Joe Song

The psychological breakdown of the movie. One of my sister’s colleagues wrote this up while waiting on his computer. I especially like the word, ‘chaztity’.

"Here were my middle of the night (hypnagogic or hypnopompic?) musings. The image of the floating brush was left unexplored as a device to trigger my associations. The brush relates to the skater’s defenses, his narcissism (perfectly balanced- not quite it turns out,as these defenses often are), with significance to his physical appearance (aging skater)and demeanor (macho man-reflection of fear of unmasculine impulses, a fear likely unfathomable when he holds his partner’s crotch). Threatened in his virility (gold medals,or big nuggets) by an effeminate figure (graceful swan… actually peacock), he ends up paired up with, and attracted to his competitor-turned-partner (never mind the absence of a mother figure in the story). Clearly, his recognition of his sex addiction begins to reveal a crack (no pun) in his perfectly balanced defenses, with evidence of some distress (ego-dystonic). Ultimately, the floating brush reflects the death by drowning of his self-absorbed, macho persona, and the emergence of warmth (from the frigid waters, a rebirth if you will), and a real attachment to another person (would die for him, or forgo a sexual encounter). Instead of the burning phoenix, we have the thawing of a frozen Chaz (chaztity not his previous virtue) The central figure- none other than Napoleons Dynamite- presents as an effeminate, sweet figure, molded in achievement after his also self-absorbed, narcissistic father (thereby the attraction and competition with the other skater), who uses him solely for his displaced need for greatness (return to the golden nuggets). His capacity for affection and attachment more intact, he shows early on his willingness to assume the ‘female’ role in the pair, only to reveal later on his real strength and capacity to effect the death-defying stunt. Faced with his misperception of the replay of an altered oedipal-like encounter (which he likely did not process in his motherless life), with his friend seemingly seducing his girlfriend, he is devastated, but acclimates (being used to adapting to his always victorious, abusive parent) and survives. However, the discovery of his friend’s faithfulness and affection, is likely the source of his capacity to metamorphose from the peacock to the performer of a death defying feat, where his partner, once his rival, must offer up his trust, and depend totally on his strength. He therefore achieves mastery, as well as manages to assume in a healthier way some of the persona of his friend and father figure (Chaz, the tattoo man). We assume Chaz has reached a new level of relatedness, in touch with his capacity for guilt/remorse and affection, having controlled his sexual urge, and experienced the ability to allow himself to soar, no longer driven by castration anxiety. such a thing of beauty… "