INDEX
More than a Tale: This is My Life!
Back to the story. While this film evokes a postmodern critique, it is important to note that it does not fall prey to naive value relativism or common agnosticism. In other words, the film does not attempt to discredit “reality” or “truth” even at a more fundamental level, but rather seems to somehow defend their existence.
What does this mean? In the first place, the “epistemological relativism” mentioned above is an argument for relativism in the dimension of cognition, not against the establishment of, for example, social values or the concept of reality itself (and thus, in principle, would not lead to the nihilism that is friendly to agnosticism or to a fundamental skepticism about “truth”). (and would not, therefore, in principle invite the kind of nihilism that is friendly to agnosticism, or a fundamental skepticism about “truth”). There may be no such thing as absolute awareness of things shared by all, but this does not threaten the reality itself prior to the dimension of awareness, nor does it mean that the event itself does not (or did not) exist just because the perspective of each entity that perceives the event is relative. No matter how much the absoluteness of Elizabeth’s “perception” of the “truth” she seeks is shaken by the contradictory words and actions of Gracie and those around her, of course, the reality of the event will never be shaken.
There is an important scene toward the end of the film that relates to this. One night, Elizabeth has a conversation with Joe about the case. Elizabeth slips up and describes the series of events and the tragic reality that ensues, saying, “These stories are …….” Joe responds, “This is a story. Joe responds angrily, “This is not a story, it’s my life! Joe responds angrily, “This is not a story, it’s my life!
This is a cry from the side of the reality of the incident, which is different from simple skepticism or agnosticism, and it is a cry from the side of the passive observer who has been viewing the film from this side of the screen (just as Elizabeth has been facing the incident) as a story that can be recognized from a bird’s eye viewpoint (just as she has been facing the incident). The case is a subtle rebuke to those of us who are passive observers who have been viewing (seeing through) the story from this side of the screen as a recognizable narrative from a bird’s eye viewpoint. Although the incident may have already faded into social memory and been buried in the accumulation of stories by all kinds of people, as Maurice, the lawyer in charge of the case, said to Elizabeth in the film, “no one was unscathed” by the real incident that came suddenly into their lives.
