Garden State (2004) - thoughts

After having received serious commendations about this film, David and I were sorely disappointed to find another postmodern, teenage drama that tried to be so unique and failed miserably because there are already so many of them out there. Think a cross between The Graduate (1967), American Beauty (1999), and Amelie (2001).

Artistic. Offensive. Rebellious. Unique.

Stereotypical.

But in all seriousness (and humility), I do trust that these film artists are serious. Many of these films often carry "offensive" elements (if it can be called offensive to this generation at all nowadays) -- language, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual abuse, sexual infidelity, etc. The protagonists freely participate in these activities, but are rarely provoked, unsettled, or offended by anything (thus making them "cool," particularly to the teenage viewers). They test the social taboos and culturally acceptable limits, then apathetically cross them.

Indeed, the protagonists' apathy in regards to the act of crossing, is what makes them the heroes of these films. Take Andrew in Garden State for instance; he is pushed towards possibilities that have no meaning -- drug abuse, kissing a girl he hardly knows, etc. But these two acts do not cause any emotional distress or psychological imbalance on Andrew. (I call them as such because it's so awkward and difficult to say anything like "fulfillment of meaning" about a postmodern film. Dang it.)

I argue that ultimately, Andrew's seeming apathy is in fact his cries against the rationalistic, institutionalized society of his parents' generation as well as his cries against the postmodern attitude itself. The so-called modern generation must quit drugging people to be superficially content, Andrew screams, like his father had done to him. In a crucial moment of the film Andrew says to his father, "For me, what I want more then anything in the world, is for it to be OK with you for me to feel something again... even if it's pain." Gideon, being a psychiatrist and a scientist (himself a symbol of high modernity) had drugged his son with the idealistic view of life all along, hoping the actual life will get better. But Gideon's highly rationalized solution did not work for Andrew -- the modernist had ignored the pains, silenced will, and neglected passion in dealing with his son.

"And I'm not gonna take those drugs anymore, because they have left me completely fucking numb. I have felt so fucking numb to everything I have experienced in my life, OK?"

Ironically, Andrew screams against postmodernism as well, which this film so jubilantly celebrates. He seeks to be human. He does not find the how-to in drugs and sexual abuse, but rather in his relationships with people. For instance, after Mark takes Andrew and Sam to a porn cafe, Andrew becomes genuinely concerned about Sam and how Mark's behaviors are affecting her. Even Mark says, "That's the most worked up I've ever seen you." In another part of the film, Andrew recalls "love" -- a most 'human' thing -- in seeing his mother's favorite necklace. For Andrew, the meaning lies in his relationships with Sam, with his mother, and with his father. Such is why he returns to Sam at the very end of the film!

Yet note that, the film does not tell you how to pursue these relationships. Having come to the conclusion that the meaning lies in his relationship with Sam, the protagonist panics and frantically asks, "So what do we do? What do we do?" In the statement of rebellion against the modernists, Sam does not respond with a "rational solution" -- the film concludes with Andrew and Sam making out. It is an efficacious exaltation of will and feelings and a compelling depreciation of reason. Moral integrity and rationality are minimized... yet it presents a powerful statement about our fallen humanity.

"We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are and that will be better. OK? I think that will be better." - Andrew

In the end, I do think that these characters are seeking a way to be truly human in some way. They do not find it in drug and sexual abuse, and I daresay, in contradiction to the film's message, that they will not find it in human relationships, either. Not just because "the Bible said so," but because I find that actual human experiences that we encounter in everyday life, that which value integrity and reason in relationships, contradict the film, which exalts taste, preference, and feelings in relationships. Although the film did not provide a satisfying explanation of human condition and a solution, I am glad that I already found it in the Christian explanation of the Fall and Redemption.