Post #143: Just a little social commentary wrapped up in a movie review
Okay, I'll be honest. I went into Happy Feet, expecting it to be yet another quickly churned out computer generated talking animal movie. Given the track record of the very recent ones (Open Season, Barnyard) I really wasn't thinking it'd be a good movie.
Boy was I glad to be wrong.
The animation was not only clean, it was pristine. Some of the particle simulations were simply breathtaking. The water dogfights had me tense in my seat and gripping my armrests, they were that intense. Voice acting was superb as always, and I've come to expect that from animated movies these days. What I found that was totally awesome was that Warner Brothers was able to keep a tight enough leash on Robin Williams so that he wasn't taking over every scene that he was in. That's not to say that the bits with him and the rest of the amigos weren't funny as hell, but it's rare to have a slightly subdued Williams.
But of course what really made the film work was the music and the dancing. Awesomely enough, and in what I think was a damn smart move, all the dancing was done through motion capture, a technology that I have a very minor geek-gasm over whenever I see it in a new way. (Anyone seen Video Mods on MTV2? I taped that show!) Anyway, Mo-cap was the only way that dancing that complex could ever have been animated and looked as good as it did. The soundtrack is filled to exploding with and incredible mashup of songs. I thought that this particular interpretation of how real life penguins identify each other was well thought out and superbly executed.
There were some very relevant themes expressed that I latched onto. One, because I love making conceptual links like that, two, because middle school brainwashed me into thinking like that, and three, cause the filmmakers beat you over the head with them. Gently, but still, they were beating.
Big idea, don't let the old people's religion stop you from busting a move, the music the young people listen to isn't always crap, and other such Footloose-ian themes, and parent's tried the same stuff you're doing right now, so don't think they don't understand you.
So, Happy Feet, A great movie for the kids, and it's actually the next movie after Shrek that adults will actually enjoy too. (they're making a 3rd one, just in case you were wondering)
Anyway, my whole point was to talk about a discussion I had with Solei earlier that had me crying again. Chhaya was reading the news online and was remarking on a story that just made my brain crash. That church group that protests as the funerals of soldiers that die in Iraq? They're protesting because god is punishing us for our tolerance of homosexuals. That line of reasoning might not be news to you, but it just fucking blew my mind. I mean seriously! How does protesting at a funeral have ANYTHING to do with god punishing us? I'm not saying that they can't have that belief or shout it till they're blue in the face. I just don't see the connection between god being angry and protesting a funeral. And I told Solei about this. And I started crying because I just couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand how people could just be so so intolerant. I see the world and it breaks my heart at how easily and how willing people seem to hurt each other, just because someone is different, or thinks in a different way, or talks differently, or parts their hair on the other side of their head. The things that people with fight and hurt and put down, just so that they feel better and bigger and more important. And I broke down and cried because feeling like people just don't care about each other. The energy wasted on hate is just criminal. Now I'm not saying the world needs to group hug and we all need to help each other. That would be nice, but that's not going to happen for a damn long time. No, I just don't see why cant time and effort be spent on making your own life better instead of hating someone else's life. People seem to be so willing to invalidate and condemn someone else, rather than focus on their own. And that misplaced focuse just doesn't make sense to me and I cried because I couldn't understand it and I couldn't do anything to teach people anything different.
I wished I could do something.
Yeah, me.
Can't even save my own ass and I want to save the whole fucking world from itself. Who the fuck am I do think I know a better way to live? Maybe there's something I'm just not seeing. Maybe I haven't done enough, or seen enough of the world to be able to make that leap of logic that will allow me to feel better when I make someone else feel worse.
Oh god I hope I never do. But I'm terrified because it seems like so much of the rest of the planet has made that way of thinking a way of life. How does some one get like that? How can someone get to the point where they can honestly say "It is okay to hate you because you are different from me?"
How? Why? If I could just get maybe a little piece of a part of an answer to either question, maybe I could fix things. Make it so people actually gave a shit about how other people felt.
Karol the superhero. Gonna save the whole fucking world. But should I? Is it worth saving? Do I even think it should be saved?
Sometimes, no. Sometimes I think it would be better to just say fuck it and let the whole thing collapse in on itself. I know for a fact that it would be damn fucking easier and much less stressful. But then it's like, how could I live with myself. If I want things to be better, I have to do everything in my power to make that change.
I just don't have it in me to be that passive. I have to do something. Something meaningful and worthwhile so that I can look back on my life and not feel like my existence was a waste. I think that's why mom loves teaching so much. It's her chance to make something just a little bit better than when she found it.
