Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Diaries
A motorcycle, thousands of miles of open road through amazing landscape, adventure... not to mention Che Guevara... gee, nothing for me to like or relate to there....
OK, let's take them one by one... bikes, love 'em, recently buzzed through the foothills on the back of my friend Stan's bike... too fun. As to the road trip, I've taken many. Most were longer than the five thousand miles covered by the young (28 yr. old) Ernesto Guevara and his friend Alberto Granada, who is still alive today. And yes, as Ernesto points out, they are open ended, improvisational adventures. You never know what's around the next bend, that's what makes them such great learning experiences.
The point of the film is to show how this experience shaped Che Guevara into one of the most influential, important revolutionaries of our age. I love and admire all revolutionaries, from Jesus to Shawn Fanning. But Che is up there at the top because of his awareness, his ability to communicate the message, his effectiveness and influence, but most of all, his heart.
Like Gandhi, Mother Theresa & Michael Moore, his compassion shined through above the anger and made him that much more inspirational. It's a fine line for revolutionaries, because that anger has to show too. I also love those that can use humor and theatrics like Ken Kesey, Jerry Rubin & Abbie Hoffman, or music, like Jerry Garcia. It's easy for revolutionaries to become negative and talk all about problems and fighting. The problem is that most people are small and selfish and think about their own lives, not global change and abstract issues.
Revolution for the masses must be phrased in positive, concrete ways. Otherwise you end up like the shmuck I referred to in my last post, who couldn't make the connection between societal trends and their own little world. I mean, if a professional writer can't handle it, what hope is there for Mr. & Mrs. Bridge listening to Barry Manilow in Oshkosh? They might care if you took away their VCR or told them our freedom and flag are jeopardized, or maybe they'll only care if you try to take their gun, that, they enjoy.
The title of this post is taken from the classic 1974 book, by Robert Pirsig, which accompanied all my road trips, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It shows, well, the zen of motorcycle maintenance (and Ernesto and Alberto could have used some knowledge of that out there) and being on the road and living your life. Zen, the road, life... it's all the same. I mean, artists, including myself, have always used lots of road imagery to express the long and winding nature of life. I could come up with 10 Dead songs right now, from Truckin to the Golden Road, and another 10 Beatles songs.
Seems like lots of the movie road trips these days are outlaws on the run, like Thelma & Louise, or freaky, like Wild Thing. This film showed the road trip for what it really is for most who take them, a journey into the unknown. You trust yourself, your vehicle, and maybe a companion if you have one. Everything else changes from day to day, new landscape, new people, new perspectives and ideas. The constant is you, so you really get to know yourself, and your capabilities and perspective, well. That's the big beauty and benefit, it's difficult to show that on film.
This film did a great job of that though. By showing the trip of someone we are familiar with at a later point in his life, we can look at this trip and keep in mind the man that Ernesto becomes... he becomes Che on the road. And though we never really see Che in the film, we see Ernesto growing from man to legend. We see his heart and mind expand with each new vista and town full of people.
Those people Che fought for were people he met, and ate with and touched. I've not only seen the physical landscape of this country, I've spoken to people all over it, Europe too. I can easily understand how that type of experience could bring out the revolutionary impulse of a person, particularly when the people one encounters are in need. We see Che's awareness rise as he encounters the migrants and the way they are treated. It's still the same today, check out A Day Without A Mexican (2/11/05 post).
Being among people, having to, essentially, live off them, as is shown here, is true travel. Not this vacation/leisure stuff, though I've done that up too, bigtime. Real travel is like what I did in Europe in '81. Just a small pack and a few thousand dollars I'd worked long and hard in a deli to earn. I wish I'd known I wouldn't need it. I stayed in one hotel, the first night, in London. Some old matron barged in my room at the crack of dawn "to clean". For the next three months I spent about $20. on lodging (total), most of that on a hotel roof in Athens with every other kid from around the globe.
Now, I had none of the cache these young doctors did. I was continually blamed for Reagan, who scared the living shit out of these people, whose parents had been bombed out twice before "by US", and for Chapman, who had just killed John. But, my point is, it's only when you depend on the kindness of strangers that you really learn about them. I was just friendly and people invited me to stay, usually for days. Living with them, I really got to know them. It was a great experience. Yes, there are crackpots out there, you need to have great awareness while on the road. But people should not be afraid to go out there and encounter life. Life entails risk. Without risk and openness, there is no learning, no revolution.
BTW, the diaries are real. Che's daughter found the motorcycle diaries and didn't know they belonged to her father until she read them and discovered his wonderful adventure...I recommend the film, and diaries, and adventures.
