some vague-er points and plot summary. It seems, in summary, that your take on the film as a whole is that July is asserting the impossibility of true connection due to the technological barriers that act as emotional barriers, as well. Ideally, you would expand on this idea and provide details from the film that support your claim that this is, indeed, July's main assertion (or a critical one). But many of the details offered have a book report flavor and don't necessarily forward your argument. You placed your strongest thesis statement at the end! ("In this film, Miranda July was just stating the point that everyday people tend to make their situations harder than they have to be because their is a communication barrier among all of us and if we remove the barrier we will be able to fully understand each other.")
For the next blog entry, try to stick to a very formulaic approach: thesis statement, followed by 3 supporting statements. You can get more elaborate as your gain confidence in this type of writing. Have confidence in your ideas! Your own insights are way more interesting than reports on aspects of the film we already know.
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