There are 812 entries in 82 pages
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S. Morris
from Marriott, Utah
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| 7/1/2006 11:40:17 PM |
I salute those of you who are truly awake and live in a state of constant amazment with Joe. I want the soundtrack of this movie so badly my heart aches.
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LuChera Huntley
from Greensboro, NC
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| 6/29/2006 11:09:34 PM |
What's Up, Harvey Levin?
I saw you on "Celebrity Justice" & "The People's Court" all the time. If you can take the law, I'll take the law. It's all good. I've never felt this way before. Until then, God Bless You!
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cldkca@yahoo.com
from cldkca@yahoo.com
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| 6/26/2006 1:02:26 AM |
Hola me encanta el trabajo que estan haciendo y me encantaria poder participar.
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Roy Piper
from Napa
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| 6/22/2006 5:34:26 PM |
I am watching it now on HBO and I just noticed something....when Angelica meets him at the airport and is holding the "Joe Banks" sign, the "B" has pictures of several ducks in it. This continues the duck theme mentioned in one of the articles on this website.
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Roy Piper
from Napa
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| 6/19/2006 8:29:36 PM |
One of my favorite things to do is come here every couple of weeks to see people discover the site for the first time and make comments like Marks! =)
Gordon, interesting analysis. You should read the various analysis within the website, if you have not already.
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Mark
from Chicago
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| 6/17/2006 9:08:47 AM |
I just stumbled onto this web site and finally feel "not alone in the world". Everyone I know who has seen it think it's OK, but they really miss the point. It's a reflection of life and the choices we make. I've watched this movie over 200 times since it came out. It got me throught some difficult times in my life. It is my ALL TIME FAVORITE movie. Every time I watch it, it refreshes my soul. I used to work at a location exactly like Joe's first office (8 years). I finally got out. Anyone can, you just have to make up your mind. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a realy shock in life to make you take the leap of faith. I take it every day.
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Gordon
from Portland, Oregon, USA
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| 6/16/2006 10:09:31 PM |
I discovered JVTV last night for the first time, then I discovered this excellent website--and I've been thinking of the film and the symbolism virtually nonstop. It was VERY ironic, because on my self-evaluation I turned in to my supervisor yesterday, I mentioned that I felt I was trapped, without ability to change jobs or advance, due to the current financial problems of the county. And then I went home and watched Joe...lol, very ironic indeed!
I think this film is the beginning of Mr. Hanks' dramatic phase; there are lots of humorous moments in JVTV, but the whole undertone is Joe's spiritual quest for happiness.
Because this was my first watch, I didn't know what to look for. I caught Meg Ryan's three roles (and for a minute thought she was playing Dagmar as well!), as well as the company logo/entrance path/lightning bolt/climb up the hill. I did see the lightning bolt reflected in the entrance to Ellison's building, which I was happy to see one other person noticed and mentioned in the Guestbook.
I remembered Patricia's comment about the ocean giving you strange dreams, so I was expecting Joe to wake up and everything would be back to normal...right up to encountering the island. I also had a strong feeling that Graynamore had arranged for the destruction of the boat and the time on the raft seemed like it was floating in a large pool while Patricia was faking being asleep. Like a recent poster, I thought Graynamore owned the medical company (remember Patricia's line 'he owns Dr. Ellison'?), and began paying attention to Joe because of Joe's doctor appointments---or because DeDe was his daughter and she liked him. Except for the scene of Patricia and Angelica at the dock, I thought all three Meg roles could have been the same person--and that she was testing Joe as well, since she liked him in the beginning as DeDe. (With this view, the Angelica who drove him to the dock was a double, which was why she was surprised to get a thank you goodbye kiss from Joe.)
I liked the various writers' looks at the symbolism of the film, be it Kierkegaard, the Devil, Christianity, or something else. The film does a great job of pulling in a very diverse lot of people as fans.
Dr. Ellison might be a reference to the science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, who wrote a famous episode of the original Star Trek series involving an ancient civilization's time machine and the chance to change history--for better or worse, it would be possible to change your life. Just like Joe did. The other Ellison connection is the writer Ralph Ellison, who wrote Invisible Man, about being a black man in mid-20th century America. Joe was certainly invisible to everyone when he walked into work, except when he stopped at the gate as was bumped into, and only DeDe noticed him enter the office--and nobody seemed to notice his problems with the coatrack. (The boss, of course, was busy with his 'I know he can get the job, but can he do the job? conversation. That was funny, and I credit Dan Hedaya for getting his lines right there and later with his 'if I made a mistake' conversation. At Wikipedia.org, the movie description refers to his character as a pointy-haired boss after the Dilbert character, and this was very clearly a Dilbert-ish office!)
I also suspect the office coffee would kill you just as surely as the lightning bolt.
941--I liked the idea of the Monolith size inference from 2001; that film was broken down into three sections as well--the birth of Man in Africa thanks to the first Monolith (like Joe in the factory); the discovery of the second Monolith on the Moon, a transitional sequence highlighted by an ape throwing a bone in the air and turning into a spaceship (long considered a classic science fiction image)...and that part of the film takes about as long to watch as Joe's plane trip and his adventures in LA, and seems to take the same amount of time for the character in both movies; and then the ocean trip to great Woo (with the fiery red spot) is paralled by the trip of the USS Discovery to Jupiter, with it's own Great Red Spot--and both trips suffer mishaps (malfunctioning computer, or catching a hammerhead shark while fishing), after which people die; both films have sequences of characters undergoing a transformation (jumping into the volcano, travelling through a stargate) followed by a spiritual or physical rebirth.
