Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I don't want to be an ant.

I have a love-hate relationship with public transportation.

OK, I admit, it's mainly hate. I hate waiting, I hate standing, I hate not getting a seat. But there's something else. Something about the social phenomenon of so many people, fellow human beings, acting completely indifferent to one another. I mean, you're all in this small space together, and everyone is avoiding eye contact and pretending like no one else exists. It's like John Hannah's character says in Sliding Doors:

"It's funny the way nobody talks in the tubes, isn't it? I mean, I rarely catch the tube myself, but --or lifts -- confined spaces, everybody shuts down -- why is that? Perhaps we think everybody else on the tube or lift is a potential psychopath or a drunk so we close down and pretend to read a book or something --"

But then I also completely relate to Gwyneth Paltrow's response (in fact
sometimes I actually hide from people I know):

"Look, I don't think you're a psychopath, I just want to read my book."

So it's kind of contradictory that I want everyone to leave me alone, and yet I wish we all could be more human with each other.

Anyway, I was explaining this to someone who pointed me to this clip from the movie Waking Life. I'm weirdly fascinated by this:


1 comment:

Em said...

Okay, so I haven't really been in the blogging world for a month or so so I know this post is from awhile ago... but I totally have felt this way. The other day I was in the doctor's office waiting room for almost 2 HOURS with Ethan and Jake and about 25 other people and there was some toy sharing and a few superficial "how old is he?" questions going on, but part of me just wanted to bust into the shopping cart love song or something and just start having a good time but then I didn't know if I would get mugged or just stared at or what so I wimped out. It's weird, isn't it?