Doubt: A Parable

Here we have another review stolen from Variety.

Sister Aloysius (Amy Ryan), Sister James (Zoe Kazan) and Father Flynn (Liev Schreiber) - Joan Marcus

‘Doubt: A Parable’ Review: Liev Schreiber’s Performance Cuts Through a Somber and Confining Single Act  By Aramide Tinubu

Unfortunately, no one makes it to adulthood without forming a series of preconceived notions. These points of view often determine how we judge certain people and observe various circumstances. John Patrick Shanley’s 2005 play “Doubt: A Parable,” set in 1964, opens with a sermon on doubt from the affable and modern-minded Father Flynn (Liev Schreiber). He speaks to his parishioners (the audience) about skepticism and how that can quickly transform into a crisis of faith, as one isolates oneself in a singular perspective. Charismatic and warm, the priest brings a different energy to St. Nicholas’ church and school, which has been a very formal center of learning run by the stern and unyielding principal, Sister Aloysius (Amy Ryan).

Father Flynn’s presence isn’t the only massive change the parish is experiencing. Twelve-year-old Donald has enrolled in the school, making him the sole Black student among the Italian and Irish pupils. (Interestingly, no children are actually showcased in the play.) Guided by a particular and antiquated view of education and the church hierarchy, Sister Aloysius is immediately unsettled by Father Flynn’s interest in Donald. After pulling some more information from a naive teacher, Sister James (Zoe Kazan), the principal begins crafting an unsubstantiated narrative centering on an inappropriate relationship between the priest and the young Black student.

Across the copious amounts of dialogue squeezed into a 90-minute run time, the audience races to examine everyone’s unique understanding of the matter. There is Sister James, who is too unsure of herself to form an opinion. Donald’s mother, Mrs. Muller (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), is solely focused on shielding her son from his father and getting him through the end of the school year to graduation, despite hearing Sister Aloysius’ concerns. Meanwhile, the principal is steadfast in her beliefs, while Father Flynn’s defensiveness of the situation can be read as sheer horror at the accusation or complete denial and guilt.

With just four characters, “Doubt” works best when it showcases what happens to controlled environments like churches when people no longer abide by archaic rules or standards of behavior. A small encounter between Father Flynn and a pupil early in the school year shifts Sister Aloysius’ perception of him, and immediately puts her on alert. Though she’s determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening with the priest and Donald, the principal’s desire to be right colors everything she sees around her. In contrast, while Father Flynn fancies himself a progressive, as soon as he’s questioned, he clings to the church’s sexist hierarchy as a means to protect himself.

Like the nuns, viewers waver between certainty and suspicion, so the production remains intriguing despite the wordy dialogue. Moreover, amid the heaviness of the subject matter, humorous quips focusing on dirty fingernails, Sister Aloysius’ previous marital status and reflections on squawking birds work to infuse some light into “Doubt.” The play also works because of its modern-day relevance. Though it’s set 60 years in the past, the horrors and rot at the center of the Catholic Church have since come to light publicly.

Amid David Rockwell’s beautifully built rotating set depicting the church’s windows, a garden and the principal’s office, what’s exceedingly interesting about “Doubt,” aside from Schreiber’s standout performance, has nothing to do with Sister Aloysius’ indication or righteousness or if Father Flynn is or isn’t a pedophile. Instead, the play highlights how easy it is for influential people to prey on the vulnerable and how the systems we revere are complicit in demonizing those with the most to lose, while shielding the powerful from harm and repercussions. Uncomfortable and thought-provoking, the themes of “Doubt” have never been more urgent. Yet, the moral lesson at the story’s center worked best in the 2008 film, when the performances and characters could stretch beyond the limits of one confining act.

Flying Squirrel

Sugar Glider
NA Daily

Cool. Seems like I'm always hearing about flying squirrels, but I don't think I've ever seen one other than the infamous Rocket J. Squirrel from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show and that doesn't really count, does it?

According to one of the comments, it's actually a sugar glider, not a flying squirrel. Wikipedia tells us that they are from southeast Australia. They are very similar to flying squirrels.

Kings Of Leon - Sex on Fire

Kings Of Leon - Sex on Fire (Official Video)
Kings Of Leon

Came across this tune the other day. I hadn't heard it in a long time, but it sure rang a bell when I heard it. Listening to it now I can't quite make out the lyrics. Look 'em up and they are nothing like I thought they would be. Matter of fact, they don't sound anything like what I hear on the recording. Never mind the lyrics, I like the way it sounds.

