The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on November 27, 2009, 01:56:56 pm ---No, I think it was simply showing, in metaphorical terms, the way that kids gradually learn to handle emotions as they grow up. Small children (younger than Max) really don't know how to handle their emotions, and as they mature they get better at it, but even adults do it imperfectly.
One flaw I saw in the movie is that the actor who played Max seemed a little too old for the part. The plot about dealing with emotions might make more sense with a younger child, and in fact the kid in the book appears younger. But he was a good actor, and I'm sure it would be hard to get a 5-year-old to carry a movie.
Here's an excerpt from a NYT piece that describes it fairly well:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/movies/08scot.html
--- End quote ---
Well, the issue I had with the movie is that I didn't see Max learning anything really. I expected the homecoming to SHOW what he might have learned, but the ending showed nothing. He didn't improve the monster's lives, he just left when things went south for him.
As for the link you posted, I completely disagree with analogy to Wizard of Oz. Dorothy had regrets about her home life and how she left. Max had none. Basically had Dorothy been like Max, she would have left the wicked witch alive and in power, never gave a heart, brain or courage to anyone, proclaimed herself superior to everyone there and then when things turned on her, went back home without showing any sign she wouldn't run away again if she had the chance.
Ellemeno:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on November 27, 2009, 01:57:48 pm ---Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
--- End quote ---
Funny how he got an acronym right away, when we first started talking about him. Faster than any actual BBM actor or character. Doesn't it also seem like he got unoffical BBM-related status a long time ago too?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on November 27, 2009, 02:36:59 pm ---As for the link you posted, I completely disagree with analogy to Wizard of Oz. Dorothy had regrets about her home life and how she left. Max had none. Basically had Dorothy been like Max, she would have left the wicked witch alive and in power, never gave a heart, brain or courage to anyone, proclaimed herself superior to everyone there and then when things turned on her, went back home without showing any sign she wouldn't run away again if she had the chance.
--- End quote ---
In that case, WTWTA is more realistic than TWOZ. In real life, most of us don't get a chance to kill a wicked witch and see to it that all of our friends' wishes are fulfilled and return home to live happily ever after. Not to take anything from TWOZ, but it's a classic hero story with the traditional cut-and-dried conflict/action/climax/conclusion structure. WTWTA takes a more complex approach. In the end, the movie says, you never completely vanquish the "monsters" and, yes, you probably will eventually feel like running away again. Life means finding a way to deal with those realities, however imperfectly.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Ellemeno on November 27, 2009, 02:58:07 pm ---
Funny how he got an acronym right away, when we first started talking about him. Faster than any actual BBM actor or character. Doesn't it also seem like he got unoffical BBM-related status a long time ago too?
--- End quote ---
Yes!! Good point. That could almost make a whole thread: Things that don't have anything directly to do with BBM yet have unofficial BBM-related status.
Here's another one: "Wish you were here." (How many non-Brokies would understand the connection between BBM and, of all things, a Pink Floyd song?)
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on November 27, 2009, 03:05:34 pm ---In that case, WTWTA is more realistic than TWOZ. In real life, most of us don't get a chance to kill a wicked witch and see to it that all of our friends' wishes are fulfilled and return home to live happily ever after. Not to take anything from TWOZ, but it's a classic hero story with the traditional cut-and-dried conflict/action/climax/conclusion structure. WTWTA takes a more complex approach. In the end, the movie says, you never completely vanquish the "monsters" and, yes, you probably will eventually feel like running away again. Life means finding a way to deal with those realities, however imperfectly.
--- End quote ---
Except that Max doesn't learn to deal with those realities. We don't see it.
What the movie is then - I'm partially agreeing with you - is a realistic - comparatively speaking - view of a kid acting out his problems at home but showing no growth, no learning, no moral to his story, just reality - that he has feelings and they happen and they're everywhere.
*Yawn* No wonder I was bored and it was only a 1.5 hour movie.
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