I would have liked it more if Jim and Jules had hooked up

In our class discussion over Jules and Jim, we discussed the idea of women and coolness. Donna raised the question, is it possible for women to be cool unless they share the same qualities of coolness that are stereotypically assigned to men? Personally, I believe that the things that make people cool are not gender-specific at all. The qualities that I have outlined throughout my previous blogs can easily be applied to people of both genders. Qualities like intelligence, kindness, justice, and authority primarily make up coolness. Unfortunately, I have not seen may women in popular culture who have these features. I apologize if I offend anyone by saying this, but women in most current television shows or movies are merely sex symbols who use their sexuality so seduce men into doing what they want them to do. However, there are women who perfectly fit the same cool qualities that make men cool. Women like Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway and Maggie Smith in almost every role she plays (but especially as Professor McGonagall) are able to take universal qualities of coolness and perform as incredibly cool characters. Additionally, if the gender of their characters was switched, then they would still retain their coolness.
In any case, I did not find any amount of coolness in Jules and Jim. The entire movie was about a two friends who fall deeply in love with a very sexy and fun woman named Catherine. When first posed with this premise for the movie, I thought to myself that the film could turn out to be a moderately enjoyable experience, but as the film went on, I found the relationship between the three to be very uncool. The uncoolness is primarily generated by Catherine, who is a free-spirited woman who cares only for shallow and trivial pleasures like playful games and sex. In addition, Jules and Jim flock to her because of her beauty and personality, and the two men fall deeply in love with her. However, even though Jules and Jim are absolutely enthralled with Catherine, she does not truly return their affection. Although she claims that she is in love with both men, her "love" is nothing more than sexual desire disguised with sweet words. In addition, I cannot find Jules or Jim to be cool either. Because they do not have the sense to see through Catherine's shallow persona, I can only look at them with scorn and discontent.

What if Keyes was Batman?

As I said in my last blog, Neff is not a cool person. So, I chose to look for other cool people that fit the same kind of detective archetype that Keyes fits. Almost immediately I thought of Batman from The Dark Knight. Throughout the entire film, Batman uses the powers of deduction and modern technology to track down both the Joker and the Falcone mob in the same way that Keyes uses wire taps to keep tabs on those who he thinks are committing insurance fraud. In addition, Batman likes to do most of his deduction alone in his temporary Bat-cave just as how Keyes investigates people from his secluded insurance office. Keyes and Batman also share a similar way of speaking to people. Aside from Batman's horribly raspy voice, both men speak with absolute authority regardless of who is talking to them. For example, Batman speaks to Commissioner Gordon as if he was a civilian just as Keyes speaks to his boss as if he was an insurance amateur. Strangely enough, both men also have a strong sense of compassion towards their guilty friends at the end of their movies. In The Dark Knight, Batman looks on the dead body of Harvey Dent and turns the attorney's face to the light as he decides to sacrifice his own reputation as a hero to make sure Dent's work is successful. Similarly, Keyes calls an ambulance and lights Neff's final cigarette in a show of justice and compassion for his friend turned criminal. Although Keyes does not go as far as sacrificing himself for the reputation of Neff, I believe that the factor in the situation that generates the coolness for both men is their compassion for their fallen friends.
In a final thought about Double Indemnity, I have begun to question why detectives are cool. Is it their skill in using deduction and intelligence that is appealing, or is it simply their determination in trying to bring justice to evil people? I am curious to see why others believe why detectives are cool, but I believe that Neff's apparent uncoolness can answer the question. Neff has fairly decent intelligence for being able to construct a moderately solid plan for cheating the insurance company. However, his evil intent caused him to become instantly uncool. Therefore, I would argue that the only way to be cool through having deductive skills and intelligence is to use these powers for good purposes.

