WEBVTT - Brave New World (Part 2) 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.760 Hey there, this is Popcorn Book Club. I'm Danis Schwartz. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:11.000 Thanks for listening. Last week we started in on Alvis 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:15.680 Huxley's Brave New World Now a series on NBC's Peacock. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.680 We discussed a whole bunch of people in it, none 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.919 of whom, as it turns out, are the protagonist. This 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.599 story does not have a protagonist, nobody you want to 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.000 root for. Anyway. If you haven't heard our previous show, 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.000 please go back and start there. This one will make 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.520 a little bit more sense. Today. Jennifer Wright, Karamadaqua, Tan Trent, 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.360 Melissa Hunter and I will get into the thick of 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.159 Huxley's story about sex, drugs, and a complete lack of 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.360 rock and roll. One more tiny good thing that again 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.199 levels don't go this far, but non violent de escalation 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.199 of violence, but every in line. Yeah, I mean, I 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.560 would be much happier if they instead of tear gassing protesters, 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:58.920 they were blown out weed smoke like that would be 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:01.880 and they played an audio tape that was just like, 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:07.119 just be nice to each other, Come on nice cool. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:13.000 That's scary. Yeah, it sounds like the music festival they 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:17.559 used to have at my college. That's not fun. I'll 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:19.600 just jump us off and then Jennifer, I'm gonna give 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.200 you the climax, but I'll lead us up to there, 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.399 which is uh, John h has you know, had these 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.920 ideals of this brave new world his entire life, hearing 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.560 about it from his mom Linda. But he's conflicted. People 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.280 have no feelings. No one has read Shakespeare here, and 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.080 he's very um confused by this strumpet Lunina because he 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:43.240 has feelings for her, but she's a strumpet and and 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.280 what is what is going on? So he has these 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.600 this this crisis of faith, and he goes to visit 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.680 his mother at just said dirty word dying in the 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:57.320 hospital um on Soma on a Soma holiday. Um in 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.680 a hospital where a Booknovski group of like a million 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.600 twins are being death conditioned. Because another pretty good thing 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.440 about the society is people aren't scared of death, which 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.000 genuinely is a is a positive thing that I think 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.079 that humans should be less scared of death of all 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.920 the things that they were conditioning the young children. I 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.639 was like that one fine, because it's also like a 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:23.919 lot of Latin American cultures have that too, with like 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.960 Dan Dalis Moritos, where it's like death is something to 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.600 celebrate and not to be as afraid of. I think 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:30.840 that there's a there's a line, and I mean that's 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:32.320 the whole thing of this book, is that there needs 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.360 to be a line somewhere between the two worlds. But 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.679 I think that like eating a chocolate and Claire of 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:45.400 being like, is she dead a little much CAUs yes, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.360 it's a little cavaliering, callous and uncaring and unfeeling because 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.600 they don't have these strong relationships. And so I think 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.480 that being unafraid of death is important, and accepting that 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.000 death is a part of life is important. But also 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.760 seeing that person as a person who people cared about 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.000 is what's missing in this and that's what John gets 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.720 upset about. That's also it it's like people also don't 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.440 see people as individuals. They're like, you're just part of 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.519 the organism, like you're not a person. So to bring 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.520 us into the climax, John witnesses his mother die and 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:24.760 see sort of the taunting and just like sneers and 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.760 and repulsion of this Bukanovski group twins and John has 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.639 a freak out, a justifiable freak out because his mom 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.120 just died. Uh, and Jennifer, why don't you take it. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.520 At this climactic moment um, John decides that he's going 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:43.120 to liberate this world. So he sees saw being handed 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.960 out to a huge group of people. I think they're guilta's. 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:48.839 They've just been used working for the day, and they're 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.240 getting their ration of selma. They're all lining up and 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:57.040 John runs back behind the station, screams from Shakespeare at them, 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.840 and throws away all the selma. Understandably, everybody is furious. 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.760 There's a riot. They tried to you understand, they've set 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.920 you free, and no, no, that's not how they felt 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.560 about that. They just did like eight hours of work 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.000 in a factory. They thought we're going to get a drink. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.880 People are very angry at him. It's gonna jump in 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.159 real quick. At this moment, I thought the plot was 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:23.520 going to be that he was like that guy from 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.400 the movie Yesterday where he starts like reciting Shakespeare's and 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:34.800 everyone's like, oh my goodness, Sonnets, he's a god. But 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.279 because it's like lend me your ears, and he's like, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:44.960 oh shit, I've never spoken publicly before, so it's very unfortunate. 