Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thoughts on Outtakes by Stuart Dybek

The character that stood out to me in this story is the young usher. Most people can be ashamed of having such a low maintenance and easy job like this but the character in this story takes great pride in the fact that he's an usher at a movie theater and wants to be the very best in his job. My favorite passage in the story is, "They taught him to tread softly on popcorn, to become a Shadow as transparent as sound track music so that his corporeal body never eclipsed the projectionist's beam." I thought this was good because the writer made the usher job sound really difficult. Almost like being an usher is an art form and that this kid is going to be one of the greats in being an usher. This story also brings up how important are ushers? should they be recognized like movie stars are and be in the credits? and are they a crucial aspect to the movie experience? These are a lot of good questions brought up in a story that is also two pages long. Overall i thought it was the best of this weeks short stories.

3 comments:

  1. I loved the passage, it does show us that the job of an usher is an art form. You have to act like your not there so you wont piss of the crowd who is trying to enjoy the movie. Everyone hates the guy who is loud, and making a ton of noise during the movie.

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  2. There are a good amount of jobs out there that are essential, but go unnoticed. This story allows us to peak into what it is like to have a job that isn't noticed and how that is fine as long as you embrace your role. Being a ninja can be fun?

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  3. You make some good points. I also liked the passage, he makes it seem like the usher is almost a ghost. I feel like there arent very many ushers like this one, now days they just kick you out if your too loud.

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