As I filled in my forms for our cover school for next year I could not believe I will only have 2 students. Emily will graduate at the end of this year and then it will just be Andrew, Alex and me. A couple years ago I did an experiment during MT. I asked each child to leave the room, one at a time, according to age until it was just me and Alex and also I started to cry and Alex didn't look too happy either. And here we are. I swear this happened so quickly I can hardly catch my breath. I say this because I absolutely remember when it seemed like the years stretched before me endlessly. They don't. In 6 years my career as a homeschooling mother will end. Of course, I will be super old. Maybe I will get a Lifestyle Lift (I have found I am susceptible to commercials) and do something rebellious like go to Europe. Nah. I will do something fun. I will visit my grandchildren.
We went to two movies over the holidays. The Hobbit and Les Miserables. We had heard lots of bad things about The Hobbit so we were all pleasantly surprised to enjoy it and the time went by very quickly. I could have done without the big, white orc, but otherwise, I thought it was excellent. I could not figure out how they were going to turn it into a trilogy but now I do. The goblin scenes looked exactly like how I imagined the goblins and their cave in George MacDonald's books The Princess and Curdie and The Princess and the Goblin. They felt familiar. And Thorin Oakenshield was excellently cast. Richard Armitage is one handsome dwarf, if that is even possible. I loved the earthy portrayal of nobility that Tolkien gives us in Thorin.
Emily and I had the opposite experience with Les Mis. We had heard tons of great reviews. We really thought we would love it and we did love a scene here and a scene there. I am not generally a fan of Anne Hathaway but she nailed Fantine and I can see her getting an Oscar for her performance, but otherwise it just felt a bit boring, a bit long. I suppose if we had been familiar with the songs it would have been more enjoyable for us. I know that Les Mis is a great story of redemption but I always feel it is missing something key and maybe Emily understood that when she said she felt that Val Jean never really felt he needed repentance or at least there was always this underlying theme that he had only responded to his circumstances and therefore he was not really guilty of anything. And then there is Javier. I get that he represented the absence of grace or the LAW but I would have enjoyed a story of his redemption. He did realize that he had done wrongly. Why suicide when the heart was repentant? Perhaps Russell Crowe did too good of a job of making him conflicted. OR maybe Emily and I were just way too tired and stressed to enjoy such a long movie.
Andrew Kern had some interesting thoughts on the value of watching a movie that portrays the wages of sin. He says, quite controversially,"If you let your daughter watch the Little Mermaid, please let her watch this too. Yes, this is a mature theme. But so, if you haven’t noticed, is The Little Mermaid. The difference is authenticity."
Read his post AND the comments for an interesting discussion. I did take my 17 yo daughter to see Les Mis and she has never seen The Little Mermaid and I did want to avert my own eyes during one scene. Not because it was perverse but because it so deftly depicted the tragedy of sin. We live in a world of ugly images and yet often those images are aimed at our lowest desires. We cannot replace those images with images of prettiness still appealing to our lowest desires and get away with it. Beauty is not always pretty. Truth is beauty and beauty truth. The closer we come to truth the closer we will be to understanding whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, and lovely. I could elaborate more but it is hard to find the words. Maybe we can talk about it in the comments.
Stay tuned in the next few days for my end of the year reading and watching posts. And here is a picture that just cracks me up.
My oldest son just got us a gift card to the movies and I am quite excited about seeing The Hobbit. I am curious to see how they are going to make three books of it as well.
ReplyDeleteYes...they cast some handsome dwarves in that group LOL! I know...dwarf and handsome don't seem to mesh but they pull it off nicely : )
Blessed New Year (pretty new to your blog but am enjoying your past posts)!
Welcome back! I figured you must be having a wonderful time with all the family (and blogging can certainly wait).
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the upcoming grandchild. My guess is Nicholas and Hannah....?????
The movie report... I haven't seen The Hobbit yet and really don't want to. I've heard it feels like a cross between helicopter shots and a non-stop CGI video game. Ick... But I will reserve judgement until seeing for myself.