High Ground

Stolen entire from The Othosphere 

There is “High Ground” and High Ground by JMSmith

“At this point I have no lingering interest at all in the ‘high ground’. This is war, and we should do what we can to win, rather than do only what we may, and lose.” 

Malcolm Pollack, Comment at Maverick Philosopher.com  (Feb. 28, 2024)

“Every exertion of physical force if made upwards is more difficult than if it is made in the contrary direction.” 

Carl von Clausewitz, On War (1832)

There is in war ‘high ground’ and high ground, the former most useful as a source of consolation after defeat, the later most useful as a means to clobber the enemy with fire and steel.  “High ground” is occupied by what Sam Francis called “beautiful losers,” high ground by scruffy roughnecks who are not too good to win.  Francis said American conservatives lost, albeit beautifully, because they had thought to win political battles with their erudition and eloquence, and so, through a long string of defeats, had assumed “that it was only a matter of time before their own beliefs would creep up on the Left, slit their throats in the dark, and stage an intellectual and cultural coup d’état, after which truth would reign.”

An old adage tells us that “fine words butter no parsnips,” and to this we might add that fine words also slit no throats. Conservatives boast that they are students of history, but seem not to have reflected on the fate of Cicero, that giant of erudition and eloquence.  He orated and wrote until, at last, his severed head and hands (which had written so beautifully) were nailed up in the Roman forum, after which his silver tongue was cut out and stabbed with a pin.

Erudition and eloquence are not enough.  And neither is sportsmanship when one’s opponent fights dirty and the referees have been bought.  What we require is high ground, where the laws of nature will be on our side.

In war, Clausewitz tells us, high ground (he calls it a “commanding position”) confers three advantages.  A downhill shot is more likely to reach its mark.  Climbing a hill is hard, even where there is no storm of fire and steel.  Those occupying the high ground always have “the better view.”

In Malcolm Pollack’s “war,” a “commanding position” is an office of political, institutional, or cultural power.  To make our shots into “downhill shot,” we must present our arguments with erudition and eloquence, but also with more tangible—some might say cruder—inducements for others to see their merit.  To make our enemy’s charge into an “uphill charge,”  we must make it painful and costly to speak against our side or our beliefs (we can go back to free speech when our enemies go back to free speech).  To make our view “the better view,” we must look much, much farther into the future.  We must certainly look beyond the next election, and should probably look beyond all elections conducted after the present form.

As Clausewitz wrote,

“No army can maintain itself in the valley of a great river if it is not in possession of the heights on either side by which the valley is formed.”

The Housing Problem

@fmsmith319

The middle class is offically gone 😔🏡

♬ original sound - Freddie Smith

The Federal government spending zillions of dollars that they don't have is what's causing inflation. Inflation is the reason so many people are being squeezed out of the housing market.

 

Voices

Voice actor performs 10 popular styles of voice over
Tawny Platis

This is great. I have noticed that there are different styles of speaking, like the flat, disjointed AI reading a script and the super annoying woman on the radio cramming more emotion into an ad for something useless, but to have all these different styles laid out is just wonderful.

Crazy

Police Shootings

In the last episode of Wrong Side of the Tracks, a woman gets shot by rogue policeman. The scene didn't really fit in with the plot, the woman was one of the main characters and there was reason for her to be shot. I figured the actress had gotten a better offer for a role in a different show and they needed to hurry up and remove her from the story. Then I'm looking over a story on Aljazeera about Biden, blacks and crime and they mention Niani Finlayson.

So a search for Niani leads me to a story on The Grio, and man oh man, does it sound bad. It sounds as bad as the scene from Wrong Side of the Tracks. So maybe that scene wasn't so out-of-place as it seemed. Bad things happen, that's just the way it is when you are dealing with people. 

Hamas Sympathizers

At first I thought the Americans protesting Israel's war on Gaza were ignorant, deluded fools. I still think so, but I think I understand them a bit better. They are living in country where the major media outlets function as propaganda bullhorns, blasting the government's story everywhere, all the time, and the government has proven to be a big fat liar. So we don't really know what's going on, not in detail anyway. In a situation like this where everyone is lying, who can say one agency's lies are better than another? Well, I can, but who is listening to me?