VLVL2 -Brock's judgment (fwd)

[dedalus204 at comcast.net]

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From:    "ryckx, michel" <michel.ryckx at hp.com>
To:      <dedalus204 at comcast.net>
Subject: VLVL2 -Brock's judgment
Date:    Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:11:28 +0100


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Tim,
 
Couldn't do it earlier. Sorry -but here we go.
 
 
Hi,
 
A bit later than scheduled, here we go (and stealing my boss's time), and a bit too hastily written.
 
Let's consider Vineland a movie.  Not the epic Gravity's Rainbow (Bunuel meets Cecil B. DeMille), but your classic Saturday night movie, made by directors noone ever heard of.  This kind of movies follow a strict structure:
 
1. Everything is OK
2. Crisis or crises
3. All's well again.  In the American TV movie: the family is reunited.  It's the most basic story of mankind.
 
Characters in such a movie are not very in-depth; story is rather unidemensional. (if a TV movie is indeed the concept (of one of the concepts) of the novel Vineland, it may very well be the reason why a lot of readers do not appreciate it: they may very well be looking with the wrong eyes at the screen).  At the same time, this is written by Pynchon: layers upon layers -later more about that.  Also, mixing styles.  Let's take a look at 294 - 296 & skip the first phrase of this chapter.
 
A conversation between Zoyd & Hector, 2 schlemihls, one a loser, the other also a loser but he still does not know it.  Hector sets Zoyd up by placing a block of marihuana in his living room.  The conversation that evolves is that one of two characters out of a 30s cartoon: not uttering real phrases, more one liners is it they use.  Hector, being the badass, keeps on teasing Zoyd.  In fact, the whole set up is meant to take away Zoyd from little Prairie.
 
This implies that Brock Vond -can he be described as a defender of classic American values?-, to attain his goal, has no problem at all breaking up a family.
 
Which brings me back to the beginning of this chapter: the narrator (not Pynchon, of course) uses 'crippled judgment' (294.5) to describe the [illegal] action Brock takes to take away Prairie.
 
Maybe Brock's attitude in general deserves 'crippled judgement'?  I think noone on this list ever used a phrase like 'So, you've reproduced' to a young mother.
 
Michel.
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