Blog Post 1 - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, presents the angst and ennui of a man trying to talk to a girl. The barrier being the overeducation and anxiety of being judged by the public. Prufrock’s monologue, asserts the complications that oneself can bring into a situation. Such as overthinking and thus letting go a desire. The poem also shows the urge of Prufrock to let go of all this strains, not just his own strains but the ones impose by other people, such as the girl she wants. For instance, in lines 10 to 12, Prufrock thinks “To lead you to an overwhelming question…./ Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”/ Let us go and make our visit”, which illuminates the desperation of Prufrock to forget every little detail and just vanish, let go of any restrain and prejudice.

Similarly, the film “Dazed and Confused” directed by Richard Linklater, a coming-of-age movie about a group of friends in their last days of high school, the film perfectly assembles and claims the youthful angst. In one particular scene, one of the characters discusses his change of mind towards going to law school, for he claims and concludes that he actually hates people. His friend that is listening then asks him “so, you're not gonna go to law school? What do you wanna do?” and he replies “I wanna dance”. This reflects on the confusion and tiredness of the youth. Which similarly, adjusts to the main message of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, by which both the poem and the film expresses the angst, the confusion. The insecurity of a person, yet the secureness of thought. In other words, the impossibility to do what is expected, and either do what you want, or stay in confusion. Which pretty much summarizes how youth feels, confuse.

Additionally, both the poem and the film, interact with time to portray this urge to simply do what is desire, yet there is restriction, which most likely is oneself. For example, in the poem, Prufrock states “Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?/ In a minute there is time/ For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse”, which illustrates the blame towards time, yet the one imposing time as an excuse to avoid “daring” is Prufrock himself, for all his insecurities and confusion. In comparison, in “Dazed and Confused”, one of the characters says one of the most important pieces of dialogue in the film, “I’d like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor, insignificant preamble to something else.” which proves the youthful angst towards life. Which includes the fear of the present and the future. For youth, as represented in the film and the poem, is hard to get around. Simply because it's hard to take decisions and the opportunities offered, the reason being that as we face the youth phase we are afraid to make mistakes and being judge.

As a result, dazed and confused cinematically adds to the genre of coming of age films, that represent the decadency, angst, and confusion of growing up. Mainly through the dialogue shared between characters. Similarly, "The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock" poetically, adds to the urge, desperation and confusion towards a situation. Both inherit the stance of daring, of doing what one wants, though they have different results. For it seems that in the poem, Prufrock will never be able to understand that the “time” is now, that daring should be at the moment. While in the movie, the characters understand the reliance of the feeling, or the mood of the moment, yet they are as confused as Prufrock, they feel in a state of limbo, which means to stand tall, or fall to one side.

In conclusion, there is a state that almost every human being faces in life, which is the hardness of growing up, youth. For it is the time where we overthink things, decisions, and opportunities, instead of going with the hunch. The reason maybe because we are thoughtful towards other peoples thought towards us. In youth, we become confuse, indecisive, and though we want to believe that our decision is final, we still doubt the outcomes. Thus, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, portrays the instability and insecurity of a person towards talking to a girl, simply because he overthinks stuff and magnifies everything that he hears, while thinking that everything is directed towards him. In “Dazed and Confused”, the actors suffer through youthful angst by acknowledging the possibilities of their future, and though they accept what they want to do, you can feel their insecurity by their acting.