MovieChat Forums > My Life in Ruins (2009) Discussion > I was bothered by the fact the woman had...

I was bothered by the fact the woman had to dumb herself down

posted 14 years ago by scarletminded
7 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else get sort of disgusted at the fact that the main character had to dumb herself down in order to look good at her job? She was very smart and wanted to talk about the ruins...yet ended up fake orgasming in the bus on the way to Delphi?

I got the whole idea that tourists in general are idiots...for the most part. But there are a lot of people who know history who want a guide to help them learn. I would go to Greece for the culture, museums and ruins...but many Americans and other tourists just want to go "party". I am not sure why people can't learn something about history AND then have a good time at the beach...for some reason being smart and being fun are exclusive of each other...well, I guess in American culture they are. I've gotten put down a lot for being smart. It's really annoying American culture is the way it is.

But anyway, overall it was a decant comedy and the views of Greece were great and the movie is good, if only for that. Some of the actors, especially the comedians involved, I like. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's really syrupy and typical of a romantic comedy, only the humor is a bit better. I try to stay away from the genre and this is probably why!

[–] ilves 14 years ago

Yes, this annoyed me too. Especially the part, where the old lady asked her "how did these pillars fall down", and the "right" answer was not the earthquake but the tell some legend. Had it been me asking the question, I would have been looking for the earthquake aswer.

Also, I don't get why people go on those tours if they don't want to see or learn about the places their visiting.

Wait! Does this also mean putting out doesn't get you love?

[–] lolptik 14 years ago

Sure looks like you have to, if you want to keep your tour floating. Sometimes, you just gotta roll with the punches and explain to people how Mrs. Winchester had seances at the replica house, even though you know the house is in the midwest somewhere.

On top of that, its what the indigenous people believed. I'm pretty sure we're not that stupid to fall for what folks believe in the yesteryears.

Smoke and mirrors. Rabbit from the hat. Don't ruin the magic.

inveniam viam aut faciam

[–] BlueGreen 14 years ago

Also, I don't get why people go on those tours if they don't want to see or learn about the places their visiting.

A valid question.
Only, they do - at least the great majority of them do.

I have worked as a tourist guide, both stationary and on-the-road, and have had the opportunity to meet very many people, from very different walks of life.
The immense majority of them were almost touchingly interested in every crumb of information they could get. If they were not, it only meant that the guide was no good in presenting the material in an interesting fashion.

True, none of "my" tourists were Americans, but I doubt they would be substantially different from any other nationality.

I honestly believe that, if anything, tourism is going to "save the world".
Think about it: would it be as easy to spark wars (which usually entail denigrating the "enemy") in the past if more people had personal knowledge of those foreign lands and peoples? People who are well travelled are much more difficult to indoctrinate.

Which is all the more reason for me to dislike such stereotyping of tourists in films like this one. Only people who have not been tourists themselves - it's not a dirty word, you know! - can believe that people really behave like that when visiting a foreign land.

BTW, I really liked Ebert's review of this film. I found it spot on.
Then again, I usually agree with his reviews. ;)

[–] cpoet 8 years ago

Good for you, Bluegreen! I think being a good tourguide is much harder than people realize. I usually travel independently, but I've had many short "city tours" and one long "accompanied trip," so I've seen guides who droned on relentlessly about historical statistics and were annoyed by questions. I'm sort of curious to know what crop I'm seeing out the window, too--which my Lonely Planet can't tell me.

And I know what you're saying about tourism saving the world. There's also a different, more open, mindset from people who live right next door to different cultures versus people from giant landmass countries who might never even meet anyone very different from themselves.

To address the subject line question, yes, I was bothered when her big epiphany was that her people wanted whimsy instead of information. That's kind of a disservice to both tourists and guides.

I've never been crazy about this movie; I'll go see what Ebert had to say.

[–] stevengc 14 years ago

I personally think the movie was heartwarming and fun to watch and didn't mind that she had to "dumb herself down" for this particular tour group. But i can see your point for the most part the tourists were just looking to have fun and not really interested in sites. Maybe Georgia's next tour group will really be interested in the history.

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