Chapter 6. Episodic Hero. Part 1.
- Personal
Title. Episodic Hero. Part 1.
Object. The Star Trek Enterprise
12 associations.
1. The theme tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI
2. 'Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before'.
3. A suitcase
4. Angie
5. The corner of our street
6. The Whitworth
7. Gilligan’s Island
8. Kung Fu
9. High Plains Drifter
10. The Devils
11. The Prisoner
12. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Films & Dramas Timeline, Theme Tunes, Quote/Synopsis.
1. 1964. Gilligan’s Island.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfodUnc8uU
‘I’m the movie star.’
‘No, I’m the movie star.’
2. 1966. Star Trek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI
‘Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before’.
3. 1966. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOl73VQOS9M
‘Don’t Die, Blondie. Don’t die.’
4. 1967. The Prisoner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWTdmwwK-ME
Fuck you. Patrick McGoohan slams his resignation down on the desk after driving through London in a stylish yellow sports car past the fucking seat of power, Parliament. Suitcase. Passport. Evil dude walking towards his door. Gas is sprayed through his keyhole.
5. 1971. The Devils.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBTlZVCMHVA
Discordance. The first time I see the church desecrated. Venessa Redgrave’s character loves Oliver Reed’s in Derek Jarman’s set. The entire lot of ‘em are lying. The whole of Christianity. There is something so honest about this film. The want. The lust. The desire. “I am beautiful. I am beautiful. I am beautiful.’ When she clearly isn’t. Her piety. His hungry. He eats his fill. Taking us back to the time when this was the real purpose to be a priest. A nosegay in a world where everything stinks and death is close, closer, closer still.
6. 1972 — 1975. Kung Fu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvu5YcmYhSQ
It makes me sad and happy and nostalgic and hopeful. ‘As quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand.’ Young Kwai Chang Caine attempts it. 'When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.' Then he does loads of cool shit learning his craft. Growing from a teenage boy to a grown man. Then he grabs the pebble. ‘It is time for you to leave.’ There is no more fanfare than that.
After 3 long years, 1972 — 1975, he bends to a cauldron his sleeves rolled up. They show us a dragon cut into the bowl. He must put his forearms on it. He must put his arms on it or his journey has been for nothing. He must put his arms on it to show himself and the world he passed. To know he can do it. To achieve the ultimate over his own fear — show himself his own capabilities. He crosses the sand dunes on his lone journey.
The first comment beneath the post is: I never understood the wisdom contained in this show until I was in my 40s. This was an EPIC and timeless series.’
It is an epic and timeless series.
7. High Plains Drifter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRfPEYl_j1Q
Clint Eastwood crosses the sand dunes to fuck up the town that fucked him up. He’s no saint. He’s already branded. 'I want every building in town painted red.' 'Even the church?' 'Especially the church.' When he rides out again the town's sign has been painted over with a dripping red HELL.
Episodic Hero. Part 1.
Gilligan’s Island, Star Trek, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Prisoner, my dad is with us. We watch them together. They are a family event. She doesn’t really watch them. She’s busy usually. Or doing her crossword. They sit opposite each other in their armchairs. We take up the floor. The sofa is too far from the fire. A real fire of wood he gets from the railway station where he works as a blacksmith making the rails. The wood full of kerosene, as he calls it, burns bright. The theme tunes kick us in. If she hasn’t started. To be fair to her she doesn’t really start at this time, or does she I can’t remember. These are sacred times our times with our dad.
The final frontier. We have a Father Xmas who is bent in the middle cos his air won’t stay in him. A faulty valve. This is the first Xmas I begin to notice that nothing is right really. 'The movie star.’ ‘I’m the movie star.’ All us girls want to be the movie star. The four sisters. We’re on the floor. Elaine is always by the fire. We trust him. We don’t trust her.
‘Don’t Die, Blondie.’ Makes him laugh. He has a wry sense of humour. He loves Eli Wallach as a comedian. He loves Clint Eastwood. We all love Clint Eastwood. You can hear a pin drop. I think if she runs in now with her shit, we may kill her. Or am I making this up? Are these Xmas reruns because the dates I have found are the dates they are released. And they will only be at the pictures. And we don’t go to the pictures as family because it cost too much. Or cos. Actually, why don’t we go? We don’t go anywhere as a family.
