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What is insanity?
The Sands that I hold in my mind could be called perfectly sane, perhaps.
All seeming evidence to insanity is perhaps too much evidence of a man who simply doesn't care. Not for human life, not for society's morals, not for fashion; and what are ethics but the currently fashionable modes of judgement?
Is this lack of caring derived from a higher calling, a belief of an order that goes beyond an order called forth as 'sanity', or from a lack of love?
In regards to the scene with the church shootout, Rodriguez in an interview mentions the violent symbolism of having to destroy a guitar to get to a gun that El Mariachi was ultimately forced to use, a gunshot that shatters the silence of church, echoing like a choir's collected voice.
But I doubt that, in Rodriguez's universe, music was really so far removed from violence.
El seemed to have attempted to choose music above violence, but 'El Mariachi' by definition is the twining of sound and death and a latin beat, caught and tangled and inseparable, and is the stronger for it once El accepts the death and the music together, and re-establishes his loyalty to his land.
The moment an instrument is picked up by him, be it one either of music or death, is the same moment that you sense the rumble of an approaching storm; the guitar contains a gun and, no matter how much he may have wished to preserve the outer mask of music, he could not ignore how violence trails him like fate.
What is missing?
He is Sheldon Jeffery Sands, and what has he left behind, for Mexico?
And does he care, then, of / for Mexico? What does he care of its people, its culture, its clothes, its norms, its language even? He refuses it all, and absolutely refuses to believe that any part of it is worthwhile.
Shoot the cook, because the pork is too good.
Bring the balance, because for America to exist there has to be a Mexico, because idealism gets shredded in Mexico's shantyhills, because someone always has to suffer and why should he suffer alone?
Blood mixing with Mexico's dust, coating skin and sockets and bullet holes.
An offering to the land.
Because look: he has a song now. He has a legend.
He is claimed by Mexico,
and bound as surely as El is.
The Sands that I hold in my mind could be called perfectly sane, perhaps.
"What, after all, is a cook?"What indeed.
All seeming evidence to insanity is perhaps too much evidence of a man who simply doesn't care. Not for human life, not for society's morals, not for fashion; and what are ethics but the currently fashionable modes of judgement?
Is this lack of caring derived from a higher calling, a belief of an order that goes beyond an order called forth as 'sanity', or from a lack of love?
Is love the ultimate measure of being sane?If so, would not El Mariachi be termed as one lacking sanity as well, having love killed before him 'til nothing matters except perhaps the music?
In regards to the scene with the church shootout, Rodriguez in an interview mentions the violent symbolism of having to destroy a guitar to get to a gun that El Mariachi was ultimately forced to use, a gunshot that shatters the silence of church, echoing like a choir's collected voice.
But I doubt that, in Rodriguez's universe, music was really so far removed from violence.
El seemed to have attempted to choose music above violence, but 'El Mariachi' by definition is the twining of sound and death and a latin beat, caught and tangled and inseparable, and is the stronger for it once El accepts the death and the music together, and re-establishes his loyalty to his land.
The moment an instrument is picked up by him, be it one either of music or death, is the same moment that you sense the rumble of an approaching storm; the guitar contains a gun and, no matter how much he may have wished to preserve the outer mask of music, he could not ignore how violence trails him like fate.
And what is Sands then, separated from his personal theme?His beat is Mexico, but his lyrics are Judy Garland's, are from a culture insistent on its own inherent superiority. His initial theme jars; it clashes, broken edged and holey.
What is missing?
He is Sheldon Jeffery Sands, and what has he left behind, for Mexico?
And does he care, then, of / for Mexico? What does he care of its people, its culture, its clothes, its norms, its language even? He refuses it all, and absolutely refuses to believe that any part of it is worthwhile.
Shoot the cook, because the pork is too good.
Bring the balance, because for America to exist there has to be a Mexico, because idealism gets shredded in Mexico's shantyhills, because someone always has to suffer and why should he suffer alone?
