Keeping the Dream

Last Thursday, my youngest daughter, Brhiannon, and I went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. I wrote a review of it here, in my new blog, Inclusive Homeschool. Well it’s actually an old blog that I brought out of “retirement” and started anew.

I spend the vast majority of my time either homeschooling or researching and putting together material for homeschooling or driving my daughter to functions as part of her homeschooling (which is part of why I have little time to do anything else). So I decided I really do need to, at least, share some of my experiences and resources online, so others may benefit from my work as I have benefited from the work and sharing of others.

Anyway, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Brhiannon and I loved the books, hated the movie. Correction: I hated the movie, Brhiannon enjoyed the special effects, but disliked how they changed the story. I explain in detail in my review here.

Watching this total disregard for the storyline, neat CGI effects notwithstanding, lead me to think about storytellers and other artists and our throw-away society.

We have no regard for the keepers of the stories, no respect for the act of writing or the stories themselves. In our special effects world, where flash is more important than roots, we look at things for only their momentary value. Whether it’s the story, the treasures of its message, or the running streams and their life sustaining gifts, it’s all about “What can this resource do for us?”

And the storytellers, the music makers and the natural flow of nature itself, are exploited and silenced in one swift blow. I’m glad for Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi’s success. They deserve monetary success, absolutely. But I am sorry for the loss of the story and the effective muting of Holly’s voice on it’s way to the big screen.

Which makes the telling of your story all that much more important. Maybe it won’t find it’s way to IMAX, but that makes it…makes you all that much more important.

I love this movie, The Neverending Story…haven’t been able to stomach the sequels, though I only saw the second and part of another one. But this first movie touched me deeply from the time I first saw it and each time afterward.

Do you remember the scene where the young boy, Atreyu, is trudging through the Swamps of Sadness?

Their danger lies not in their quicksand, but in their ability to fill you with so much apathy and depression you don’t care if you sink.

When I’m at work, I’ll sometimes turn on the television if I’m doing general maintenance type stuff - nothing requiring my full attention or energy. Because I don’t watch too often, the constant theme of narcissistic self indulgence and psychopathic sickness is really overwhelming.

I’m not desensitized to it by a daily intake of it and it’s like ingesting something not good for you for the first time…until you get used to it…and then crave it. The poor scripts, the gratuitous, graphic violence…

And then I think of the children who are placed in front of this day in and day out, to where they spend more time being fed this kind of poison than interacting with real people, including their own parents.

Is that the neverending story we want to perpetuate? Is there not something more we want to give to our children…to our selves?

What about the stories passed down from generation to generation, when storytellers were born and made within each community? Not that there was never violence in those stories, but people were a part of the story, your life one thread of the fabric woven into the story even as it was being told.

I don’t know, but I think if a story is going to be neverending, I want to take a little more responsibility in penning it.

I mean, isn’t that what we’re here for?

I was dealing with some depression yesterday, which spilled over into today, as depression often does. I had accepted a friend’s invitation to watch a movie tonight and was having second thoughts. Just climbing into bed and pulling the covers over my head was so appealing.

It had been a rather emotionally intense week for me and I was struggling with wondering if what I was doing on-line or in my music was worth the choice to focus on that and not other things, if I was actually making a difference, if what I was doing meant something.

He said I would like it. He was so sure he taped it for me. Though I wasn’t in much of a social mood, but because of his thoughtfulness I decided to grab a bucket of chicken and go on over.

And I’m glad I did. The movie was “Lady in the Water” and it really touched me. I know there were a number of critics who didn’t like it for a variety of reasons, but then there have been a few movies that got rave reviews that I thought were a total waste of my time.

I love fantasy and fairy tales, but this movie was more to me than that. It told just enough of a storyline without filling in all the blanks. It introduced just enough of the characters to weave the pieces of a story together…a story that was more like a parable to me than a chapter book. I like not having to have everything spoon fed to me. That way I have to actually use more brain cells to interpret meaning and the story becomes more personal and speaks more personally to me.

Some of the criticism I read were totally fixated on the fact that the author/director put himself in the role of the writer who’s work would change the course of humanity. They thought that was arrogant. I thought their inability to get past that weird. I didn’t care why he might have chosen to play that part. So what?

The story, itself, worked for me, and I didn’t see the character of the writer as a reflection of the author as much as a gift to the viewer to consider perhaps they, too, play a very important part of the fabric of humanity, even though they may not be aware of just how. And that’s just what I needed to be reminded of tonight.

I, also, loved the message of the most wounded offering the most healing, the idea that someone outside of ourselves can care enough to reach in, and those who offer help are often, in turn, helped by us.

An unexpected inspiration, I feel a weight lifted, and for now, that’s good enough for me.