Sometimes she pisses herself. She tells us she loves us, bladdered, as she lies on the end of the bed. And he goes to his room with his radio to listen to the cricket. She pisses herself. I take off her knickers and her girdle cos I’m the oldest. When she’s screaming at him and we get out of bed and sit at the top of the stairs I am the eldest. When the house has gone to sleep I am the oldest, I treat myself to The Devils and all other kinds of weird films. I am educating myself. Seeing right through them. The ambulance coming. And the heart attacks happening. That turn out to be one heart attack. And Angie running to the phone box. And him saying, no, shouting — it is unusual for him to be shouting, ‘Let her die in here tonight.’ And Angie crying, 'There’s no need for that, Bas.’ Let her die in here tonight. What the fuck does the ambulance man think? And the blue light pouring into the hallway of the stairs that I have swept that day. Not cos the house is dirty. It is never dirty. I don’t know why I’ve done the stairs. And I’m crying in the cloisters of my high school cos she’s said you may not see me again. ‘When you come home from school you may not see me again.’ She means because of her heart. And Angie who is a nurse now explains at every opportunity about her heart and how we may not see her again when we come home from school 'What is wrong?' I am taken to the head teacher. But how the fuck do you tell anybody what the fuck is going on. Besides the teachers are part of the establishment. They are part of the Devils. They are cunts. You’re all fucking cunts. I don’t tell them this. My marks tell me this. I’m not getting As. I’m getting C minuses. But that doesn’t matter cos no one is talking about my reports. We may never see here again. She has patches on her heart. She takes aspirin every day. Her legs are swelling because her system isn’t draining properly. And then one days she’s gone.
There is no explanation. Her suitcase is gone. Her clothes are gone. Angie doesn’t visit. He doesn’t explain. He gives me her housekeeping. I go to Co-op, and the greengrocer, and the butcher. I make their tea cos I am the oldest. And our house is at peace.
And a week later she turns back up. She’s been in Ireland. She’s been to see her other kids. The youngest, the girl, won’t talk to her. The eldest boy is overweight. ‘A big fat slob.’ She opens her suitcase. She hands me a pink jumper. The collar isn’t right. I keep pulling it to right it. Then realise it has been stitched on wrong. But nothing can change how great I feel about myself. Look what I have done. The house is spotless. And we didn’t know if we would ever see her again. And the cupboard is full. And tidy. Like the drawers on the 5th floor, I have made everything function. I’ve chopped the wood and stacked it. And cleaned that fucking pile from the side of the telly. The side of the telly is empty. And the room feels styled. And I am becoming who I am today. And then Angie comes. I don’t care. Angie always comes. And then me mum says something about something we haven’t got. Or something she’d like. And I say, cos I’m kind and feeling benevolent, "I will go to the Co-op and get it for you." And when I get back, she is drunk. And only one cunt has given her the drink. And she’s gone from being appreciative. To vindictive. And she knows I’ve stolen the money, the housekeeping money like Angie’s said. Like me dad said. You’ve stolen the money. ‘You’ve stolen the money he gave you for them kids.’
‘I didn’t mum. Look in the cupboard. I didn’t, mum.’
‘You fucking did. There’s nothing in the cupboard.’
I go to the kitchen. She’s behind me. ‘You’ve always been sly. You’ve always been sly just like him. Just like him.’
I flick my poncho back. ‘You fucking bitch.’ Angie is 12 years older than me. ‘You fucking bitch.’ Cos when my mum’s drunk, she’s fucking lost all reason. No fucking point talking to her. ‘You fucking bitch.’
‘Ring him. Fucking ring him and tell him what a cunt she’s being.’
Ring me dad? Bring me dad home from work? I’d be a liar if I tell you how the next bit happens. I have no idea how the next bit happens. Or the timeframe. Actually, thinking about it they may have already rang him because by the time I have Angie by the hair banging her fucking head on the floor his key is in the door and I don’t fucking care. He has to drag me off her. My legs are swinging in the air. Yet again yet again he fucking back doors me when he takes her side. They are downstairs in their pact that allows them to live with each other. And little do they know I am upstairs packing the suitcase she has just emptied.
I am 14 on the doorstep of my final frontier. I am 14 at the end of our street ‘Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Linda’s Enterprise. A 45-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no Moss Side girl has gone before’. To the door of the Whitworth.
- Muscle Memory
· Your title: Episodic Hero. Part 1.
· What object do you see?
· What are your 12 associations?
· 15 minutes to write. Include object, and 12 associations. Under your title.
3 My Discovery
I have always been on my own. I am on my own at this moment. Literally. I love being on my own. It is normal to me. A lone traveler across sand dunes. In this episode I grab the pebble. I have yet to burn the dragons into my arms.
- Your Discovery
· In your comfy place in your allocated hour, journal about your discoveries.
· We have 2 x 12-Word chapters to go. Don't worry about this. Now that your subconscious has been awakened it will know how to use this information. If I instruct you as to why, your conscious mind will attempt to manipulate the information.