Monday, December 29, 2008

Benjamin Button

** Spoiler Warning **

I hated Benjamin Button. Hated it. And Corey did, too. We feel ok about this even though everyone else we know loved it. But we do feel a little judgey, like we might need to get new friends and family members who also hated the movie.

I thought the idea for the story was a really unique one and that it was pretty well executed. A man aging in reverse. It was really neat to me. And there were some really interesting complications, like wanting playmates or the strange relationship Benjamin develops with his own deadbeat father and being unable to have age-appropriate friends until he was in his 20s, that made the story really well rounded. However, none of these positives were stronger than the major negative plot point: Benjamin Button abandons his baby to go gallivanting in India.

To me, this is a selfish and unforgivable action. Babies need parents. They just do. The other people who watched the movie with us think he was being all noble in freeing up his lady-friend to go marry someone else while she was still young and hot. That's bullshit, too. Daisy didn't seem to really love that dude. She needed Benjamin. He had at least 20 years in him that he could parent his child and be a partner to his Daisy. By the time Caroline was 20, Daisy wouldn't have "needed" to go off and find another man to be Caroline's father. Plus, Daisy ended up diapering her lover in the end anyway so his big old "sacrifice" didn't really get him very far.

I don't know if Corey and I felt so strongly about this move because we have a baby coming or because it really is such an awful thing, but the idea that Benjamin's leaving was noble makes our blood boil. We think he's a deadbeat dad, even if he did leave them millions of dollars on the bureau.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't like the fact that the trailer pretty much told the whole story so we didn't bother to go see it.

but speaking of diapers I have something for you: www.greenearthbaby.com

Anonymous said...

I also found the following if you want service:
A Little Behind delivers diapers to Pittsburgh.

This company is based in Morgantown, West Virginia.

They’ll deliver 80 diapers per week for $20, which works out to being about $0.25 per diaper. For less money, you can get 40 diapers per week for $16 (about $0.40 per diaper). You can get a different amount of dipes at $17, $18, or $19 price points. It includes prefolds, diaper covers (I believe the site said they are Pro Wraps), diaper pail, and deodorizing disk.

I’ll likely try using this service for a few weeks to ease ourselves into cloth diapering. It seems like a great way to try it out without buying a bunch of diapers initially. And by then, I’ll have a sense of how many daily diaper changes we’ll be going through, so I can better gauge how often I’d need to do laundry if I did it myself.

We’ll see how it goes, and then decide if we’d prefer to stick with the service or if it would be better to buy a batch of diapers and wash them ourselves.

Just wanted to let you Pittsburghers know that there is indeed a cloth diapering service for us!

PeaceLoveMath said...

I'll read this post after I see it tonight, thanks for the spoiler alert!

PeaceLoveMath said...

I totally agree about the abandonment. That was reprehensible to me too, and I totally didn't understand it. I certainly didn't think he was being noble at all, I thought it was the wrong decision...but I kind of justified it by thinking that he was physically turning into a 20-something, which is the age at which you typically go gallivanting around someplace like India, so maybe it was his hormones/wanderlust that made him leave? But on the other hand, he already got to sail around the world on a tugboat, fight in WWII, and have that weird affair with the Ice Witch from Narnia. So I agree with you, but it didn't ruin the whole movie for me, and I did still like it. I got the impression that the other couple we were with felt similarly, and Paul and I pretty much agreed on things. I can see how, as expectant parents, that would totally ruin the feeling of the movie for you.