It's a bit fuzzy...

[Edited! If you think you've read this entry, scroll toward the end, there is new commentary!]

I stumbled upon an interesting short film called "More" today. It reminded me of something I once read entitled "The Peach Blossom Spring." Against better judgement (copyright laws), here is the best online translation of that work:

A fisher's boat chased the water into the coveted hills,
Both banks were covered in peach blossom at the ancient river crossing.
He knew not how far he sailed, gazing at the reddened trees,
He travelled to the end of the blue stream, seeing no man on the way.
Then finding a crack in the hillside, he squeezed through the deepest of caves,
And beyond the mountain a vista opened of flat land all about!
In the distance he saw clouds and trees gathered together,
Nearby amongst a thousand homes flowers and bamboo were scattered.
A wood-gatherer was the first to speak a Han-era name,
The inhabitants' dress was unchanged since the time of Qin.
The people lived together on uplands above Wu Ling river,
Apart from the outside world they laid their fields and plantations.
Below the pines and the bright moon, all was quiet in the houses,
When the sun started to shine through the clouds, the chickens and dogs gave voice.
Startled to find a stranger amongst them, the people jostled around,
They competed to invite him in and ask about his home.
As brightness came, the lanes had all been swept of blossom,
By dusk, along the water the fishers and woodsmen returned.
To escape the troubled world they had first left men's society,
They live as if become immortals, no reason now to return.
In that valley they knew nothing of the way we live outside,
From within our world we gaze afar at empty clouds and hills.
Who would not doubt that magic place so hard to find,
The fisher's worldly heart could not stop thinking of his home.
He left that land, but its hills and rivers never left his heart,
Eventually he again set out, and planned to journey back.
By memory, he passed along the way he'd taken before,
Who could know the hills and gullies had now completely changed?
Now he faced only the great mountain where he remembered the entrance,
Each time he followed the clear stream, he found only cloud and forest.
Spring comes, and all again is peach blossom and water,
No-one knows how to reach that immortal place.

I was also reminded of a song:

Movin' to the country,
gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country,
Gonna eat me a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country,
gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country,
gonna eat a lot of peaches

Peaches come from a can,
they were put there by a man
In a factory downtown
If I had my little way,
I'd eat peaches every day
Sun-soakin' bulges in the shade

Take a little naps where the roots all twist
Squished a rotten peach in my fist
And dreamed about you, woman,
I poked my finger down inside
Make a little room for it to hide
Nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free

Look out!

Oh, and let us not forget the Kids in the Hall in "Brain Candy."

So, what do you think?

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Did you watch the short film?
Ok. "The Peach Blossom Spring" is of Chinese origin. Its about a utopian paradise. This blissful place that a man stumbled upon once but could not find again. It was likely all in his head. There is no real utopian paradise. Yet, people often look for one. They'll even try to manufacture it. Especially when our realities can seem so bleek and terminal. The "Peaches" song by The Presidents of the United States of America always reminded me of "The Peach Blossom Spring." I thought maybe The PotUSoA were inspired by the Chinese story. The part that goes "Peaches come from a can, they were but there by a man..." always grabs my attention when I hear it. Peaches, a sweet & nurishing fruit found in nature, are now manufactured for the masses (and have lost some of their sweetness & nutrition in the process). The Kids in the Hall movie, "Brain Candy", had a similar theme re: the search for happiness & a reprieve from bleek realities. The happiness was manufactured for the masses who became babbling idiots (I think it was a pill). They became dependant upon the manufactured happiness and couldn't experience life without it.
I see that in society and its sad. You know that song by the Police, "Message in a Bottle", part of it goes: Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore
Seems I’m not alone at being alone...
Its true. A lot of people feel alone and/or empty (remember the inventor in "More" at the end reaches inside himself and finds nothing). We are all in search of our own Peach Blossoms and some of us are obcessed with it. Reality isn't exactly, ahem, peachy. And many of us can't handle that. Have you seen the commercial for the "Purple Pill" (brain candy)?
The ending of "More" was interesting. Dispearsed throughout were little blurts of children's laughter and gray figures on a merry-go-round. The inventor created goggles that made the gray & bleek reality colorful and blissful. He was now on top and some one else was on the bottom—using the inventors goggles to deal with it. And, despite his success, the inventor was still empty inside. He looked out the window and saw a shining light in the distance. The camera zoomed in and we saw, in color without the goggles, the children playing and laughing. No gray & bleek realities. Simple happiness in the real world.
I guess the viewer can take from that whatever the viewer wants. That happiness is fleeting and once we are adults... Well, that's not what I'm taking from it. What I get is (1) enjoy the simple things; (2) reality isn't always bad; (3) real happiness, although maybe not sustainable 100% of the time, comes from within—it can not be manufactured. (The fisher from The Peach Blossom Spring found his happy place from within).
I don't know that I'm explaining all this right. It just seems to me that all these works I mentioned have a similar theme and it is a theme I see in in the world we live in (the Chinese story is several thousands of years old so this theme must be part of the human experience, not just of modern times). All these works struck me intellectually & emotionally.
Thought I'd share it with others and see what they think.

(I typed this up in the comments section but its rather long so I've added it to the blog entry itself. And I'd really like to hear/read what the blog readers think of More, The Peach Blossom Spring story, the Peaches song, and if you've seen it, Brain Candy.)