The "Keyes" to Film Noir

During our watching of Double Indemnity, I decided that I may have a skewed view of what coolness is. Although the target of coolness of the film was Walter Neff, I did not think he was cool in any way. In fact, I believed him to be very uncool. The first inkling of uncoolness that I found in him was the way he instantly fell into a shallow relationship with the obviously bad Phyllis. Additionally, Neff was willing to be an adulterer without having any true romantic love towards Phyllis. This adds to the uncoolness of Neff because he was willing to desecrate the solemnity of marriage without anything except sex and the want to exploit the insurance system. As for Neff's want to beat the insurance system, I found his actions to be incredibly unnecessary. If Neff had accepted the desk job that Keyes had offered him, he could have satiated his intellectual appetite by handling insurance claims, but because Neff did not think this through very much, he chose the much more immoral and uncool path of actually killing a man in an attempt to break the system. Another factor of uncoolness that plagues Neff is his inability to control the greed of Phyllis. For example, when Phyllis was offered the settlement, if Neff had simply convinced her to take it then both of them would have been able to get away with the entire scheme.

Personally, I found Keyes to be the only oasis of coolness in the entirety of Double Indemnity. Throughout the entire film, he retains his morality and genuinely acts to bring justice to those who attempt to thwart the insurance company's policies. In addition, he uses the powers of deduction and math to sniff out the smallest flaws in the carefully constructed lies of fraudulent customers. The combination of intellect and doing the right thing is what generates Keyes' coolness. Also, despite his initial appearance as a cold "detective", his final actions prove him to be a caring person. When Neff is vainly trying to get away from his fate, Keyes both calls the police to take him in and the ambulance to save his life. The true moment of compassion comes when Neff lacks the strength to even strike a match and Keyes lends a hand to light Neff's final cigarette. Ultimately, coolness can only exist when the person in question is truly kind at heart.

I don't care what you say, Don Quixote IS COOL

While watching Play it Again Sam, I could not help but think about Don Quixote idolizing the ideas of chivalry and knighthood. I realize that Don Quixote may have existed in a time where cool had not quite come into existence yet, but from my modern perspective, I believe him to be a very cool "knight". Throughout Woody Allen's movie, he is constantly idolizing Bogart as the epitome of cool. In an attempt to have sex, Allen emulates him, but even though Bogart is a very cool guy, Allen simply does not portray any amount of coolness. In fact, through emulation, he ends up making a fool of himself because of his extreme clumsiness. However, through his whimsical clumsiness, Woody Allen is a very funny person, and I believe humor through failed imitation to be a cool trait. Don Quixote is cool for similar reasons. Although he attempts to emulate the pure idea of being a knight, he horribly fails, creating many humorous situations. For example, when he comes across a windmill, Don Quixote inflates the situation by acting like the windmill is a horrible monster. From Don Quixote's eyes, he is performing a heroic act as a powerful knight, but from the eyes of onlookers, it would look like a man swinging wildly at a device used to grind grain.

I have begun to question why people like Woody Allen and Don Quixote are cool. Is humor a necessary component to the kind of cool that these two men have? Furthermore, is it really the failed imitation that generates their coolness, or is it just that these individuals are cool only because they are funny. I am starting to agree more with the idea that humor is the primary driver for the coolness of these people. My primary motivation for believing this is that I cannot think of anyone that is both funny and uncool. For example, Rick Rolling was once a very cool activity. The act of sending your friends fake links (see first link) that sent them to the video of Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give you Up was cool because it was hilarious to watch their reactions to the song. However, now that the joke of Rick Rolling has become stale, Rick Rolling (and poor, poor Rick Astley as a result) has become very uncool.

Because of the relationship between coolness and humor, I would suggest that a more appropriate title for this movie's coolness would be "Cool Humor". Even though imitation is a definite part of Allen's performance, I believe it to be only a component of the humor that makes him cool.

No, I'm not Schizophrenic at all...