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.440 But they can't even really rebel because I thought, wow, 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.919 that's some strong emotion, like that's certainly curious anger resulting 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.080 in riot. It's only a very strong emotion because they 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.880 release clouds of so much into the air to calm 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:03.159 everybody down. And they played this very soothing, automated message 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:05.960 saying like you should all be good to love each other. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:11.280 Wouldn't that be nice? So apparent general orgy, one more 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.400 tiny good thing that again levels don't go this far, 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:19.520 but non violent shutting down of de escalation of violence 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.320 that they have like a nice little recording. They're like, oh, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:27.360 we're gonna play Riot number two, alright, but everyone in 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:34.720 line like like, yeah, I mean, I would be much 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.760 happier if they instead of tear gassing protesters they were 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.640 blown out weed smoke like that would be And they 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.080 played an audio tape that was just like, just be 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:51.279 nice to each other, come on, nice cool. That's scary, Yeah, 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.920 it is scary. It sounds like the music festival they 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.000 used to have at my college. It's not fun. Wait, 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.839 wait what spring weekend? They did not play creepy saying 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:03.799 there was like a bunch of music and weed smoke 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:10.120 and it was all right. So hem. Holtz and Bernard 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.480 are also present for this. They are worried the savage 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.640 is going to get killed him. Holtz like restless to 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.880 defend him because him Holtz is good at everything and 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.159 that's made him different. Bernard it's like a shitty little 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.520 weasel about this because he's a shitty little person. So 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:29.000 they all get called in to stand before and also sorry, 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.520 one more interruption when they were like, is this are 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.080 you guys friends with John? They whatever, and Bernard was 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:36.680 like trying to come up with a way he could 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:42.600 say no, reading him around. The best part of that 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.680 was when help comes and it says that he starts 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:51.440 shouting help to give the illusion that he's helping. He's 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:57.440 the worst. So they're all called in before the World 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:02.760 Controller and the world and Groler talks about how these 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.560 people can't be in civilife society anymore. The World Controller 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.840 has also read Shakespeare. Uh. He also loved doing true 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.080 science when he was young. He wanted to do real experiments, 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.640 but they weren't conducive to society's happiness. So he had 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.160 a choice when he was young where he could either 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.320 accumulate a huge amount of power or he could be 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:24.800 exiled to an island, and um, he's like, so all 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:26.640 of you are going to be exiled to islands. You're 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.640 you're right about that assumption, if that's what you think 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.160 is going on. And Bernard begins sobbing controllably breaks out 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.440 things to be allowed to say, like becomes inconsolable and 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:41.560 has to be taken and given so many in the 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.560 other room and the world control. He's like, well, that 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.280 hasn't dumb reaction, because if you think about it, you're 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.600 gonna meet the most interesting people you've ever met in 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.560 your life. Uh, it's everybody who was a little bit 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.240 too weird to function here. And also he really nicely 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.440 lets how Lant's choose what island. I love that party. 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.240 He says, you want one with a good climate and 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.160 him holds so snow. I think I'd do better writing 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.240 if I was in a really bad climate. Yeah, he's like, 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:11.000 the storms will inspire me. I feel like there's you 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.920 don't get a lot of writing done in Hawaii and 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:17.280 it works for the Russians. Um. Yeah, also goes to 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.880 the Falkland Islands, which is I also really like that. 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.760 It's basically an artists colony. That's the punishment. Yeah, amazing. Also, 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.520 I gotta say I'm really bummed for Helmholds that he 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.960 is banished to an island with his toxic friend that 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:33.920 he just can't get rid of. Oh I don't think 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:38.480 they're going to the same island. Yeah. And at the 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.320 end that chapter when he freaks out him home, Helmholds 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.199 is like, I'm gonna go check on my friend, even 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:48.000 though it's them just being a stem, make sure he's okay. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:53.480 It's like, you can do better. As brand is gonna 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.400 be a lot of interesting people. He's gonna be. Yeah, 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.840 he's gonna be He's gonna have a great time at 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:59.679 the He's going to have a lot of sex. He's 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.680 gonna thrive. One of the things that I did think 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.880 was this is a little separate from the rest of 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.640 the plot. But they talked about how at one point 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.360 Alpha's wanted to have their own island, so they gave 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.600 them an island, and they had an Alpha only island, 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.000 and it went terribly because none of them wanted to 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.959 do menial labor. They were all just constantly jockeying to 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:23.040 be the most powerful person there. Devolved into like wars 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.600 of revolutions every few years. It fell apart of media, Like, um, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.160 how would this sign might be different? Like are there 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.520 a lot of poets who wanted to do a lot 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.680 of me? I think I had the idea that maybe 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:41.480 it's this this society doesn't understand that not all like 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.880 poets and and like what I'm saying is there's a 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.640 flaw with how they're making alpha pluses, you know what 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.559 I mean, Like because not all poets are like straight 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:52.880 smart or good at engineering, and so like the things 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:56.160 that they were breeding in their alpha plus is probably 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.200 also weren't the best things for like fun people all ways. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.080 That was my understanding where I was like, maybe instead 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.400 of just being like the best and smartest people, they're 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.199 specifically breeding alpha plus is to be like engineers for 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.640 their society, and so that makes them all kind of shitty. Yeah, 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.800 it feels like in Cyprus because it was the experiment 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:18.839 with all the alphice happened in Cyprus. It feels like 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.400 they were like, Okay, we want you to replicate this 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.880 society exactly. And also you're being told, hey, you have 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.040 to do absolon work. So the things that you have 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.760 been conditioned to think are beneath you are the things 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.480 that they now have to do. So they gave them 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:34.600 all the means of production and they were like, yeah, 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.439 socialism and they were like but no, no, no, we 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.840 are capitalism, and we want capitalism because that is good, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.559 right you buy new clothes when they get holes in 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.520 them and all that good stuff, and it's like, no, 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.319 I'll figure it out. So I think that's sort of 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.520 the breakdown because they weren't willing to be cooperative because 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.120 they had not been taught that that was the thing 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.959 that you do. Yeah, they've been conditioned totally against that, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.440 which is why love that. Like John's outburst, not outburst, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.640 but that he's like going to liberate everyone. Starts off 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.120 with quoting Shakespeare and then he's essentially just like an 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.360 emo boy in high school. That's like, I want to 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:17.840 be unhappy, so so you want your unhappiness and he's 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.520 like yeah, and they're in pain. He's like, I'll take 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.559 that to all of them, give it all to me. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:29.000 I just want to feel okay. So John is not 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.559 allowed to go to the Falklands with his other friends. 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.480 He goes off into the far reachers of the territory 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.079 in takes over an abandoned lighthouse, decides that he'll just 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.280 go on this little Walden adventure and live completely cut 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:45.839 off from the rest of society. It looks for like 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.319 two days until reporters find them and they're like, it's 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.240 interesting what he's doing. Um John is horrible to them 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:57.120 and attacks them, and he also starts whipping himself whenever 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.719 he has sexual thoughts about when he so. Um so, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:06.679 reporters also see him whipping himself in the wilderness and 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.400 take pictures because that's a crazy story. And then a 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.920 bunch of tourists come out to see him and they 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:18.160 want to see him whip himself, and eventually maybe Lanina 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.240 is among them. And in any event, there is some 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.000 blue eyed woman who goes up to him. I think 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.280 it is Lenina because she's with Henry Foster. I assumed 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.640 it was belongs to everyone else, So who knows who 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.600 that lady was. I think it's implied to be Yah. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.520 I think it's implied to be Lenina. But I do 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.160 think it's interesting that he didn't name her and that 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.760 it's like to me, that implies it could have been 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.839 any like it probably is Lanina, but it could have 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.880 been any woman in place of her in that moment. Yeah, 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.959 there is also an interesting part that doesn't have that 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:55.400 much to do with the blood, but we get this 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.959 neat little dig aggression into a camperman who is filmed, 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.800 very excited about using this as a premise for a feeling, 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.400 and he thinks it's going to be as good as 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.480 like the sex Life of a sperm Whale, which would 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.960 really he's saying something like he really really thinks he's 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.640 gonna he's gonna take the film medium to a new place. 