Pragmatic Sanction

If you don't know what the title means... there's always Wikipedia.  Pulling that term from my brain took me at least an hour and a headache this afternoon, so you'd best appreciate it.

On the note of the Habsburg Pragmatic Sanction, we saw their Viennese palace today, Schönbrunn.  It's regarded as the Austrian equivalent of Versailles.  We didn't pay to enter the palace itself, but we spent hours wandering its gardens, which seem more impressive than Versailles.  They're similar in size, but far superior in terms of upkeep.  The grounds are much more highly manicured, more colorful, and overall more impressive (the fountains all work and there's a zoo) than Versailles.  

   

     

Schönbrunn feels very Viennese.  It's a hard feeling to describe.  Vienna to me simply feels like Vienna.  Based on the image of the city I've built for myself from films (both fictional and not), history textbooks, and the qualities of its music, it simply looks like I thought it would.  Everything is very clean, very well-kept, and very proper.  It manages cleanliness without sterility, and formality without stuffiness.  It's simply another very efficient, attractive city, rather like how I'd imagine Bern would be if it were to have grown significantly through history.

Tomorrow we'll be visiting the Zentralfriedhof- the Central Cemetery of Vienna, in which rest Beethoven, Brahams, Schubert, Strauss, Schonberg, and a monument to Mozart (who was buried anonymously due to the shameful fiscal conditions  he was experiencing before his death).  I'm excited to see all these graves, even if they are just the graves of these legends.  I'm also eager to experience some more of the musical side of Vienna.  It's a shame the orchestra's off for the summer while we're here...

Brüno review:

So we went to see Brüno tonight.  It's Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film, regarded as something of a sequel to Borat.  It doesn't even come close.  More interesting than the movie was watching it among Austrians, the people with whom the title character claims fellowship, and seeing their reactions (or lack thereof) to his antics.  It was also neat to experience a very ordinary excursion, like going to the movies, wrapped in the traditions of another culture (as well as a good way to spend a rainy evening).  By the way, you can buy beer in Austrian movie theaters.  I got one, just to say I did.  It's far from thrilling, but it's certainly not allowed in the US.

The film itself was still delivered in English, with Austrian subtitles.  This was fine, though there are conversations Brüno has with his assistant in Austrian.  These would ordinarily be subtitled in English when shown in English-speaking countries, but here they were left without, leaving us with nothing but body language to interpret (gone are the days of Norma Desmond, who could say anything she wanted with her eyes).

In typical Baron Cohen fashion, the film was riddled with envelope-pushing, vulgar jokes.  These included a surprising number of references to Austria's most infamous son, Adolf Hitler.  This is clearly a touchy subject among modern Austrians (Viennese at least), and these jokes weren't well received at all.  They weren't ever booed or anything, but their reception was lifeless enough that I felt uncomfortable when I could sense another Hitler joke building.

Speaking of feeling uncomfortable... I consider myself an open-minded individual.  I'm used to vulgar, sometimes obscene jokes.  I watch Family Guy every week, and I laughed my ass off at Borat, but sometimes I felt this film just went too far.  Whereas Borat's jokes pushed the envelope often, the underlying point of exposing and mocking Xenophobia and racism was always fairly clear.  Not so here.  Many jokes here were shocking to simply be shocking.  Occasionally I felt myself laughing simply because I didn't know how else to react to some of the things I was watching.  Brüno also deals with what is currently a very fluid, hot-button issue, homosexuality and the acceptance thereof, and if this film isn't viewed through the proper lens, where the viewer recognizes it as a  vehicle to explore people's perceptions and closed-minded tendencies, I think it could prove hazardous for the advancement of this cause.  Many jokes in Brüno play off the worst stereotypes of the gay community, and if they're misinterpreted (as they're extremely likely to be), these stereotypes will simply serve to reinforce people's existing fear, mistrust, and hatred of a significant swatch of the population.

Long story short, go see it.  Perhaps wait until it debuts at the discount theatre near you.  Maybe just rent it.  Don't expect the sort of insight present in Borat.  Take its characters and jokes with a grain of salt.  Laugh at the physical comedy and ridiculous situations, but don't really expect much from it.