Feeling a bit out of puff for this, but just wanted to let you know there have been some interesting developments on the jobs front. When I was turned down for the recent job, I was told that another branch of the organisation had a similar position coming up, and that my name would be put forward. I didn't know how far this would go, didn't hope for too much. On Monday, however, I had a call from the manager of this other branch (33 miles away!!), saying how impressed she was with my application, how happy they'd be to take the other project's assessment of me as 'appointable'. The details are not yet clear but I'm going there on Tuesday to meet manager and team, and find out more. It would probably only be a temporary contract until March, after which I'd have to reapply for my own job... Driving over there will also be a chance to find out just how long this journey will take. Scenic most of the way, but no fast roads. Nicer but slower than a motorway trip.
Meanwhile I have been to an open morning at another project that has a counsellor/therapist job going. A very well-established young people's project with much to recommend it, including secure funding (or as secure as any funding is in this climate) and the provision of proper clinical supervision. Also a more manageable journey. 40 minutes on the train, a short walk... So I'm up to my eyes in another application! And then have to figure out how to keep both options open. I'm not good at subterfuge, so working plan is just to be upfront with the first lot about the second job application. Not sure if that's risky, but I'd really rather the second job if I had a choice, for all the above reasons, and the fact it's in a city of which I am inordinately fond.
Last night I went with my friend A to the pictures to be distracted. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo certainly didn't disappoint. 150 plus minutes passed without a moment of boredom, though my legs were tired by the end. It's grim and shocking in places, but the central female protagonist is excitingly enigmatic and feisty, with a touch of comic-book woven in without losing touch with a thread of psychological and social realism. A thoroughly thrilling thriller - not my usual preferred genre. I won't recommend it because many (like L) will not wish to stomach the scenes of violence and perversion, and at moments I quailed and my guts churned, but I was glad I hung in there. The film has a kind of super-hero energy that wrongs can be righted, however messily or morally dubiously, that the disempowered and psychologically damaged need not be victims forever, that the sadists and rapists get their come-uppance in the end. Phew! Now I really am out of puff. Wasn't planning a review, but had to tell you... Jean's review in March was much fuller and more articulate.
6 comments:
Hurrah for multiple irons in the phoenix's fire!
And also for the girl with the dragon tattoo. I still haven't seen it but I await the eventual consummation with even greater anticipation :-)
Yes... thanks for the review but I think I'm with L.
Well done about the jobs! Fingers crossed.
A very lively review! I think I'm probably with L and Isabelle though.
Great about the job(s), but isn't it typical that when you're worried about having nothing then suddenly too much appears. I think I'd go with being upfront too, remember they're being saved time and effort by recruiting you like that, so it doesn't seem to me you'd be putting them out that much...
Yes, good luck with the jobs and, yes, I would be upfront and if they don't like it I think you don't want them.
So glad you enjoyed the film. I love what you said: "The film has a kind of super-hero energy that wrongs can be righted, however messily or morally dubiously, that the disempowered and psychologically damaged need not be victims forever..." yes!
I've been thinking about this ability to sit thrugh staged horror and not be utterly sickened as some are - and I could not say anything but justifiably. In me, I think this capacity is part of an area of shut-downness in my personality. From toddlerhood I've been exercising this immense act of will to shut down my feelings: 'I can't bear this. I won't bear it. I'll just absent myself'. So this has become a finely honed capacity, no longer always voluntarily called upon, but taking over of its own accord. Often it's not a good thing at all. In the context of appreciating an art work, though, I wouldn't really place a value judgement on it, just observe it in myself, and not in some others, intrigued.
I'm not supposing this is the same for you, or for anyone else. We are each a different patchwork. But I wonder if this psychological explanation rings true to you as a psychotherapist?
yes, I think it does. It's fascinating how some people can/ want to bear to see this kind of stuff. Others can't and have no desire to. I have a friend who talks very consciously about her need to externalise her terrors, and I think that's part of what we may get from these kinds of films. But also, for me, context is all... also, maybe if I'd known just how violent it was, I might not have gone... I prefer my violence to be more decisively of the comic-book variety. Not that I actually have much stomach for it at all these days, but did have a phase of going to see 'gratuitous violence' with a particular friend in London...
I read all three books in the series before watching the first movie, so I knew what I was in for.
I am with you - it's all about the context. There is something purifying about seeing a woman who is able to kick ass and take names, completely justifiably. Gave me that old "Tomb Raider" feeling... although I would still much rather see Angelina naked than Noomi Rapace.
Am looking forward to seeing "The Girl Who Played With Fire". You?
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