A Tarzan Moment
Today is the second of what looks to be a three-day rainy spell here on the hilltop. Everything in the garden is benefiting, but I can’t really say the same for myself. One gets used to the nice weather of San Diego and I find myself at a loss for things to do when I am forced to stay indoors. I am not backlogged with work at the moment and have recently done what I can to sort through my closet and replace what needs replacing in anticipation of our upcoming trip to SE Asia. My depositions this past week are prelude to the deposition of another case between now and departure. In the expert witness game, depositions are either the ultimate or penultimate step in the process depending on whether the matter gets settled or sent off to trial. The point is that with these two, my most active current cases, finishing the deposition process, it is a logical time for a break and our trip should be unhindered by any lingering case obligations. I have actually been signed up for another new case (making it my sixth of eight in the queue), but it will not come into the active work phase until March or April, once again making the timing perfectly aligned with our travel plans. What that also means is that I have some time on my hands right now and in this rainy weather, what is a person to do but watch some extra movies. The weather is playing right into my passion, and I will admit to being very partial to stories of Tarzan.
I recently finished a small biographical project initiated by my daughter. I used a good many existing of my stories to fill the book, but I also wrote a few new stories including one about my mother having told me my favorite tale of Robinson Crusoe being stranded on a remote tropical island. I suppose it was that story in my distant memories that make me so fond of the Tarzan story, which is based loosely on the same shipwreck concept. My research shows that there are at least 60 Tarzan movies in the can, the first done in 1918 and called Tarzan of the Apes and the latest being The Legend of Tarzan done in 2016. I have not seen most of the Tarzan movies, but I have seen the most recent starring Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan and Margot Robbie (a.k.a. Barbie) as Jane. It is a favorite.
The way Amazon Prime and all the other streaming services work, they offer up related material for your viewing (or should I say, bingeing) pleasure. What they immediately offered me was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes starring Christopher Lambert as Tarzan Andie McDowell as Jane. Given my obsession with the Highlander series, it is hard for me to pass up anything with Christopher Lambert, so I have put it on to compare and contrast with the Skarsgard version. This version was made in 1984 but hinges on the same notion that John Clayton (Tarzan) was born as the Fifth Earl of Greystoke in Scotland and is thus a holder of a seat in Parliament in the House of Lords. The Skarsgard version is more advanced in that it uses a lot more CGI, which I think works quite well for this story because it allows the director to do things like having Tarzan swing through the jungle more fluidly and interact up close and personally with the animals (like the giant lions) in ways that are more compelling though somewhat less realistically.
Tarzan is a bit of a fantasy tale since the thought of an infant raised by apes and then growing to be leader of the apes and, indeed, all the animals of the jungle and velt. When one watches the Lambert version that does not rely on CGI, just watching the vine swinging is painful. It’s done with realism, but all that realism does is convince you that while swinging from point A to point B on a jungle vine might work well, you really can’t travel quickly through the jungle by swinging vine to vine. The jungle and its treetop vines are just not perfectly positioned for a Tarzan to cover great distances the way he has to in order to chase a train headed for Mombasa or some such place.
I also particularly liked how the director dealt with the knuckle bone structure of Tarzan in the Skarsgard version. He has particularly large hands where the. Knuckle bone structure broadens out in a very plausible manner from Tarzan being taught to run on all fours as a child. It is a compelling detail that helps bridge the gap between reality and fantasy, which is exactly what is needed to make Tarzan such an engaging story. We can’t help ourselves but ask how was such and such possible. With the help of this sort of imagery, it somehow seems more reasonable that infant John Clayton had to adapt to his environment. It also strangely gives you more respect for the character by showing you how tough he had it and how he was able to persevere in ways that most of us could not have. Fantasy is a strange genre that needs to bridge the gap between transporting you away from reality while staying close enough to reality to be somewhat believable.
When I think of the jungle, I think of the tropics as I knew them when I was a child in Venezuela and Costa Rica. I don’t necessarily think of the tropics as having great thunderous storms like we have here, but rather a dripping sort of humidity and regular dampness and rain that seems never-ending. I am currently in the third day in a row of rain here on the hilltop and while there remains a storminess that is decidedly non-tropical, the persistence of the rain (which is scheduled to continue throughout the day today and into tomorrow as well) is certainly changing the landscape from high chaparral to more and more tropical. The plants in the garden are flourishing, but I suspect it is on the verge of threatening my cacti. Whatever harm it might do to my succulents, it is doing more harm to my state of mind. I tried to go out and use my new rowing machine on the covered porch off my office, but the wind and rain made the exercise one of total futility. I don’t need help making exercise seem futile, I can do that all on my own.
So I am thinking that I should adapt. This afternoon like Tarzan. This afternoon, I will take a towel and bring my new rowing machine into the office. It is lightweight enough and has wheels, so that doing that should be quite easy. I will then try using it inside and will take that tactic when the weather is less agreeable like it is right now. I may not get as buff as ALexander Skarsgard or even get a knuckle bone structure like Tarzan, but adapt I will and row myself into some semblance of better fitness. I am inclined to think of this as my Tarzan moment. Ah…ah…ah…ah…ahhhhh!