The person who I try to emulate to be cool is Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I do not honestly know when I began looking up to Picard as a cool person. As long as I can remember, I have listened intently to the words of Picard so that I could try to emulate the presence that he has in the universe of Star Trek. His coolness comes from his control of any situation that arises. He has a kind of cool intellect that makes his words flow as if he was constantly speaking in prose. From the title of the show to the most stressful situations, he always speaks in a way that makes everyone listen and respect everything he says. In addition, although Picard is alone in his love life, he has a way with women that makes them nearly faint at his appearance.

Until recently, I have never questioned why Picard's voice resides in my head. However, when thinking about it, I quickly realized that Picard has qualities that I lack. For example, people do not generally listen to what I say. Whenever I try to make a point or discuss something with someone, people tend to either completely dismiss what I am saying or ignore me, but when Picard speaks, everyone listens whether they like him or not. Although Picard's voice is not in my head all the time, I tend to hear him whenever people start ignoring me. I try to use the way he speaks to make people actually listen to what I say, regardless of if they agree or disagree with me. I am not sure why I emulate Captain Picard over other cool people like House or Will Smith. I suppose it is because I have been watching Star Trek since my early childhood. Because of this, Picard has been a constant presence of cool throughout my life.

Unfortunately, much like how Woody Allen finds out that following Bogart is not always the best idea, I have discovered that emulating Captain Picard does not help my life much. Regardless of how I try to talk like Picard, people still ignore me because much of what I say is about esoteric topics like chainmail and computer science. Ultimately, for people to start listening to me, I must simply talk about things that are more interesting to more people.

Bogart In Space

When watching the last few minutes to Casablanca, I realized that the coolness that comes from Rick is generated by his sacrifices. Faced with the decision to either support Victor's cause or run the bar in isolation, Rick chooses to sacrifice his life of luxury to do what he sees as right. The character Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan also makes a sacrifice because it is the right thing to do. Throughout the movie, the antagonist Khan follows the opposite standpoint on sacrifice that Spock does. Khan's sole purpose in life is to get revenge on Captain Kirk for abandoning Khan's crew on a barren planet, and Khan is willing to kill any amount of people, including his own crew, to get what he wants. Ultimately, Khan only cares about himself and getting his own revenge. Conversely, Spock realizes that the most logical philosophy of life is that the needs of the group are always greater than the needs of individual people. This philosophy comes to the test when Spock chooses to sacrifice his life to save the Enterprise. The way that Spock is able to give up his life for the good of the crew is incredibly cool because most people are not willing to go that far for the good of other people.

Another person who generates coolness from sacrifices is House. Although I've already shown House to be a dissident, he is also willing to sacrifice himself for others. For example, in the latter part of the fourth season of House, House's best friend Wilson starts dating Amber, a woman who House dubs "Cutthroat Bitch". In the minds of his colleagues, Amber is dragging Wilson away from House, leading House to resent Amber, but in House's mind, Amber is leading Wilson into a horrible relationship that will end in a broken heart for Wilson. In the penultimate episode of the season, it is revealed that Amber is close to death because of a bus crash. Even though saving Amber would mean Wilson becoming less of a friend, House decides that Wilson is in love with Amber, and that letting her die would make Wilson heartbroken. In addition, to save Amber, House must risk his own life by performing multiple dangerous operations in an attempt to access memories about the bus crash. In the end, House's strongest attempts are failures, and as a result, Amber dies. However, even though he was unsuccessful, House was willing to sacrifice his life just for the happiness of his best friend. It is this kind of act that truly defines sacrificial coolness.

Read this or you'll regret it soon and for the rest of your life!

In recent years, I have fallen into the habit of not watching movies or television. The cause for this is the almost certain disappointment that I get when I expect to spend a portion of time being entertained and end up horribly uninterested. However, movies like The Public Enemy and Casablanca have made me look into the past for my future entertainment.

