"I Heart Huckabees"
- The Hidden Message
My grandmother used to point out, “You
can get away with saying almost anything if you do it
with a warmhearted smile.” I Heart Huckabees embraces that lesson. The point of the movie: Popular
approaches to spirituality and personal development
are ludicrous. Though the point is negative, cloaked
in humor, the movie accomplishes its mission.
Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman comically
demonstrate the vast difference between, on the one
hand, knowing all about spirituality, and on the other,
actually being spiritual. They playfully show how the
true meaning of spirituality is not accessed by a large
vocabulary of metaphysical clichés. The cast
of characters, made up of a galaxy of imbeciles, abound
with fashionable buzzwords and distorted concepts. They’ve
read volumes of books and memorized the buzzwords, but
they’re all outrageously confused.
Through those characters, I Heart
Huckabees pokes fun at current spiritual practices—a
menagerie of circular quagmires and mind-altering techniques.
It mocks spiritual methodologies in general, exemplified
by zipping people up in plastic bags or attempting to
“transcend relative existence” by repeatedly
beating their head until, for a brief moment, thoughts
and feelings are suspended.
The movie shows spirituality as inundated
with characters like those portrayed by Tomlin and Hoffman,
each with their own tidy little world complete with
a self-justifying set of beliefs. Each character seems
oblivious to their own confusion, while they’re
quick to point out the confusion in others—alluding
to an epidemic among spiritual groups, ranging from
religions to the plethora of New Age cliques. In so
doing, the movie illustrates how easy it is to see such
confusion in other people, but how very difficult it
is to see it in yourself.
I Heart Huckabees isn’t
just about getting a few laughs; it holds up a mirror
to spiritual practitioners throughout the world. As
presented in the movie, anyone who looks into that mirror
sees everybody else’s face in it, but not their
own. That’s called the “I Get It”
syndrome. Freeing yourself from the “I Get It”
syndrome has been likened to passing through the eye
of the needle. There is no cookbook for that passage.
The facilitation of it is a subtle art. If I Heart
Huckabees has any long-term value, it would be
in having you look in the mirror to see where you really
are, in hopes that you would then move beyond it.
The movie cries out: If there is such
a thing as profound spiritual understanding, mainstream
spiritual movements have missed it. People pursue Buddhism,
Hinduism, Existentialism, and just about any other “ism”
or guru out there, but real wisdom continues to elude
them. The ability to laugh at yourself is indeed a wonderful
thing. I Heart Huckabees invites spiritual
groups throughout the world to take a step back, look
at themselves, and smile.
In so doing, it implores spiritual
leaders and seekers everywhere to take a new and more
mature step forward. However, I Heart Huckabees is essentially mum on the subject of what that next
step is. The only suggestion, presented at the end of
the movie, is to throw the baby out with the bathwater
and abandon spirituality altogether. Spirituality’s
quandary, though identified, is not resolved. No viable
solution to the dilemma is offered.
It might seem natural at this point
to suggest what real spirituality is. But that would
ignore the valid point hidden within the movie. People
claim to understand and be spiritual all too freely.
Cultivating true wisdom is a subtle craft. True spirituality
is profoundly elusive.
From that perspective, I Heart
Huckabees has a very positive flipside. It identifies
the predicament this age of spirituality finds itself
in. In so doing, it offers humanity an excellent opportunity
to step out of the mess and move beyond it. Hopefully I Heart Huckabees marks the dawn of a bright,
new, spiritual future—the beginning of a deep,
sober, mature inquiry into what lies beyond all the
mumbo jumbo. Perhaps it marks the time when spiritual
seekers and teachers alike no longer fall prey to the
“I Get It” syndrome. By providing a snapshot
of modern spirituality, perhaps this movie can help
awaken a deeper and more significant understanding than
was ever thought possible.
© Michael Mamas, 3/05 |