Begin the second stanza,and we see that he has seen too much, and Mexico claims him, and *look*: Sands finds a new song, develops a new Theme, sloughs off his tourist skin and bears the colors of Dia de los Meurtos, all black and pale and red.
Blood mixing with Mexico's dust, coating skin and sockets and bullet holes.
An offering to the land.
Because look: he has a song now. He has a legend.
He is claimed by Mexico,
and bound as surely as El is.
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Can I have your plot babies? Please?
?
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Just...BRILLIANT.
I would be more articulate...but um..why is the rum gone? heeeeeeee!
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Now I will ruin it by commenting that while scanning my friends list after having already read this, I managed to misread the second 'o' in 'cook' as a 'c'.
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eh. not so much. All 'And In The Darkness' managed to be was vague. ::throws up hands and mutters::
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I think Sands believes that he sees the world with an objectivity that puts him above conventional ideas of right and wrong. He is the one who sees what needs to be done to 'keep the balance' and this is his highest duty. Individuals are of no consequence other than for the part they play in the overall pattern, so if they need to be eliminated then he'll do it without even considering them personally. And he is superior to others because he's the one who sees the overall picture.
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Estel said he also confirms your brilliance and articulacy and depth of insight and all that.
and it that I wasn't just being really easily impressed because am droonken.('Cause someone has to stay all sober like to be ready to take the kidlings to the ER in case of stitches or whatever emergency might possibly occur.)
I'll try to cap it for you tomorrow, since I don't trust my ability to hook the wires up in anything like the correct order at the moment.
Also, time to tuck little ones in their beds, and read Dr. Suess and A.A.Milne and other non-fear and loathing type materials. *whang* I believe that was the sound of my psychological whiplash occurring.
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I did the same thing.
read porn much?
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well, yes. inherent superiority complex, and partly because the pattern is most important nothing else matters. Everything else is insignificant, in its way.
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*whang* I believe that was the sound of my psychological whiplash occurring.
heee!! and no wonder, tho now you have me wondering if Johnny Depp will ever attempt a Dr. Suess movie....
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Your mind is an utterly fascinating place to be
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That said, I'd like to express gratitude for how much inspiration you're constantly giving me. Whether it be written or visual *smirking*. Any more picspam? And why do people keep connecting with "cut-glass hipbones"? Is there a Johnny pic I don't know about?
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And this was beautiful as well. ...and thought provoking, and bunny spawning, and making me wanna see the bloody movie again something fierce. Hurry up DVD release date, hurry!! Stupid end of January. -_-;
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? which roles in particular? Because if nothing else, I think that Sands is more or less pissed/disgruntled to be in Mexico and El really REALLY doesn't like being hero, on many levels...tho I can clarify some more if you want because usually? ::pokes at in 'aitd':: I just get too vague.
and picspam??
well...have you seen
and I think the hipbones refers to this picture. Notice, in particular, exactly *how* low those pants go...because, yeah, Johnny Depp is fairly hairless and. dude. those must be reaaally low pants...
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but I want it baaaaaack!! ::wibbles at midterms::
::FLAIL::
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exactly. I'm just glad that I've already pre-ordered PotC or I'd be utterly SPAZZING.
speaking of which...::goes over to check amazon.com::
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El started the whole killing deal as vengeance for a specific event (first girlfriend dead; hand shot so he can't play like he used so), so I get the feeling he's frustrated at having to continue doing it, because he's gotten tired of revenge. In the trilogy, he really started out as a naive, innocent guy (being a traditional mariachi in a world of synthesizers and canned music takes a certain blindness), and then Rodriguez sent him through hell, basically. I agree that Sands seems to hate his job, and it seems like all that 'kill the cook' is just boredom. A way to keep his edge in a country where the kids trade bullet casings. But I also get the impression that he likes the mentality of being CIA.
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Let's hear it for persistence.
