Rhino Ramblings

The film / the play / the meaning of the rhino…

Re-watched Rhinoceros.  As a reminder from past blogs: Rhinoceros is a play by Ionesco, written in 1959. The film starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel is from 1974 which is when I became aware of it.  In this blog, I will take note of some of the quotes and actions that struck me then and now.  Wikipedia among other sites, can provide a much more scholarly and in depth review and understanding.  But this is a personal journey for me. Over 50 years have passed since I first watched the film and still today the blog is named for it and I continue to amass rhino tchotchkes.   
The film begins with an immediate quote of absurdity: “What you are about to see could never take place…for as <several eminent scientists> are quick to point out … the world is flat.” I am quickly reminded why I love existentialism.  Gene Wilder plays Berenger who is an alcoholic and apathetic to all around him.  Zero Mostel plays Jean, Berenger’s friend and a sophisticate who is seen behind a rhino statue on the opening credits – the only real sighting of a rhino in the entire film.  During a lunch meet-up, the noise of a rhino makes everyone look and excitedly remark on. Jean comments on how fantastic it is and that is the crime of the time we live in that Berenger is so complacent.  “I am indifferent to life/ sometimes I do not even know if I am me” are some of Berenger’s fears and reasons for drinking.  Meanwhile we are presented with the wonderful logic of “All cats die; Socrates is dead; therefore Socrates is a cat” to which the reply is “and he has 4 paws.  That is true. Because I had a cat named Socrates”.  Berenger is secretly in love with Daisy (played by Karen Black).  Several of Berenger’s co-workers discuss the news about roaming rhinos and whether it is fake news or not. The wife of a co-worker who has changed to a rhino rushes in to the office and the key question arises of whether it was a one or two horn rhino that chased her.  Political commentary about racism, religion, labor are scattered throughout.  Destruction and mayhem ensue as more people change.  At one point in Jean’s apartment, Berenger experiences Jean transforming into a rhino – all done through physical acting as there is never an actual transformation.. During the exchange between Berenger and Jean, Berenger makes the astute observation about one of the first people to change: “It’s just not normal for a human being to turn into a dumb animal…. We have a few moral standards that might conflict with the standards of these animals”.  All of this with a picture of Nixon in the background that Jean kisses and salutes.  In discussing the situation with a co-worker, Berenger notes that it is too bad this did not happen somewhere else like starvation in India so we could just watch it and feel sad.  But he notes he can’t be complacent and people have to act.  Another co-worker has changed because “you have to move with the times.. and follow his boss” (who also changed).  Berenger continues to argue against complacency.  Near the end Daisy notes that we have to try to learn their language to which Berenger notes “can you honestly call that a language”. In the end Berenger debates joining the rhinos but decides to stay the way he is – “I am a human being. There is nothing wrong with that.  People who try to hang onto their individuality always come to a bad end.  I will have to take on the whole pack and fight them all.  I am the last man and I am staying that way”. The last line of the play/film is:  “I will never capitulate. I will never give in.”

Real brief commentary-and I apologize to any facists who have read this far, but if you are one, please find your herd to go to your waterhole with:  Play was written in part as a statement about the pre-WWII rise of facism and Nazism and the failure to resist.  In 1974 – 15 year later- it struck a chord in me about not following where the herd leads but rather being an individual who does not capitulate.  And in the endless circle, 50 years later, the initial notes against allowing facism and similar populist ideas win through complacency and lack of a will to fight rings far too modern a concern.  We cannot let the new facists hiding in plain sight in many forms to win including the Trumpian Republicans and whatever you call the logic-breaking, individuality-destroying, join me because I will make you feel like you are right and others are off to destroy us populism, that mark a Desantis and Abbott and far too many to be ignored.  Like Berenger, I may not know how to fight them, but we need to keep from all of us becoming grey and tough-skinned rhinos and not allow our humanity and morals and caring for the individual to be trampled by the Rhino herds.