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.559 That made me laugh. And people seem to take a 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.400 lot of satisfaction in their jobs. I will say I 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.840 did find it interesting that that specific photographer slash cameraman, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:34.800 he spent like four days in a tree, where I 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.559 was like, isn't that a feeling of like wanting a 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.880 thing and committing and then getting the thing? Like why 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:42.760 did they let him do that? That seems like way 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:47.439 too much satisfaction to go to island. He's gonna go 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.200 to an island where he's gonna make his documentary seen 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.720 to me, And also the addition of the reporters felt 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.439 out of place too, because I'm like, why would you 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.640 need someone to be documenting some like all the things 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.760 that you know are supposed to be regimented, like do 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:07.880 you need competing also seem to want questions. It would 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:11.760 call their world view into questions when they asked him, okay, 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.880 you know the kind of questions we're gonna ask. It's like, 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.800 what do you think of civilized which is a normal 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.880 question for a tabloid publication. But if somebody says I 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.440 think they're all strumpets women should only sleep with one man, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.040 that is an incredibly controversial point. Are going to read 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:33.280 that and be like, wait, ship, wait, just does this 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:38.200 brave new world have freedom of press? Apparently? Yeah, and 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.480 like a thriving entertainment industry. If that's why it was, 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.760 I was like, wait, where the hell did these reporters 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.240 come from? Yeah? Well, I think that throughout the book 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.960 they do a good job of establishing that there's a 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.920 level of awfulness that they'll allow because everybody's like, oh, 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.640 Marx is so queer, and it's been establish he's kind 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.400 of a weirdo. But there's a point at which he 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.640 becomes too weird. They're like, he's alone a lot. He's 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.760 like starting to ask questions that we don't necessarily think 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.560 are cool, and um, like Helmholtz is also kind of weird, 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.000 which is why they're friends, because they've established that they're 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.320 both alf Us. They're both weird. But I think Helmholtz 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.280 kind of kept it together more until he did that 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.520 thing in his class where he showed them like unapproved rhymes, 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:34.080 like the teacher that very very long pool, like understandably 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.320 if and the kids are twelve years old, if your 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.880 teacher suddenly just came in four science class. It was like, 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.120 I'm going to I want to tell you all. When 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.800 I was a junior in an ap English class, my 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:52.720 English teacher, I mean frek, my English teacher brought in 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.440 a poem that he had written and he had us 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.120 read it out loud, like line by line and like 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.600 the poem again, a poem he wrote. And I remember 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.360 specifically there was like a line of like home reading 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:10.640 these inane essays from students who don't carry Oh, so 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.240 he dragged you and then made you read you're dragging. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.560 But again that wasn't like the point of the poem. 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:19.840 It was just like snuck in there, like a little 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.440 line of his own like home life where he's like 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:28.560 I spend my night reading meaningless essays. Shot him out, 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.240 very funny. I had an acting teacher do that once. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.560 He had a scene, uh, and it was like at 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.640 a reputable acting school, but he had a scene that 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.920 was from something that he had written that was not 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.440 like it's not like he wrote something that was like 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.800 produced by a major studio. It was like a thing 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.080 that he wrote that he and his friends made some 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.840 like teeny tiny indie film like seventeen years before. And 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:53.960 he's like, we're doing this in class today, and I 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.480 was like, I don't want to. We are. Acting teacher 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.040 in high school had an unpublished or self published play 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.880 called On Stars Not Falling that was a autobiographical play 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.840 about his coming out, which is, you know, a good 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.800 play but very personal for like a teacher to be like, 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.040 this is about me and my story, and like then 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.119 to have students acted out in front of him like 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:23.359 we did his play that was autobiographical day. The problem 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.800 is not that any of these people did creative endeavors. 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:29.720 I think wonderful. I think everybody should do creative things. Happy. 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:34.119 There's a you tried to turn your classroom for a 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:39.320 little stadium of friends for my api. English teacher was 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:43.000 this very famous English teacher in my school. She was 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.680 like probably eighty When I had her, she was at 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.200 Pali High forever. She like donated. She was from very 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:56.600 rich and like donated her salary to the school and stuff. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.040 But she was asshole. She like also will bullied half 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.320 of her class. She would call people her fours and fives, 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.360 like the ones that she thought were like the smartest. 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:11.600 My god, wait, and then she's like has had life, 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.399 think a narcissistic personality sort of. And on the first 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.200 day of class and we were all told this and 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.959 I had her two years in a row, she turned 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.479 on TV and it was like she was on sixty 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.960 minutes or something as uh, like she like one Teacher 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.720 of the Year one year, like twenty years before plays 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.280 it for everyone to be like, this is what you're getting. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.160 I just been imagining her rolling out the TV cart 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.959 that you like keep for rainy days and days when 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.040 you're hungover as a teacher, like popping in the homemade 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.320 recorded vhs of her on sixty minutes and just the 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.320 ti tik tik happening, and then her face, Oh gosh, 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.000 can you imagine that you're going to watch the Road 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.919 to El Dorado and watching sixty Minutes on your teacher 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.280 Also just like thinking of like a mean girl English 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.639 teacher walking around being like, okay, my fours and fives, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.119 where are you? I know, it was very It was 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.359 very very and that would be like I would be 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.280 such an insecure little scholar in that room. I mean 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.359 I was four, so I it was I was a 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.480 forward to, but she was her fours and fives. And 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:24.680 then I remember I saw her one day with like 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.320 her two favorite students, like, oh, here they are my fives, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.240 and I'm like, oh, that's why you call us collectively 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:44.359 fours and fives. You're listening to Popcorn book Club for 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:46.960 My Heart Radio, and we'll be back right after the break. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:04.600 So we're back with Popcorn book Club for My Heart Radio. Okay, 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.960 So back to Helmholtz. Yeah, reads a long poem to 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.280 his students, which is cute, and that was like his 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:17.200 big act of descent. So I think that it was weird. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.160 But the reported him those acts, but like those acts 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.840 of descent don't seem to warrant like a full camera crew, 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.240 which is which which was why I felt the reporters 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.760 felt so odd that they were like on the ready, 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.240 ready to record John, Like I think part of it 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:36.800 is like John is so different that John is like 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:41.520 the only you know, but why the exist? I think 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.119 that's what Like maybe it's I think it's part of 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.000 that economy of distraction, right, Like it's it's the frivolity 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.920 of the media, and like this society has well, yeah, 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.600 it already it already assumes that people are so well 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.679 conditioned that they're not going to do anything like wild 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:00.680 you know what I mean, Like they're so regimented in 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.320 their like brains everything. Also, like the guy who did 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.119 the whales thing or the nature thing. I wonder if 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.480 that because it does feel like you wouldn't profile individuals 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.720 because this society is so anti individual that I feel 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:19.159 like you would profile nature or you would profile like 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:24.399 the the the making of the Feelies or something like that. 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:28.560 But I don't know, maybe they don't see John as 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.720 an individual. Like that's also a big part of that, 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.600 Like he's so outside the society that he's just like 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:37.159 a curio. Yeah, I mean, and he's attempting to return 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.720 to nature. He's just thwarted in his attempts immediately and 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:47.480 even during this period where he is attempting to do 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:52.560 his walden bit where he is living alone unperturbed by 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.600 the rest of the world. And he bought a few 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.239 canned goods because they were irresistible, but he's not going 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:03.879 to eat them. That that was very funny. Yeah, so 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:10.240 he's playing stove entirely alone. It okay. When I kept 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.640 thinking about this book, and I think one thing that's 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.840 interesting about any dystopia is we it forces us to 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.680 think about what he's missing from that society and what's 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.840 valuable to us. And sometimes that's something very obvious, like 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:26.480 water is missing from this society, and that is something 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:31.119 I care about. Um, the amazing that seems to be 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:35.679 missing from this society's love, and John comes no closer 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.240 to be incapable of loving when he's living alone. At 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.840 the end, he's still just whipping himself every time he 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:43.960 thinks about Lanina when she actually comes back for him. 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.359 I thought a happy ending was going to be, like 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:48.560 he was going right to her. They were going to 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:50.040 be together, She was going to live with him in 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.399 his lighthouse, and they were gonna restart the family. And 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:56.600 I hope be documented by that guy who is a 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:01.760 documentary and I'm very passionate about his art, Treating Treat 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:08.120 Treat guy. Yeah, he works really hard. Everyone else. John 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.399 also Eldest Huxley, does that thing where he wants to 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:14.240 make an argument, so he has two characters argue opposing 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:16.720 points for ten pages. And that's the argument that John 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:19.720 has with Mustafa Amount, where it's like two smart people 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:24.040 with opposite perspectives talking and John's perspective is like, what 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:28.639 about art and truth and beauty? And Mustafa a Mount goes, Okay, well, 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.479 those are fine, but they're not empirically more important than 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:35.040 comfort and happiness, and we prioritize comfort and happiness and 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:38.359 that is a compromise. Look, it's an argument. Some people 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.280 say that, you know, comfort is better than than beauty 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.640 and truth, And I thought it was really nice when 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.760 him Holt says that he's suffering because he wants to 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:51.359 make art and he can't, and must Amount says that 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:55.040