OK, let's take them one by one... bikes, love 'em, recently buzzed through the foothills on the back of my friend Stan's bike... too fun. As to the road trip, I've taken many. Most were longer than the five thousand miles covered by the young (28 yr. old) Ernesto Guevara and his friend Alberto Granada, who is still alive today. And yes, as Ernesto points out, they are open ended, improvisational adventures. You never know what's around the next bend, that's what makes them such great learning experiences.
The point of the film is to show how this experience shaped Che Guevara into one of the most influential, important revolutionaries of our age. I love and admire all revolutionaries, from Jesus to Shawn Fanning. But Che is up there at the top because of his awareness, his ability to communicate the message, his effectiveness and influence, but most of all, his heart.
Like Gandhi, Mother Theresa & Michael Moore, his compassion shined through above the anger and made him that much more inspirational. It's a fine line for revolutionaries, because that anger has to show too. I also love those that can use humor and theatrics like Ken Kesey, Jerry Rubin & Abbie Hoffman, or music, like Jerry Garcia. It's easy for revolutionaries to become negative and talk all about problems and fighting. The problem is that most people are small and selfish and think about their own lives, not global change and abstract issues.
Revolution for the masses must be phrased in positive, concrete ways. Otherwise you end up like the shmuck I referred to in my last post, who couldn't make the connection between societal trends and their own little world. I mean, if a professional writer can't handle it, what hope is there for Mr. & Mrs. Bridge listening to Barry Manilow in Oshkosh? They might care if you took away their VCR or told them our freedom and flag are jeopardized, or maybe they'll only care if you try to take their gun, that, they enjoy.
The title of this post is taken from the classic 1974 book, by Robert Pirsig, which accompanied all my road trips, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It shows, well, the zen of motorcycle maintenance (and Ernesto and Alberto could have used some knowledge of that out there) and being on the road and living your life. Zen, the road, life... it's all the same. I mean, artists, including myself, have always used lots of road imagery to express the long and winding nature of life. I could come up with 10 Dead songs right now, from Truckin to the Golden Road, and another 10 Beatles songs.
Seems like lots of the movie road trips these days are outlaws on the run, like Thelma & Louise, or freaky, like Wild Thing. This film showed the road trip for what it really is for most who take them, a journey into the unknown. You trust yourself, your vehicle, and maybe a companion if you have one. Everything else changes from day to day, new landscape, new people, new perspectives and ideas. The constant is you, so you really get to know yourself, and your capabilities and perspective, well. That's the big beauty and benefit, it's difficult to show that on film.
This film did a great job of that though. By showing the trip of someone we are familiar with at a later point in his life, we can look at this trip and keep in mind the man that Ernesto becomes... he becomes Che on the road. And though we never really see Che in the film, we see Ernesto growing from man to legend. We see his heart and mind expand with each new vista and town full of people.
Those people Che fought for were people he met, and ate with and touched. I've not only seen the physical landscape of this country, I've spoken to people all over it, Europe too. I can easily understand how that type of experience could bring out the revolutionary impulse of a person, particularly when the people one encounters are in need. We see Che's awareness rise as he encounters the migrants and the way they are treated. It's still the same today, check out A Day Without A Mexican (2/11/05 post).
Being among people, having to, essentially, live off them, as is shown here, is true travel. Not this vacation/leisure stuff, though I've done that up too, bigtime. Real travel is like what I did in Europe in '81. Just a small pack and a few thousand dollars I'd worked long and hard in a deli to earn. I wish I'd known I wouldn't need it. I stayed in one hotel, the first night, in London. Some old matron barged in my room at the crack of dawn "to clean". For the next three months I spent about $20. on lodging (total), most of that on a hotel roof in Athens with every other kid from around the globe.
Now, I had none of the cache these young doctors did. I was continually blamed for Reagan, who scared the living shit out of these people, whose parents had been bombed out twice before "by US", and for Chapman, who had just killed John. But, my point is, it's only when you depend on the kindness of strangers that you really learn about them. I was just friendly and people invited me to stay, usually for days. Living with them, I really got to know them. It was a great experience. Yes, there are crackpots out there, you need to have great awareness while on the road. But people should not be afraid to go out there and encounter life. Life entails risk. Without risk and openness, there is no learning, no revolution.
BTW, the diaries are real. Che's daughter found the motorcycle diaries and didn't know they belonged to her father until she read them and discovered his wonderful adventure...I recommend the film, and diaries, and adventures.
posted by Intervision at 5:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home