Daily Dialogue — August 5, 2015
KAY: Humans, for the most part, don’t have a clue. They don’t want one or need one, either. They’re happy. They think they have a good bead on things.
JAY: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.
KAY: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago everybody knew the earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.
JAY: What’s the catch?
KAY: The catch. The catch is you will sever every human contact. Nobody will know you exist anywhere. Ever. I’ll give you to sunrise to think it over.
JAY: Hey, is it worth it?
KAY: Oh, yeah, it’s worth it…if you’re strong enough.
— Men in Black (1997), screen story and screenplay by Ed Solomon, comic by Lowell Cunningham
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Call To Adventure. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: Lowell Cunningham’s comic ‘The Men in Black’ was much darker and dryer than the family-oriented sci-fi comedy this film adaptation was. In the comics, the MiB survey not only extraterrestrial activity, but paranormal and supernatural activity on earth as well. They are allowed to maintain secrecy by any means necessary (including elimination); they also had a secret agenda: to manipulate and reshape the world in their own image by keeping the supernatural hidden. The comic’s basic plot was of MiB Agent X going on the run and trying to keep from getting eliminated.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Classic invitation to adventure. Jay has seen the truth of his world. He now knows it’s vastly different than he understood just a short time before. Kay lays it on the line and gives Jay the perspective he needs to make his choice, and concludes with a challenge Jay isn’t likely to refuse. Jay also understands the consequence of refusing this call: he loses the truth he’s gained through a memory wipe.”