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Sunday, May 15, 2005

Tinkering with the Brain

Disney's movie "Finding Neverland" touched me. It's not like Peter Pan's my ultimate, favorite story (FYI: Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie- not the Disney version) but how JM Barrie came up with the story intrigued me.

As a wannabe author, I thought it was rather interesting how they depicted JM's working mind: how he was influenced by real life, how he integrates his ideas, why he would depict things as such.

Whether or not Johnny Depp lived the real essence of the author is beyond me. I thought he played the role well, accent and all. But he made me believe. I, too, like the children, yelled, "I do believe". I cried.

Finding Neverland had a wonderful script. Real enough to relate to the human elements implemented: a dying marriage, a friendship with a dying mother, a set of children who grieve in their own ways.

Peter, the third child, was JM's favorite. Barrie said, "he grew up too soon". Indeed. Peter was a child who was so torn between being a child and not enjoying it and an adult afraid to embrace the responsibility. The Catch-22 he was caught in made Peter vulnerable and sad. Finally, a movie that caught the moment beautifully; descriptive without being too in-your-face.

I've always wondered why we, as a society, would like to grow up so soon. I don't know if you're guilty of emphasizing the 1/2 to the age when you were a kid. I know I was. In retrospect, I guess I should've realized it meant I was growing up too soon.

Another line I loved was when George, the eldest boy, finally admitted to Uncle James that he's afraid his mother is going to die. In such a dark moment, JM says, "Remarkable. In thirty seconds, I saw a boy grow up into a man." How true! As soon as that magical moment is crossed, you can't go back.

I don't mean the ability to collect your childhood memories: The Muppet Show plush or the Star Wars memorabilla. I am referring to the loss of innocence.

I may look back to the past and not regret a majority of the things I've done but there are days that I wished I stayed a kid longer. I had the rest of my adulthood to be an adult.

2 comments:

Amy Beth Johnson said...

Amen.

And now I have to go rent that movie, 'cause it was one the hubby turned his nose up at when it was in theaters and I didn't get a chance to see it alone.

rosie4299 said...

That's so true. I really wish that I had savored a lot of the childhood things back then. I think that might be why I still love Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies. (Yes, I realized that admitting this makes me a very big dork.)

I think that everyone in America is obsessed with growing up too fast. That's why all these teenagers are going out, binge drinking, having sex, getting pregnant, and why STDs and HIV are running rampant. If everyone just took a step back, and said 'slow down, what's the hurry?' I think we'd all be much better off.

And yay! To Finding Neverland. I thought that it was an amazing movie. One of the best of 2004, by far. Of course, this was also the year of Harold and Kumar and Napoleon Dynamite, so there wasn't all that much competition. I didn't really like ND. A few of my coworkers and friends think I'm strange and have no taste in movies becasue of this decision, but I stand by it. The movie was really weird, and that guy's hair really bothered me. A lot.

Katherine