941 also makes me think of 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbor, dragging the US into World War II. Pearl Harbor was in the Pacific, and less than 24 hours after Joe was given the bad news in '941', he was given the chance to have the adventure of a lifetime in the Pacific. The war served as a wakeup call for America, just as the 'brain cloud' did for Joe. Militarily, sea power was replaced by air power with the events of 1941, but after visiting 941, Joe used air power to get to a launching point for a sea voyage that would literally change his life forever.
941 is also a sort of metaphor for Joe: 8 1/2 years ago he was a firefighter (rounded up to 9); for almost 4 1/2 years he worked at the company (rounded down to 4); and in the course of 1 day, his whole life turned around.
The books: Robinson Crusoe, being 'marooned' on an island in the Pacific--this was the Classics Illustrated simplified version of the story, and it might even have been in black and white. Crusoe was alone until he met Friday; Joe was alone until he met Patricia. The Odyssey--Odysseus wandered the world for ten years after the Trojan War, which he'd help end by creating the Trojan Horse (which is clearly a metaphor for Ellison's quackery), and he rejected a tempting witch named Circe who was great at making illusions (Angelica and Los Angeles, both fakery) after blinding the Cyclops (who 'felt around' with his hands for Odysseus, rather like Joe using the fake arm to feel the boss while he is quitting...). He finally made it home to his faithful wife Penelope (another P name) and (now grown) son on the island of Ithaca (Ithiki nowadays), disposing of her suitors like Joe walking up the volcano and claiming his bride. In Romeo and Juliet, of course, after problems of not being understood by family (similar to the situations of the three ladies), they wind up killing themselves; the ultimate love story, sacificing oneself for or to be with another (a worthy idea previously mentioned in a different context).
Some interesting future parallels: in Sleepless, Tom's and Meg's characters get manipulated by his son (and the son's help to find love is like Telemachus helping his father Odysseus reunite with his mom by battling the suitors), but in You've Got, he does a bit of manipulation himself to get the girl. In You've Got, he's got the money while Meg is poor.
Then there's a really weird coincidence from the video of 16 Tons with Eric Burdon. In most of the shots (except for sitting at the desk), he bears a striking resemblance to an older Tim Allen, who was just starting to become famous for his tv sitcom (paralleling Tom's rise from his own sitcom to movie stardom). Tom had three films with Meg, and Tim has made three Santa Clause films (third one coming this year), and in all three, both Tom's and Tim's characters make significant life and lifestyle changes, occasionally interspersed with humor and love.
Castaway, of course, revisits the stranded in the Pacific theme from Robinson Crusoe and JVTV, with Patricia and Friday replaced by a volleyball.
Tom and Meg both reached dramatic heights in war movies--Private Ryan and Meg's underappreciated Courage Under Fire...with similar end results from rescue attempts.
And the parallels between City of Angels and Philadelphia are noticeable--they are each professionals tossed by fate.
She was in The Doors, while Tom did That Thing You Do...music of the 60s. Oh, and hey, music was a big key of this film too.
Watching the video for 16 Tons shows him going from the drudgery of the factory life and the workaday world to a blissful heaven, both in the words of the song and the events of the film.
Well, I've rambled on enough and it's getting rather late...thanks for the space and the great website. It's as inspirational as the film, as you can see....
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AmusedOne
from Florida
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| 6/3/2006 7:53:07 PM |
I am watching JVTV right now... one of my all time favs. For the person who was asking about the symbolism of the lightning bolt... The lightning bolt and the path into the factory are the same exact shape... I believe the crooked path symbolizes that lifes path is not always straight... You never know from one moment to the next where the path may lead you. For me, the major underlying themes of the movie are self realitization and faith.
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Stefano
from
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| 6/3/2006 1:33:46 PM |
JVTV on italian television network Italia 1, in the next thursday 06/06/2006 ..... enjoy!
JOE CONTRO IL VULCANO
di John Patrick Shanley sarà trasmesso Martedì 6 Giugno 2006 alle ore 09.00 su Italia 1.
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Steve
from 40N 83W +/-
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| 5/30/2006 10:50:20 AM |
I am so happy I found this website! I have been a fan of the movie since I saw it on the big screen on Easter 1990--if I remember correctly. I have not yet read other entries on this site, so my speculations are cold and un-influenced by what may have been posted before by others.
My pet theory has long been that the film was intended to have a sequel originally, to explain all the running visual gags pertaining to the lightning bolt and factory facade.
--The sequel would have revealed that Graynamore owned the medical supply where Joe worked.
--The secretary would turn out to be yet a third sister of Angelica and Patricia.
--That the 3 girls Joe rescued prior to his departure from the fire department had grown up to be the secretary, Angelica, and Patricia.
--That Joe's employment at the factory
had been secretly arranged by Graynamore to keep him in easy reach so he could marry one of his daughters.
I think those possibilities are so apparent that I can't be alone in my suppositions. And now that I have found this site, I'm going to see what others think. BTW, there is no better place in the world to hum and/or sing Marooned Without You, than while waiting for a sunrise, sitting on the stern of an Hawaii bound cruise ship. I know because I did that this past March.
Taking the leap...now!
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