National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Between the cursive, inky text of the beginning and ending credits was one big mess of money-making boredom. Why was it successful?
I work at a movie theatre and asked a friendly patron what the allure was–she stated that the N.T. movies were family-friendly and had something for everyone, from their vague educational benefit for the kids (the movies are loosely rooted in HIStory) and PG appropriateness (a subjective acronym instated by the powers-that-be) to their occasional bouts of car chases and explosions (aka penis imagery and senseless fighting to honor and protect kin/country). What is “Book of Secrets’”general thematic content? Arguably, the threat of the imaginary, in the form of the cameraphone, to the predominating reign of paternity and print.
Beginning:
-Ben Gates attempts to clear his great-grandfather’s name through the help of academia, computer technology, a word puzzle, and an old questionable diary page
-Next, he peruses a woman holding a tablet with a boy toy (a remote-controlled helicopter records with a video camera the statue of liberty’s curves in Paris)
-Then he looks at two desks covered in penises… i mean… pens
-Then? Chasing down a codex in the Library of Congress using the dewey decimal system as a password… o this is just too much
-Ben Gates’ girlfriend and mother are estranged at this point in the movie
Ending:
-Cibola’s pictographic writing system now takes center stage, and Ben’s Mom alone can read it
-to find the treasure the hunters must climb into a vagina-looking cave entrance and enter a water-filled “womb” marked by a picture of a bird
-good ol’ mom takes over the excavation of the final discover, thus clearing the name of Ben Gates’ grandpappy and proving that Mt. Rushmore is a big fat fake used to hide ancient architecture
-Ben goes home to the girlfriend and Mom tolerates Dad again
this movie felt like one big ad for the cameraphone
oh, and all of the characters are academics, authors, or politicians
the end, go take a nap, you earned it
-Sara B.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Sara, thank you so much for this superb post. I’m thrilled that all of you are still posting to our blog. It’s amazing that such a lousy movie has been number one at the box office for four weeks now. And yes, of course, whereas the last one focused on the father, this one is dominated by the mother, who — like Hillary Clinton — comes to the rescue. It’s been fascinating to see that ever since her loss in Iowa, Hillary has been taking her daughter to all of her campaign stops, and that older mothers and grandmothers have become her main base of support. And of course the hero of the movie, Ben Gates, has the same last name and initials of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, the father of the computer revolution and the era of the symbolic.
The etymology of the word “gate” is O.E. gæt (pl. geatu) “opening, passage.” So in some sense the hero of the number one box office movie currently is named for the Vagina, as is the founder of the softward revolution.
Dr. B.
June 10th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Weight loss cream…
going to read more…
July 6th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Slimming tea…
cool article…