Comparison of Movie "Pillow Talk," Cousineau's "Once and Future Myths," Campbell's "Power of Myths" and Hyde's "Trickster Makes This World"

Comparison Paper on Pillow Talk, Campbell's Heroic Journey of Transformation and Cousineau's Myth of City

There's definitely a modern-day trickster story in the movie Pillow Talk with Doris Day, Tony Randall, and Rock Hudson. Brad (Rock Hudson), fools Jan (Doris Day) and mutual friend, Tony (Tony Randall) into believing that he is a New York City tourist from Texas named Rex. Brad not only convinces Jan that he is a character he created'"Rex, but he is in fact the rude party line user that Jan has reported to the party line service office. From the way she acts in the opening scenes of the movie, if she knew who his real identity was, she would get as far away from him as she could. She reported that Brad was always on the phone talking and singing songs to many different women, preventing her from making her Interior Design business calls on the phone. Brad discovers from Tony's conversational information with him that he knows a beautiful woman who has complained of a man sharing her party line. Brad decided that he should investigate and find out more information about Jan for himself because Tony didn't trust him with her name, but whom Tony did call, "very pretty."

Brad is truly a trickster like, "that somewhat witless character, a more sophisticated trickster who can separate the bait from the hook, who knows that the sign of something is not the thing itself, and who is therefore a better escape artist with a much more playful relationship to the local stories," (Hyde's Trickster Makes This World, p. 171) because he even goes so far as to change his accent to a Texas drawl in order to get Jan in the sack. What detracted from the movie a little bit and made me think that either Rock Hudson must not be that good an actor or that Jan was not supposed to be that sophisticated, was that Brad's accent sometimes switched back to his regular accept from his Texan drawl. In the movie, you can hear some of Jan's and Brad's thoughts, and it's quite comical! The fact that their thoughts were only aloud to the audience and not to each other was because of our guilt-based society in the 1950s when this movie was made. "In the United States, we wear many shame covers -- " and "to say that such artists aren't shameless doesn't quite do them justice either." (Hyde, p. 162, p. 167) Even the side-by-side pictures that made it look like Jan and Brad were in the tub with their feet touching, talking in a hot manner to each other, would seem like Hyde's dirt in our society as some people at that time might see that as a rebellion to the sexual rules of that period. "As anyone knows who has traveled a bit in the world, the line between the dirty and the clean is not fixed by nature." (Hyde, p. 175) I would say that the movie was definitely risqué for the 1950s, especially in our American shame-based society of that time; the movie pushed the average viewer's acceptance of sexual behavior in a good romantic comedy, just as poet Allen Ginsberg's art "wrestles with shame, as he remade its territory, sanctifying what others have called profane." (Hyde, p. 167) As Hyde said in the case of Maxine Hong Kingston (p. 163), "metaphorical immigrant artists, travelers in time, create their art at the point were the ideal is coincident with the real," and Pillow Talk is created, with its sexuality only alluded to instead of graphic portrayed as the American Culture at the time expected in a good romantic comedy. I thought that Alma's mentoring to both Jan and later to Brad was a good touch as Jan's character may have ended up single the rest of her life without Alma's advice.

Trickster Brad's appetite for women is what drives his entire character, aside from his apparent love for writing, singing and playing music on the piano. He obviously had many women whom he sang songs to, and this love for music is what actually gives his trickster deviousness away. Jan discovers some of Brad's music in Brad's jacket in the Connecticut home which Tony intentionally sent Brad to in order to force him to write music and leave Jan alone. As she plays the music, Brad walks in, singing the tune, giving his true character away.

Jan is a very independent female on a hero's journey of transformation in Pillow Talk. Her maid, Alma, told Jan that although Jan thinks that she likes being an independent single woman in her own apartment, she really should have a man. Jan asks Alma if she should go out and find the first man she can outside, and Alma told her, "no, that would not work," but still Jan is a strong woman. When Jan realized that Rex (alias Brad), had deceived her after almost totally giving herself to him by falling in love, and it's pretty evident that they were interested in a romantic rendezvous, she stormed out, showing how strong a person she really is. Tony came to her rescue at his Connecticut home as soon as he found out about Brad's trap for Jan. The plot got deeper and deeper, and Jan's long crying spell caused Tony to get punched in the chin by a couple of strangers at a bar they stopped at back in New York City.

