The Crucible

At one point during high school I was forced to read the book and because I was forced I did not let it make an impression on me. For this reason I don't remember it very well. I recently saw this movie on television (I had seen it before). It wasn't a BAD movie, but it wasn't that spectacular either. However, one part of the film really stuck with me. The male lead, John, was being asked to sign a confession to witchcraft in order to save himself and his wife from death. He signs his name, but then grabs the paper and doesn't want to give it up. The judge asks why he doesn't want to give up the paper he has signed.
(I'm paraphrasing here) "Because it is my NAME. Because I cannot have another. Take my pride, take my possessions, take the very breath from my lungs, but leave me my name!"
It was a plea to leave his identity intact. How much of our identity is shaped or defined by our names. I definitely think that I'd be different if I had been another Ashley or Crystal. I just don't know how different or if it really matters. Little things can affect who we are, does that make them important?

The Graduate

Before watching this movie I didn't know very much about it. I knew that it was a classic and that it was about a married woman having an affair w/ a younger man. I did not know that it was freaking hilarious or that so many other movies had stolen stuff from it. Dustin Hoffman has never been one of my favorite actors, I never hated him, but I never really liked him either. In his younger days he was a stone fox! Anyway, he plays Benjamin, a recent college graduate who has no idea what to do with his life. His is propositioned by a friend of his parents. Through boredom or a search for purpose (it is a little unclear which) he starts an affair with this woman (the infamous Mrs. Robinson). After a few months her daughter comes home from college and he falls in love with her. Elaine (the daughter) finds out about the affair and it all kind of blows up. Benjamin becomes obsessed w/ her and follows her back to school.
One of the funniest elements of the film is that Ben never calls Mrs. Robinson by her first name, even mid-coitus. She is always referred to as Mrs. Robinson. In addition, she always speaks to him like the child of her friends that she has known all her life. It is a little weird. Her motives for the affair are a little hidden, she is kind of just an odd woman. As a matter of fact, everyone in the movie is just a little odd. Elaine seems to promise to maybe marry everyone she meets. The film pulls off showing really depressed people w/o being really depressing.