Hello Oak,
I wanted to reply right away, but things got in the way....My thoughts;
The story is one that if someone pitched it to you in an elevator, you'd call B.S. and jump out as soon as you could. Two characters completely obsessed with crazy projects that they're *sure* will give them what they want and need.
Both had real trouble with their fathers. John couldn't live up to expectations and felt deeply inferior, and yet wanted to build a *shrine* to his father with his own dismembered appendage (!). (You can go pretty deep thinking about the various aspects of that.... But maybe not quite as outlandish or macabre as one might suppose. Catholics have a tradition of relics, and there are a few other notable examples
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/ ... l-figures/
(What would it be like to see and handle something you're intimately familar with on a daily basis but now in disembodied form? And why cling to it in such a way, and yet let it go so easily...?)
Shannon's father seems to have beaten him badly and often, and withheld any kind of approval when he was a boy. He gets pretty emotional and starts welling up at a couple of points while he recounts these things to the interviewer- "'... that's no kinda way for a young'un to be raised..." And when he was the center of attention at some point, and getting some perceived adulation...it's like he had arrrived in nirvana... he was choking up while recalling it. What kind of pain and longing he must have been carrying.
(Paul and many others have often linked psychic pain and the desire to make others laugh.... nothing new there, right?...I can relate).
It *is* sad that he couldn't let go and pursue other things. He did at times realize how funny and strange the whole thing was. But when he couldn't, he fell into a deep depression as you see toward the end. I was saddened to read that he died not long after. I wish things had worked out differently for him.
SD
Since you viewed it, may I offer some thoughts below? All spoilers, obviously.
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1. For me, the whole movie turns on when Shannon's wife flinches when he interrupts her late in the movie.
She obviously loved him at one point, and that was all gone by the end. He killed that love she felt. He had lovable qualities, until he took his own BS too seriously.
Meanwhile, the other charming idiot (and I mean that in the best way!) does the hard work of recovery. He not only gets to live (unlike Shannon, who died shortly after filming, in his early 40s), he gets a pretty fiance, and a repaired relationship with his mother.
2. Another favorite moment is, after talking smack about everyone and especially her son, the whole movie, the mother turns into a kitten, betraying a deep love and affection for her son.
3. The audience surrogate is the cop. Along with the rehab counselor, he is the only rational person in the whole film. Interestingly, each of those guys only gets five seconds of speaking time each.
4. At first I thought Shannon's main fault was believing his own BS.
While that is a grievous fault, I later thought that what cost him his life was an unwillingness to change or adapt. Our hero John (at long last) saw the writing on the wall, and gradually made profound changes.
The irony of course is that Shannon insisted that he was on earth to spread joy and laughter, when the last time we see him on camera he is alone, in the dark, yelling, selfishly.
While there are many lessons one can take from the film, the one that resonates with me is that life gives us many chances to improve, to save ourselves with the help of others. Until one day it is too late. If we accept the help offered us, and do the work, live all the more fully.
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