After about five minutes of watching Casablanca, I started to think that it was going to be a horrible movie. I did not want to spend my Wednesday night watching a story about people passing through a bar. When Bogart made his appearance on screen, I questioned everyone's statements of how cool he was. Fortunately, as the characters of the movie developed, I was drawn deeper and deeper into the fantasy of Rick's Cafe Americana. Rick ended up being my favorite character from the film. His progression from a cold and distant saloon owner to a passionate man doing the right thing definitely solidified his position as a very cool character.

I believe that Rick's ultimate motivation is to do the right thing. At first, he is withdrawn from the world because of the way Ilsa hurt him in Paris. As a result, he is afraid to stand up for what is right because he does not want to be hurt anymore. However, when Ilsa returns in his life, Rick's motives become revitalized. He goes from being an isolated businessman to being an active participant in people's lives. For example, when the Germans are singing in the cafe, it may be Victor who tells the band to play La Marseillaise, but it is Rick who nods to the band, giving them the permission to play the anthem. He does this because he views Victor's actions as good and wants to help him in any way necessary. The ending scene of the movie also shows Rick's commitment to doing the right thing. By giving Victor and Ilsa the papers, he sacrifices any chance of a relationship with Ilsa so that she will be happy with Victor. In addition, this sacrifice gives Rick, Victor, and Captain Renault the opportunity to help France.

Out of the supporting cast of the movie, Sam is the most interesting. While Sam is not a horribly interesting character from the standpoint of the plot of the movie, I am interested by the way a black man was portrayed in the movie. Although the point where Sam and Rick are drinking late at night puts Sam as a friend of Rick, the way Sam is referred to as boy occasionally and the way that Sam calls Rick boss all the time puts Sam as an inferior person to the white men in the movie. Fortunately, although Sam is portrayed as inferior, he is also shown as a kind person who is genuinely goodhearted.

The Public Fable

From the opening scene of The Public Enemy, I immediately thought of the video game Fable II. Similarly to Tom, Sparrow, the protagonist of Fable II, starts out his life as a normal child with the potential to do either good or evil. However, through making bad choices, Sparrow slowly descends into a world of crime. Starting out, he only has to perform simple tasks like transporting slaves and stealing gold from houses. This is similar to Tom's early career as a criminal when he had to raid the rum warehouse. As time progresses, Sparrow becomes richer and more powerful through his evil deeds, gaining the wealth to gradually own businesses and houses. Although tasks like murder and enslaving innocent people definitely remain on Sparrow's list of things to do, he also gains the ability to extort the citizens of Albion by raising rent and charging extreme prices for basic goods. However, the rise of crime causes the city guards and assassins from opposing criminals to constantly attack Sparrow. This mirrors the last few days of Tom's life when he has extreme money and power but succumbs to the gunfire of opposing criminals. In a turn away from Tom's life, Sparrow actually lives through the constant opposition from his enemies, giving him the opportunity to make the final decision to be good or evil. (watch the video from 3:55 to 4:55)

Another person who shares the criminal coolness that Tom has is the Joker from The Dark Knight. Having a complete disregard for all justice and law, the Joker does not care about money. Instead, he only wishes to create chaos within society and gain power. Although Tom's goals are not centered on chaos, he does not care about money. For Tom, he only wants people to recognize him and fear him as the city's greatest criminal. In addition, the Joker has no problem killing innocent people. He even goes as far as to blow up a hospital just to make a point. Tom also has no problems killing people, as can be seen by the way he kills Putty Nose and walks away without a second thought. However, Tom does not go as far as the Joker does. Although he is ruthless, Tom cannot stand to harm his mother. Conversely, the Joker could easily kill his own family for the sake of one of his cruel jokes.

Although I can see the viewpoint of those who like cool criminals, I still do not find criminal activities to be cool. I may simply be too much of a goodie-two-shoes, but I am the type of person that finds Batman cooler than the Joker simply because the Joker harms innocent people. As for Tom, he has a slight glimmer of coolness in the way he cares for his mother, but his overall attitude towards everyone else makes him a very uncool person.