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waking life

silly duck · 2026-07-21T11:36:52.782933-07:00

a film that makes you think that what we call reality is, most of the time, just a state of stupor we've all agreed on. the dialogue is very fast. some sentences get squeezed in so tightly that if you miss them, tough luck. you have to rewind and watch again. there's a really good scene in the film. --`spoiler`-- while a group of young people are talking among themselves, they see a man who's climbed up a pole. they ask if he wants any help. the man doesn't. and one of the kids buries the whole thing in a single sentence: "his situation's no worse than ours. he's a theory-less act. and we're an act-less theory." now, the first time you hear this line, it sounds like the breakdown moment of some third-year philosophy student who just quit smoking. but it's actually pretty spot-on. the man is doing something. he's climbed a pole. there's movement here. but why he's doing it isn't clear. there's no purpose. no meaning. there's just the act. the young people are the exact opposite. they talk. they think. they hang around like they've got life all figured out. but there's nothing they're actually doing. there's theory. no action. so the man acts without thinking. these guys think without acting. and this is what the film is poking fun at here, in my opinion. analyzing life and being in the middle of life aren't the same thing. sometimes even the man climbing the pole is more alive than you are. and there you are, standing on the sidewalk commenting on him, thinking you're the smart one. --`spoiler`--

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