Jan grew stronger and stronger, and even after Brad interrogated Alma, intending to get all the information he could from her about winning Jan's love back, Jan got even with Brad. When Brad hired her through her Interior Decorating Agency's co-worker, she decorated Brad's apartment very similar to a Harem den. When Brad went to Jan's apartment and kidnapped her right out of her bed, pajamas and all, he carried her, kicking and ordering people to call the police, straight to his apartment. After Brad explained that he had been planning on making her his bride, Jan's demeanor completely changed, and became more loving towards Brad again.

There was a very comical scene aside from the main plot, when Brad ducks from Jan and Tony into a gynecologist/obstetrician's office and asked for an appointment to the amazement of the doctor and his nurse who thought they may have found the missing link of a man capable of becoming
pregnant. They ended up looking for him, but when the coast is clear, Brad leaves that office. Brad also really showed no shame, judging by his apartment's light switch causing his couch bed to automatically open up, and duping the many girls he sang to daily that he is just a hard-working song writer. The closest thing he has to remorse is when he gets drunk while speaking to Alma at a bar, but instead of giving Jan a heartfelt apology about duping her, he simply wines as he carries her off somewhat like a Neanderthal man would and says that he was planning on making her his bride'"surprise, surprise!

Although Jan is clearly seen as going through a hero's transformation in this movie, I have to say that I believe that Tony is the hero of the day here. Tony, who confesses his love and wish to marry to Jan, keeps tabs and acts very protective of Jan even though she turns down his marriage proposal. When she feels that Brad has taken advantage of her and wants to flee, there's Tony at the door of his Connecticut home, waiting to whisk her away from Brad's clutches and save her by bringing her home to New York City, and back into his watchful care. Jan goes through her heroine archetype transformation process, looking for her bliss. She believes she is quite happy with her job and apartment and just being friends with Tony. After all, what more could she need as Tony is protective, loves her, and has dinners out with her. Plus, she seemed to have a good relationship with her housekeeper, Alma, although Alma was an alcoholic and gave what seemed at first to be very bad advice about liking Brad. At first, Jan seemed like a child or the Innocent archetype, and then she began to grow up and become more protective of herself once she realized that Brad really duped her, going through the Orphan archetype as she cried loud and hard and felt betrayed and vulnerable. Brad and Jan worked through their problems; they both seemed to believe their love was a big part of their bliss, so they went through a battle to overcome their quarrel just as the Vietnam soldiers who were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save their companions felt bliss. (Campbell, p. 141) They decided to marry, whereupon she and Brad seemed to become transformed to the Magician archetype and created the world they wanted for themselves, including having a baby. (Pearson 1998) Jan and Brad's love in Pillow Talk reminded me of "Eros being a kind of seizure," as one could tell Jan and Brad were as attracted to each other as if they had been shot by "a bow and arrow like the Indian myth that Campbell described." (Campbell, p. 233)

It was also very surprising that none of the people who heard Jan yelling at them to call the cops did so as she was kicking and being carried away by Brad. Surprisingly, Tony and Brad did not seem to have a really strained relationship after Brad stole Jan away from Tony's protective and loving care. In the end, where Brad is announcing to the same obstetrician that the pregnancy is three months along, the plot also seemed very 1950s. Nowadays, both would have continued in their careers for at least awhile, if they even intended to have children. One could imagine that they were living in sexual bliss though after their very romantic kissing scene!
Motherhood is a sacrifice, and I believe by the end of the movie, we see Jan as a symbol of Mother Earth, able to not only conquer a handsome philandering male, but also to become one with him through marriage and mother a child. (Campbell, 142)

Some of the scenery and places depicted to be in New York City in Pillow Talk were much romanticized and not real as Jan and Brad were not actually in the real time scenery all the time. These scenes really romanticized their intimate walk, and they appeared very sophisticated and upscale just like Cousineau's Myth of City made many tourists of Paris appear. The "sanctification of the local landscape is a fundamental function of mythology," as you could see with the Roseland dancing and dining scenes must have made the movie even more popular then as the Roseland was so popular for ballroom dancing at that time. (Campbell, p. 113) The way that Tony describes New York City to Jan, telling her that she would be out of her element if she moved to Texas with Rex, and that she would miss the competition and the hustle, bustle, energy and excitement of the city was very interesting! Their love of the city reminded me of Cousineau's love for Paris in his Myth of City as Cousineau described Paris as the "City of Lights and such an integral part of the world culture that many people who have never been there feel they have already experienced it, in books, movies, torch songs." (Cousineau, p. 239)

