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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Tuesday, February 07, 2017

entry arrow11:59 PM | A Kind of Freedom

Scene from Warren Beatty's Reds (1981). Diane Keaton is feminist writer Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson is playwright Eugene O’Neill. They are alone in a room, drinking whiskey.



Eugene O’Neill: Why aren’t you in Chicago with Jack [Reed]?

Louise Bryant: Why should I be? He has his things, I have mine.

O’Neill: [Beat.] What are they?

Bryant: What?

O’Neill: [Beat.] The things that you have that are yours. [Beat.] What are they?

Bryant: My work, for one.

O’Neill: He’s a real mean son of a bitch, isn’t he.

Bryant: What do you mean?

O’Neill: Leaving you alone with your work.

Bryant: You think I mind?

O’Neill: You should. And for one thing, we shouldn’t be left alone.

Bryant: [Grins.] You may feel that way, I don’t.

O’Neill: Good. Don’t let those [Greenwich] Village radicals keep you from being what you should be.

Bryant: [Taunting.] What do you think I should be?

O’Neill: The center of attention.

Bryant: [Smiles.] Well, you must have been with some very competitive women.

O’Neill: Let’s just say “possessive.”

Bryant: Possessive. That’s something else. It’s a waste of time. [Beat.] I’m not. Neither is Jack for that matter.

O’Neill: Oh, yes. I know. You and Jack have your own thing.

Bryant: [Forceful.] He has the freedom to do the things that he wants to, and so do I. And I think anyone who is afraid of that kind of freedom is really only afraid of his own emptiness.

O’Neill: [Beat.] Are you making this up as you go along?

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