Memphis in motion

What I most like about "The Mystery Train" is the lack of definition. It refuses to allow a simple explanation or guide minds to a predetermined view point, but instead shows several vantage points to the same event, incorporating new ideas and information in each of its three segments. In doing so "The Mystery Train" allows these ideas to breed and grow organically in the mind of the reader as he or she watches and continue to develop even after the movie ends.

I believe the main idea of the of the film is growth. The train moves, the people move, ideas move, and time touches each character leaving many of them wishing for more. I think that this is where Elvis fits in. Even in death he remains embedded in the perception of the out of towners and in the recollections of the natives. Elvis is a reminder that however we may grow we will always be revered for a rich history and burdened by its mark. The past molds way of living and in turn, affects those who visit, such as the Roman lady.

To be honest, I don't like the idea of defining the film or the city of Memphis as postmodern or modern. To me it seems that they are both in flux. In the movie, I see the female native and her brother as a representation of postmodernism, and the other characters as the promise for a more modern existence. The woman who leaves her boyfriend seems wide eyed and child like, and her brother, refusing drink represents his own resistance against progress. His hairstyle, dress, and even his work environment appears to be out of date, and his surprise at the fact that his sister had not actually married the European man suggests that they believed him too old fashioned to accept their arrangement. He also exhibits a fear of the city when he goes to pick up the man he believes to be his brother in law. On the other hand, the Asian couple and the European man represent change. The moment the Asian arrives they are able to communicate with a man from Memphis who thanks them in their own tongue, and as they sit outside in the city, the man describes it as being like their own with less buildings, suggesting room for growth that was not present where they came from. Later in the movie he admits that it is nothing like their origin and says that it was cool to be young in Memphis, amplifying a since of uncertainty for the future of Memphis and at the same time revealing a positive view of it. The European man plays the catalyst of change, moving all of the native characters forward. When he shoots a cashier, he changes the lives of his supposed 'wife' and 'brother in law' in addition to the black man and himself in one fail swoop. None of the characters are completely progressive or resistant to change. Though the native girl is child like and admits a lingering since of sentiment for the European man, she still moves out of the city, and eventually her brother does drink the liquor. While the Asian couple does manage to communicate with the man who needed a light and the motel workers, their attempt to speak with a fellow passenger on the way to their next destination fails. Similarly the European man is still haunted by the stigma assotiated with his hair and Memphis's history. I think this whole movie is stuck between postmodern and modern styles. and that Memphis is transferring from one style of city to the next. In a lot of ways, what happens to the brother is tragic, but at the same time, he illustrates an idea rather than humanity to me and he at least does not die. In fact the constant movement to me suggests that his wound is similar to the pruning of a rose bush, designed entirely for growth.

I enjoyed this movie because it seems like a movie that you could discover a new idea in every time you watched.