Good Cat, Questionable Cat & Gondry's Thorn

Good cat snoozes sweetly and his brother makes mischief and draws attention for disruptive behavior. That's how they are, except when they are not.

Aren't they so predictable? Predictable only because that's how I have chosen to characterize them. Pigeon-holed. Stereotyped. Boxed. We tell stories that are compelling by drawing on contrasts. This one is like me, that one is not like me. Good son, bad son. Doesn't seem like much depth or complexity are required to engage our ability to relate to the characters in a story.

The designer joined a friend for Michel Gondry's MIT Premiere of Thorn in My Heart tonight. Gondry's film demonstrated tremendous affinity for his beloved Aunt. In it, his Aunt Suzette expresses failed expectations from her son. And her son's struggle with depression is partially exposed. Little recognition is given here for the complexity of loving family members who fail some expectation we have for them due to mental illness.

Well it was a good film and Gondry answered numerous questions in a very considerate, thorough, and unaffected way.

All the while he made note of the progress of "a little friend," a cockroach crawling near him on the stage. In the middle of a very intense answer to a question that he gave facing one half of the audience, the other half of the audience grew increasingly restless and apprehensive. They tried to alert him to the cockroach that was inching very close to his foot.

As he concluded his answer, he talked about a moment of humble perception of heightened appreciation for life and in the next he stomped his foot at the wee parvenu.