Having now started to read pages 64-86 of the nationally acclaimed The MOVIEGOER, I noticed some characters made some philosophical questioning that challenged the so called "norm" everyone seems to follow. The first time is when Binx is at the theater. Before Binx watches a movie he speaks to a manager to learn about the theater or something about the people who operate it. But he also comes to a conclusion about why he does it. It is for selfish reasons and he isn't afraid to admit it. "I am no do-gooding Jose Ferrer going around with a little whistle to make people happy. Such do-gooders do not really want to listen, are not really selfish like me; they are being nice fellows and boring themselves to death, and their listeners are not really cheered up. Show me a nice Jose cheering up an old lady and I'll show you two people existing in despair. My mother often told me to be unselfish, but I have become suspicious of the advice. No I do it for my own selfish reasons."(75) Binx truly believes that people can't be 'do-gooding Joses' for unselfish reasons because the only reason they would want to do it is to look better to everyone else. Binx firmly states that he is being selfish on purpose and there is nothing wrong with that. Or is he just being cynical? When Binx meets up with Kate she starts talking about doctors then a question dawns on her. "Now she takes my arm in both hands. 'Have you noticed that only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real?' I remember at the time of the wreck--people were so kind and helpful and solid. Everyone pretended that our lives until that moment had been every bit as real as the moment itself that the future must be real too, when the truth was that our reality had been purchased only by Lyell's death. In another hour or so we had all faded out again and gone our dim ways" (81) Binx agrees with Kate and they continue on their way. These little questions are short adn discussed short between the reader and Binx (his thoughts about her question are told to us rather than to Kate) then its gone with no further thought. At first this sudden outburst of philosophical questioning just left me slightly confused. What do you guys think? And did you noticed something like this in the beginning of the book, or in the other books?
I too noticed the philosophical questioning and Binx and Kate's tendency to rebel against or at least contradict the social norms of the time period in the south. Binx's attitude towards woman and human relationships in particular seems abnormal and is underlined by his obsession with the esoteric and philosophical questions which seem to overrule the importance or need for human connections. One particular attitude of Binx that I found illuminated his theme of isolation was his idea about politics. He claims "I do not know whether I am a liberal or a conservative, I am nevertheless enlivened by the hatred one bears the other. In fact, this hatred strikes me as one of the few signs of life remaining in the world. . . all the friendly and likable people seem dead to me; only the haters seem alive" (100). This attitude seems to completely go against the norm or what is socially acceptable, furthermore it brings up the essential question of who is real, the friend "good-doers" or the "haters"? I think that this theme of Binx being a maverick or at least rebel has been alluded to from the beginning of the book and by the very title as he spends his life at the movies but his musings are not confirmed to the false reality of the movies but rather grounded in real life, and they confront important but often overlooked questions.
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