Pillow Talk is really as romantic a love story and setting as the Parisian cafes and Cousineau's love of the writing groups in Paris. It's easy to understand how writers, artists and photographers would have loved both cities probably just about equally at that time period. Some people may prefer to visit the Eiffel Tower and stop at a Parisian café and museum, but many people would probably prefer to stay at a hotel overlooking Central Park, like Rex showed Jan, or to visit the Metropolitan Museum or American Museum of Natural History and then stop at the Empire State Building Riverboat Restaurant afterward in pursuing their bliss. A tourist of New York City might seek out the many churches, synagogues and other religious places as Campbell visited Chartres to find his bliss. (Campbell, p. 118) New York apparently did not have all the writing workshops at that time but Paris attracted many writers for that reason according to Cousineau. But even Campbell noted that New York City "is a kind of architectural triumph. It is the statement of the city that we are a financial power center," and "In New York now, the competition is over who can build the tallest building," which is the feeling that Tony tries to elicit from Jan so she will understand why she couldn't leave New York City, and we feel Tony's powerful influence on Jan, and the powerful pull to remain there. (Campbell, p. 117)
Ten of the most important things that I've learned in this class are, first, I have to say was that creating a paper based on a movie and three texts is an extremely important way to learn to really think about new terms I've learned about in the Mythology and Modern Life course and how to compare and contrast the key concepts from them all. Secondly, I learned that I must watch Pillow Talk for the first time in an especially scrutinizing way, making sure that I paid close attention to the key characters, their real names and Brad's alias, as well as the plot; and third, I kept an eye towards discerning if any of the characters might be tricksters, or fourth,
heroes/heroines, and fifth, other similarities to the key concepts in Cousineau's Myth of City, Campbell's hero's journey, and Hyde's tricksters.

Sixth, I also really enjoyed reviewing the movies Pillow Talk and Eat, Pray, Love, and reading the assigned texts. It was a great movie, and seven, I've learned that I love creating comparison papers of books with a different movie, realizing that the movies were chosen by Professor Weinbaum to befit this task. Eight, another important concept that I've learned in this course is that myths have gods or tricksters that teach us a lot about our modern lives. Nine, whether we consider myths as necessary to understand in order to live our lives to the fullest or not does matter but one can simply read and learn about them for pleasure. Ten, I happen to believe that the majority of the myths I've learned about from reading Campbell, Cousineau and Hyde have helped me to understand life much better. The task of finding my bliss has become most important to me, rather than making the most money that I can.

Having always intended to eventually get to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower, I was ecstatic to read about Cousineau's travels to Paris and about all the writers and artists there. It has always been known as a cultural center, and even the French language is desirable to learn for many people. My brother, who studied French in high school and college and lived in Paris, France, after his honorable discharge from the Navy, told me that it was the most beautiful city, and that many French people were happy to speak French with him and talk about culture. This, of course, makes France even more attractive to me! I understand the attraction of wanting to visit or live in New York City or Paris much better since reading these texts.

To me, there was never that much of an attraction as far as wanting to own the latest technological devices, but I thoroughly enjoyed working on my computer to discuss and load images and papers for this Mythology and Modern Life course. I've learned that it is very possible to learn new concepts and succeed in college courses online with the help of your professor and through online discussion with other classmates, as this made the learning process a well-rounded one. Anyway, some professors and classmates are open to mobile or landline phone discussions too. All in all,
I've learned a great deal from this Mythology and Modern Course and it was extremely interesting, though challenging!

Reference:

1. Hyde, L. (1998) Trickster Makes This World Mischief, Myth and Art. North Point Press. Print.
2. Cousineau, P. (2001) Once and Future Myths The Power of Ancient Stories in Our Lives. Conari Press. Print.
3. Campbell, J. (1991) The Power of Myth With Bill Moyers. First Anchor Books. Print.
4. Pearson, C. (1998) The Hero Within: Six Archetypes That We Live By http://www.butler-bowdon.com/herowithin.htm