She's kind of cool like that.
Later,
-karol
Boy was I glad to be wrong.
The animation was not only clean, it was pristine. Some of the particle simulations were simply breathtaking. The water dogfights had me tense in my seat and gripping my armrests, they were that intense. Voice acting was superb as always, and I've come to expect that from animated movies these days. What I found that was totally awesome was that Warner Brothers was able to keep a tight enough leash on Robin Williams so that he wasn't taking over every scene that he was in. That's not to say that the bits with him and the rest of the amigos weren't funny as hell, but it's rare to have a slightly subdued Williams.
But of course what really made the film work was the music and the dancing. Awesomely enough, and in what I think was a damn smart move, all the dancing was done through motion capture, a technology that I have a very minor geek-gasm over whenever I see it in a new way. (Anyone seen Video Mods on MTV2? I taped that show!) Anyway, Mo-cap was the only way that dancing that complex could ever have been animated and looked as good as it did. The soundtrack is filled to exploding with and incredible mashup of songs. I thought that this particular interpretation of how real life penguins identify each other was well thought out and superbly executed.
There were some very relevant themes expressed that I latched onto. One, because I love making conceptual links like that, two, because middle school brainwashed me into thinking like that, and three, cause the filmmakers beat you over the head with them. Gently, but still, they were beating.
Big idea, don't let the old people's religion stop you from busting a move, the music the young people listen to isn't always crap, and other such Footloose-ian themes, and parent's tried the same stuff you're doing right now, so don't think they don't understand you.
So, Happy Feet, A great movie for the kids, and it's actually the next movie after Shrek that adults will actually enjoy too. (they're making a 3rd one, just in case you were wondering)
Anyway, my whole point was to talk about a discussion I had with Solei earlier that had me crying again. Chhaya was reading the news online and was remarking on a story that just made my brain crash. That church group that protests as the funerals of soldiers that die in Iraq? They're protesting because god is punishing us for our tolerance of homosexuals. That line of reasoning might not be news to you, but it just fucking blew my mind. I mean seriously! How does protesting at a funeral have ANYTHING to do with god punishing us? I'm not saying that they can't have that belief or shout it till they're blue in the face. I just don't see the connection between god being angry and protesting a funeral. And I told Solei about this. And I started crying because I just couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand how people could just be so so intolerant. I see the world and it breaks my heart at how easily and how willing people seem to hurt each other, just because someone is different, or thinks in a different way, or talks differently, or parts their hair on the other side of their head. The things that people with fight and hurt and put down, just so that they feel better and bigger and more important. And I broke down and cried because feeling like people just don't care about each other. The energy wasted on hate is just criminal. Now I'm not saying the world needs to group hug and we all need to help each other. That would be nice, but that's not going to happen for a damn long time. No, I just don't see why cant time and effort be spent on making your own life better instead of hating someone else's life. People seem to be so willing to invalidate and condemn someone else, rather than focus on their own. And that misplaced focuse just doesn't make sense to me and I cried because I couldn't understand it and I couldn't do anything to teach people anything different.
I wished I could do something.
Yeah, me.
Can't even save my own ass and I want to save the whole fucking world from itself. Who the fuck am I do think I know a better way to live? Maybe there's something I'm just not seeing. Maybe I haven't done enough, or seen enough of the world to be able to make that leap of logic that will allow me to feel better when I make someone else feel worse.
Oh god I hope I never do. But I'm terrified because it seems like so much of the rest of the planet has made that way of thinking a way of life. How does some one get like that? How can someone get to the point where they can honestly say "It is okay to hate you because you are different from me?"
How? Why? If I could just get maybe a little piece of a part of an answer to either question, maybe I could fix things. Make it so people actually gave a shit about how other people felt.
Karol the superhero. Gonna save the whole fucking world. But should I? Is it worth saving? Do I even think it should be saved?
Sometimes, no. Sometimes I think it would be better to just say fuck it and let the whole thing collapse in on itself. I know for a fact that it would be damn fucking easier and much less stressful. But then it's like, how could I live with myself. If I want things to be better, I have to do everything in my power to make that change.
I just don't have it in me to be that passive. I have to do something. Something meaningful and worthwhile so that I can look back on my life and not feel like my existence was a waste. I think that's why mom loves teaching so much. It's her chance to make something just a little bit better than when she found it.
She's kind of cool like that.
Later,
-karol