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nooooooo!!!!!!! this is only an interpretation! and I LOVE your fic! ::wibble:: don't say that! ::wraps self around your legs::
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yeah, what with the disguises and how he grounds himself with his name and title/designation when eyegouged...hmmm, you make a good point about the traditional mariachi v. modern musician thing. I'm not quite sure how to integrate this fact with El Mariachi after OUaTiM tho...::ponderponder::
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It's interesting that the whole debacle took place during the Day of the Dead. In the Celtic tradition, that's Samhain, when the God dies. Sands, I'd guess, his own personal god, pulling everyone's strings. So what is he now? Human certainly. That must have been quite a shock to him. I'd love to see (no pun intended) what he does now.
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Eee, slap me, in all my sensitive self. I'm so damn touchy when it comes to getting motivated or inspired. Anything can just, wham, kill it.
But I won't stop, I promise!
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and the day God dies? whoa. that is a most *neat* revelation.
::glomp:: you've given me much to ponder, thankee!
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I doubt it was a coincidence that he claimed he was there to keep the balance...and then to have him lose his eyes, becoming the traditional picture of blind justice holding her scales. But that is Sands the Legend, who has just been claimed and has become a living spiritual part of Mexico as you said, as opposed to Sands the Man, who still can be a complete and utter asshole at times if he really wants to be. :)
And yeah, El Mariachi never asked to become El Mariachi. His name alone is a clue to the fact that he symbolizes more than just himself...he is THE Mariachi. Nameless...a wandering guitarist with a guitarcase full of guns, killing off those who would make their money off the backs of the poor and the downtrodden.
And then the whole bit at the end of the movie between him and Carolina...what he wants most in the world is liberty...him walking down the road wearing the sash of Mexico...hmph...pretty dern clear. Just as Sands appearing at the very end of the credits sort of implies that he is now also a part of the Mexican group soul. A Mexican archetype. A living embodiment of justice, but the justice of the dead...who still involve themselves with the living, their relations.
Yeah, like you commented...very nicely, too...they are both bound to the land now. To the life and fate and destiny and joys and sorrows of Mexico.
Oh yeah...WHEN is it coming out on DVD?!?! (sigh)
CopperRose
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ah yes, I loved that part, good stuff, and you bring up really interesting points, "Mexican group soul"...I like that!
and yeah, Amazon.com is not offering the thing on preorder yet. boo I say! BOO!!
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Y'know, we seem to have better discussions off-community than on it. Bizarre.
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Sands is, as far as I can tell, a classic pyschopath. In the psychiatric terminology, psychopathy and sociopathy are both, on the surface the same thing--a person with either feels no regret. They feel other emotions, but not regret. The key difference lies in how they get that way. A psychopath is born, a sociopath is made. Most sociopaths suffer terrible abuse as a child, usually sexual in nature.
Most serial murderers are sociopaths. Psychopaths generally tend to realise that while they won't feel guilt over killing someone, they *will* get caught and incur some unpleasant consequences. Of course, like anyone else, they can be pushed over the edge, but, by and large, they're law-abiding citizens. You probably even know someone who could be diagnosed as psychopathic, although you might not know that they are.
Most sociopaths continue the cycle, abusing others in the way they were abused. It's quite possible for you to know a sociopath and not realise it, as well. Not all of them are murderers, and the polite, nicely dressed businessman you just had lunch with may go home and beat the shit out of his son.
Sands is, from what I can tell, a psychopath who found a way to indulge his boredom. I'm no expert in human psychology, but the way Depp played him, he doesn't seem to exhibit any signs of a past that might have made him into a sociopath, and Rodriguez doesn't hint at one in the script/filmography.
I figure that Sands went into the CIA because it was more fun than anything else available, and generally he wasn't going to suffer the same kind of consequences an ordinary citizen.
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And, man... is THIS post freaky when you skim it. I'm going ot have to come back and READ this post when I get back from HORSEBACK RIDING today!
Res
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great minds do think (and sing, and sink...) alike...
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Oy vey. (Very embarrased and wandering away, muttering inanely to myself.)
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Not *much*.
Re: ?
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yes! exactly! ::GLOMPS YOU TO DEATH!::
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