Rules and Regulations

Watched Silence of the Lambs last night and I have to say Anthony Hopkin's acting was dope! But still can't really understand why it's rated higher than Fight Club as a psychological thriller. Maybe because of the authenticity as compared to Fight Club? But okay that's not really the point of why I decided to write something today. Since Silence of the Lambs is a criminal investigations film, it made me think about why rules and regulations are set in general. In the film the antagonist was first portrayed as transsexual, but later on Dr Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) tells us he is not really transsexual but just hates himself and wants to change his appearance as much as possible. Yet there's a scene of him dancing in front of the mirror in his self-sewn women's skin outfit- doesn't that sound like a lot of girls who opt for plastic surgery or cover themselves in thick make up? (Yes I know there are girls who don't hate themselves/ their appearance and still put on make-up, but you can't deny there's a huge proportion that do have confidence issues.) Does he hate himself or he just hates his appearance as a man? It's such a vague line, because many a times if you hate your appearance you tend to hate yourself as well, and duh it works the other way around as well. So I'm not sure how the movie actually differentiates him being transsexual and not, especially since none of the girls were raped. If he doesn't have issues with his gender then how come he doesn't have any sexual urges with the girls, or with any girls- since he lives with just his poodle and his moths? It's like the only significance of Dr Lecter saying he's not transsexual is that the suspect would be someone who got rejected by the hospitals that did re-assignment surgery...which happened to be a red herring in the film. And apparently it wasn't even a red herring, it was the right person, just that somehow he lived in another woman's house (I honestly didn't get the link in the movie...) Confused much. Also no wonder critics said stuff about the transsexual part being offensive.

Anyway it looks like I got carried away and ended up giving a short review of the movie. That's why I always do badly for GP since I have opinions about everything and can't get straight to the point. But this is my blog so I can write in however way I want, and they're all linked anyway! So back to rules and regulations. Transsexuals tend to be seen as rebellious- eg. Jeffree Star. So people like them don't exactly like the rules and regulations set by society. In Singapore these people can't even get married and apply for HDB! So now you know why the movie made me think of writing on this topic.

In JC we had a GP question "Rules and regulations are there to be broken. Discuss." So this topic really brings back JC memories LOL. I'm actually quite a guai kia (good kid) in people's eyes. Wear skirt long long, long socks instead of ankle socks, hand in homework on time etc etc. Whatever you expect of a good kid basically. But I'm someone who's quite opinionated. And I like doing things my way. But school was easy to stay out of the radar since there was nothing really much to be rebellious about for me. I wasn't the party kid. And I did like school. So lucky me. But recently things in my life made me ponder again about the importance of rules and regulations. It's more personal than societal, so don't expect societal topics. I'm only referring to the rules and regulations set in our homes. Like curfews haha. For me, rules and regulations help me know what to avoid doing in order to not fight with my family. I'm not someone who ignores issues, so arguments really fatigue me. But being someone who likes doing things my way, sometimes those rules and regulations don't fit my lifestyle. I know they care for me, but after weighing pros and cons, I decide to break those rules and regulations. I don't really break them outlandishly, I just try to do them in secret. And at the end of the day, it seems to be a win-win situation. Sometimes it's just too difficult to agree to disagree among family members, so rules and regulations help me know what I need to hide.

Personally if I were a parent I'd wish my kids would tell me what they think and what they're up to tho. And even if I don't like it, at least I will let them know that I don't like it and my reasons for disliking but I respect their decision (at a certain age). So I feel kinda sad that I do this to my family. But I do like peace in the family. Also because we just have different mindsets about things so both think we are right in our own way and it's literally impossible to find a solution except keep things in the dark.

But like what my colleague once said to me, if you make a decision behind your family's back/ against your family's will, you should be the one to take up the responsibility if something goes wrong. Rules and regulations are there to tell you that there are risks involved if you don't follow those rules and regulations. Maybe the wrath of my family seems scarier than the risks involved in the decisions I make. I really do wish I could be open with my family, and I wish I had better communication skills, but it really takes both parties to work. Obviously my family cares for me. But maybe disowning me helps them cope with things. And I guess yeah, that's a responsibility to take up as well.

TTFN