Writer's Block: "Anybody home? Think, McFly, Think!"
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Okay, this is going to sound odd, but the meanest movie bully I ever saw was the New Age teacher in Todd Haynes' Safe. He had that sweet, "positive" tone that so much of New Age philosophy has, but he also had the mean-spirited, selfish bullying that is so prevalent in that area of thought. The whole blame-the-victim mentality, berating (always politely, of course) those who dare to get angry or feel resentful of the hardships life rains down on them. I find that kind of thing much uglier and more damaging that straight-out shitheadedness, myself, because it pushes the damage-doing onto the victim - hearing this nice teacher say these things makes the person think it's her fault. And how can you fight back against a guy whose bullying is "nice" and polite? You can't. That's the power of passive aggression, and it's really, really ugly. A real villain for the modern world.
Okay, this is going to sound odd, but the meanest movie bully I ever saw was the New Age teacher in Todd Haynes' Safe. He had that sweet, "positive" tone that so much of New Age philosophy has, but he also had the mean-spirited, selfish bullying that is so prevalent in that area of thought. The whole blame-the-victim mentality, berating (always politely, of course) those who dare to get angry or feel resentful of the hardships life rains down on them. I find that kind of thing much uglier and more damaging that straight-out shitheadedness, myself, because it pushes the damage-doing onto the victim - hearing this nice teacher say these things makes the person think it's her fault. And how can you fight back against a guy whose bullying is "nice" and polite? You can't. That's the power of passive aggression, and it's really, really ugly. A real villain for the modern world.
