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Meanwhile, Nora Diniro is a reserved, artistic type who listens to Hard Harry’s show compulsively. She jots down clues revealed during the broadcasts, in a sort of primitive version of Facebook stalking, to ascertain the radio host’s true identity. Mark only knows her as “The Eat-me-beat-me Lady,” a mysterious woman who submits kinky poetry handwritten in black ink on blood-red paper, but who never lists a phone number. Nora, too, desires to be heard, but is afraid of the consequences of going public. Or even worse, she and Mark are probably both terrified of their own potential as students, as creators and as human beings. Also, an idea that sprouts from an anonymous source – one that has no roots or chains holding it down – can potentially survive longer than one that is constantly attributed to a specific person or group. In that case, if the person fails, the idea probably will too. Mark’s response to Nora’s actions reflects the way people now use social network Web sites (i.e. – MySpace, Friendster, etc) to present a more desirable version of themselves. “I bet in real life she’s probably not that wild. I bet she’s kinda shy, like so many of us briskly walking the halls, pretending to be late for some class, pretending to be distracted. Hey, poetry lady, are you really this cool? Are you out there? Are you listening? I feel like I know you, and yet we’ll never meet. So be it.” This phenomenon peaked around 2005, when MySpace users still felt like they owned their self-designed profile. And when it seemed possible to make friends or date in a virtual environment. And, undoubtedly, when the News Corporation didn’t own the Web site and mine the posted data for highly advanced advertising techniques, as they do today. Nora is willing to approach Mark, and even follows him to his P.O. Box, but no one else even begins to connect Mark with the hooting madman on the FM dial – not his parents, his peers or the school administration. However, Mark finds himself in a predicament that would become commonplace later in the ‘90s: while he is comfortable speaking his mind behind the shield of the microphone, he finds it extremely difficult to communicate with Nora in person. After all, he’s a timid nerd in public – the complete opposite of how he acts in the privacy of his own home. It’s not until much later that Mark and Nora can bare themselves – both emotionally and physically (note – when they do undress, it is as much a symbolic act as a sexual one). When this happens, Mark and Nora could be the first couple in history to get together through what would now be called online dating. Students find the broadcasts inspirational and liberating, as if they can sense that something is terribly wrong with their social environment, but they don’t have a clue what to do about it. One entrepreneurial student sells bootlegged tapes of the performances – serving as an interesting tie-in with the file-sharing shenanigans that have littered the past 10 years. The difference is that most illegal content sharing these days generates zero profit for the one sending the material into cyberspace. However, the student’s tapes generate a surprisingly profitable business, considering anyone could stick a cassette in their boom box and hit record. The first turning point in the film arrives when Hard Harry calls a fan that asks via letter, “Should I kill myself?” Mark takes the suicide threat as a sarcastic joke and doesn’t really believe him. Mark definitely doesn’t consider the consequences if the student actually does shoot himself. He does say, “Hey, maybe it’s okay to be alone sometimes. Everybody’s alone.” With tears in his eyes, the boy responds, “You’re not.” Then Mark answers, “I didn’t talk to one person today, not counting teachers. I sit alone every day, ya know. I sit in the stairwell eating my lunch, reading a book. What about you?” On one hand, Mark has drawn back from society, acting as a total recluse in his wired-up basement. On the other hand, Mark is breaking down societal boundaries that existed long before he ever arrived in Shittyville, Arizona. Mark is making human connections by bypassing traditional social methods. Mark is blazing a new path – one that most people wouldn’t even start upon for another 15 years. But while Mark tries to empathize, he fails to simply say, “Don’t shoot yourself.” When the authorities learn that a student committed suicide and that he spoke with Hard Harry just before pulling the trigger, Mark becomes a target. The authorities had already caught wind of the broadcasts, and their intolerance was slowly growing to this peak. The automatic assumption by adults – the principal, in particular – is that Mark encouraged the suicide, while teens familiar with Hard Harry’s show know that it was inevitable. Mark’s first reaction is to shut down the operation, but Nora tries to convince him that it wasn’t his fault. Not only that, she feels that Mark has a responsibility to continue and not abandon his enlightening ways. From this point on, a cheesy TV news anchor appears regularly at the school, offering a quick comment on what mainstream media deems newsworthy (i.e. – the horrible cliché, “If it bleeds, it leads.”) During a following call, a homosexual student asks Mark for advice about a humiliating encounter with a would-be lover. Long story short, the boy was taken to a private destination and then coerced into revealing his attraction to men. Next, the boy’s romantic interest, and two friends hiding nearby, called him names and made fun of him. Thankfully, they only harmed him emotionally, and not physically as well. Mark handles the call with grace, despite the pressure he is under. Mark says, “I’m just thinking how strong people can be, and how everyone is alike in some way, and how everyone needs the same things.” Keep in mind that this is at the tail end of the AIDS decade, when homosexuals were targeted for more than just their abandonment of puritan ideals. This was way before Will & Grace and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and all other gay interjections into mainstream culture. But Mark has removed a few more bricks from the wall between truth and everything else. He is peering deeper into the core of human nature – the longing and the sorrow. Then the caller hangs up strangely dissatisfied, and Mark is shown walking around his suburban wasteland as the slower “UK Surf” version of Pixies’ classic “Wave of Mutilation” plays somberly in the background. Outside of the student sphere, things are starting to boil over. Parents become terrified after the news of a suicide, fearing the same fate for their own helpless, vulnerable children. At an emergency PTA meeting, the adults discuss what to do about the Hard Harry broadcasts. Mark’s parents even start to get worried, never imagining that their own son could be using the FM radio set they gave him for mischievous behavior. The administration considers Hard Harry a dangerous threat, providing a microcosm that applies to any oligarchy. The principal is frightened of what will happen if Mark divulges further secrets, like the accumulating files on “questionable” students being assembled with the help of a McCarthy-like henchman. To ensure that the school maintains the highest SAT average in the state, the leaders expel misfits, troublemakers and anyone else they want – regardless of what Mark’s dad calls “a basic right to education.” On the other hand, a friendly English teacher encourages Mark to be open about his feelings regarding his lauded writing assignments. She listens to every Hard Harry show but is eventually fired for her unwillingness to participate in the principal’s vile scheme. |
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