‘Maybe someday your name’ll be in lights
Sayin’ ‘Johnny B. Goode tonight!’
Chuck Berry
In the recent Aaron Sorkin film (stop reading now if you don’t want to know, I still remember when Sherlock Holmes ruined Anna Karenina for me) a lady named Molly Bloom (not the Joycean character as is made clear in the film, this is a biopic) rises, literally, from the broken spine of her potentially Olympian skiing career and becomes one of the most famous and infamous poker game hosts in the US. The game has film stars, rappers and, it turns out to her surprise, Russian mafia.
Ms Bloom is arrested, after publishing a book about her life, and is under suspicion of having information of the mafia. She, it turns out, does not but she has a hard drive and a phone full of messages from politicians etc and all of the other game players offering to leave their wives for her, political scandals and so forth. When Ms Bloom’s lawyer tells her that she can recover the money that was taken by the law enforcers, with interest, and have immunity she replies, ‘all I have left is my name’.
Her lawyer then likens this to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible which has been previously mentioned as he has set his daughter extra homework (fun guy) and all stands explained except…what?
The Crucible is a play about McCarthyism set in Salem, a close-knit community in Massachusetts, in 1692/93 which is plagued by accusations of witchery (which witchery?) which turns out to be false. In the play, one character says
‘Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!’
In the 17th Century, in a time when a small community was all that there is one’s name aka one’s reputation, was all that one had ultimately as once the name was besmirched then it could rarely be redeemed. However, this is nonsense as what one really is is one’s heart, soul and mind yet one can see why life would suck, to use the teen expression (do teens say that? I’ll ask Roy Moore, Roman Polanski et al and other men whose names have been ruined and yet who are still successful wealthy men) if your reputation was ruined (the last Taylor Swift album is all about it) yet in the modern age it is relatively simple to do what could not be done in the 17th Century- jump on a boat, plane etc and take your heart, soul, intellect, those who love you and whom you love, and start anew (I imagine it would be easier if you had the $5 million offered to Molly) and yet we still live in times bogged down by names. Celebrity is still the religion of the 21st Century and celebrity is, essentially, having your name known. Not all fall into the trap. Robert Zimmermann created Bob Dylan to protect his true self (and make people write endless books asking ‘why did he change his name?’) and his recent private life is something of a mystery. He is living as a private citizen, not all over twitter or TV or the media showing that it can be done. One can be a success and protect one’s self without having to sell their soul to protect their name.
And, anyway, if one was so concerned about one’s reputation would you let all of your failings be laid out for all to see in an autobiography and a film?
‘till next time
thegreaterfool2016 