Babies, Ghost Stories, and Legacy.
“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.”
My wife is a ticking time bomb. Any moment a tiny person may come spilling out of her.
What I mean to say is she's pregnant and due very soon.
This isn't our first child. We have a ten-year-old daughter, but after a decade since our last baby, it might as well be our first. Ten years is a long time, and I have all but forgotten how to swaddle. How to diaper. But hey, maybe it's like riding a bike?
I have been thinking about legacy a lot lately. Contemplating legacy isn't uncommon for expecting parents and individuals in their early 30's (it's still "early" 30s till at LEAST 35. Right?). However, lately, it's been on my mind more than usual.
There are moments in life where coincidences stack up on top of each other in a way where the simulation theory becomes almost impossible for me to ignore. Don't worry. I'm kidding… Mostly.
But I have had legacy on my mind lately, and I experienced two pieces of art that felt like they were tailor-made for my current mindset.
First, I picked up Richard McGuire's Here at my local library.
If you're unfamiliar with Here, it's technically a graphic novel, but this is a somewhat misleading label because it feels more like some experimental art book. Here depicts one room in one house, but it moves forward and backward in time. One page may show a New Years' party in 1920, and the next page is a Halloween party in 1950. As you move through the book, the panels begin to bleed into one another, causing the reader to feel increasingly insignificant.
At least I did. Maybe I am projecting.
Either way, It's a powerful piece of work that focuses on the passage of time, loneliness, and our place in the greater scheme of the Universe, all while only focusing on a room. After I read it the first time, I had to go back and reread it.
Secondly, within a week of reading Here, I sat down and, for no particular reason, decided to finally watch David Lowery's 2017 film A Ghost Story–a film I have had in my Netflix queue for almost four years. Better late than never, huh?
A Ghost Story stars Casey Affleck as C and Rooney Mara as M. C and M are a young couple whose lives are disrupted by the unexpected death of Casey Affleck's character.
M goes to the morgue to identify her partner, and soon after, C rises off the table as a LITERAL ghost in a sheet. The rest of the film follows C as he haunts his home, experiencing time as it presses on without him. Each frame of the film is TRULY a painting–bringing to mind the works of Edward Hopper.
Now, I will warn you, A Ghost Story is a slow burn, and some sequences will try your patience—the infamous 9-minute pie-eating scene, for example—but it's an experience I am so glad I took the time to have. I have never seen grief depicted in the manner Lowery decides to portray it, and in that way, I feel like it's far closer to real-life loss.
David Lowery’s film, much like Richard McGuire's Here, focuses on themes of loneliness, love and loss, and the futile nature of legacy. A Ghost Story benefits from focusing on one main character (the ghost of C) as opposed to Here's "bigger picture" approach, which causes the themes to hit so much harder.
I love McGuire's Here, but ultimately I came away feeling an immense amount of sadness after being confronted with the idea of everything being futile. Legacy doesn't matter because we are all so tiny and insignificant. But, after watching A Ghost Story, I felt a small sliver of hope. The film basically has the same message as McGuire's Here, but it delivers that message with an upside. Sure, we may be small and insignificant, and time is fleeting, but the legacy which matters most is the legacy we cultivate with those we love and who love us back.
Not a bad message to be reminded of before the birth of your next child.
If you have the time and you're in the right headspace, I genuinely recommend experiencing these two works of art close to one another. They're stories which I can't seem to shake and, in my opinion, tend to be the mark of great work.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
A Ghost Story's soundtrack is so good. Haunting but good. I Get Overwhelmed by Dark Rooms has been stuck in my head, and it has a beautiful music video.
Here was originally published in 1989 as a six-page strip in an anthology magazine titled Raw and is widely available online.
In 1991 student filmmaker Timothy Masick adapted Here into a short film which you can watch below! But, if you're like me, you're going to want to pick the graphic novel released in 2014. And if you are going to buy it, check your local bookstores.