Les Mis... The first time I saw it on stage I wasn't as overwhelmed as I thought I'd be. I didn't know the songs very well and we were sitting way up int he balcony. By the time I saw it again, it was literally a different story. Perhaps my love for the current rendition is fueled by a love for (and knowledge of) the songs, but I also think I've had more time to ponder the law vs. grace theme.
I disagree with your statement that Javert was repentant. He had acted inconsistently with his beliefs and could no longer live with himself. There was a lack of grace until the end as he was the one who condemned himself. From some quotes and other reviews I've read (Tabletalk has an excellent one!) it seems that Hugo had plenty to say in print about Valjean's repentent heart. It just didn't make it to the big screen.
Hugs,
Renee
I agree that Hugo's JVJ is much more repentant. I think Jackman kept up a sort of arrogant demeanor which took away from the humility which he showed after stealing the silver and Crowe really made you feel that Javier was sorry. Definitely a performance thing and not the book.
DeleteOH, and I thought The Hobbit would be a CGI mess and parts of it were distracting like Rivendell but otherwise I really enjoyed it.
DeleteWhat are your thoughts about having children read the book before watching the movie? I'm talking in particular about The Hobbit. My husband and I went to see the movie and I, too, enjoyed it, and didn't even mind the "additions" since it still told a good story. Two of my children have not read the book yet, so I hesitate to take them since it's kind-of been a rule in our house for the most part that they read the book before they watch the movie (with classics at least). I want them to have Tolkien's words in their heart first. Then, they will be able to say, "The movie is not quite like the book", instead of "The book is not quite like the movie." What do you do with your children in that regard?
ReplyDeleteAnne,
DeleteI used to be a purist about ALWAYS reading the book first and I did make sure we read The Hobbit before seeing the movie although we still have a couple of chapters left. But I realized the younger four saw LOTR before reading the books or at least when we read them out loud they were too young to remember. And I had slated for Emily to read Les Mis this year and now I am thinking she will not like the book because she did not like the movie at all. I do have one book which I feel the movie ruins for reading and that is To Kill a Mockingbird. It must be read. The movie is a good movie but it is not the book.
The Hobbit and Les Mis have been hot topics around our place too. We are off to see the Hobbit this weekend and looking forward to it. I have read many reviews with greatly varying viewpoints, and look forward to seeing what my own response will be.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest dd is wanting to watch Les Mis - and I am still undecided on this one. I have told her I want her to read the book first (as will I) as we are both unfamiliar with the story at this stage. And I am still in the throws of the battle of could we/should we watch it. Confronting scenes as the ones we will be faced with in Les Mis should not be contended with lightly ....... so we shall see. With that in mind, I have appreciated your thoughts, and the link to Andrew's review as well as the comments that follow.
“I know that Les Mis is a great story of redemption but I always feel it is missing something key and maybe Emily understood that when she said she felt that Val Jean never really felt he needed repentance or at least there was always this underlying theme that he had only responded to his circumstances and therefore he was not really guilty of anything.”
ReplyDeleteWhen we read Les Mis 4 years ago, we felt the same as Emily. Hugo seems to indicate that the faults of the characters are not entirely their fault. They are battered by society, made to suffer, become hardened, and sink into vice.
We also discussed the gospel and salvation and concluded that in Les Mis, people save their own souls by choosing to follow supreme examples of uprightness and self-sacrificial love. IOW, Christ is not the Savior, He is the example. JVJ is saved by deciding to become an upright man, not by confessing that he can’t save himself and turning to Christ in repentance and faith. JVJ is certainly Christlike, but we felt that in the end, he won his salvation by following Christ's example of suffering and the bishop's example of righteousness and love.
Susan
Thanks, Susan, I think you are right and that is what was bothering me. If that is true then it comes back to that age old question of whether 'goodness' is helpful without righteousness. Sociologically I think it is although it can also be a stumbling block to salvation....
DeleteGlad you are back and look frwd to your posts in 2013. I thought Val Jean's whole life after freedom was one long effort to earn his forgiveness (very Catholic.) To me it seems he felt he just could never do enough good. I didn't find his character arrogant (maybe offscreen he is but I hope not!) I thought he and Hathaway were excellent. I was surprized I liked the movie so much and I think it was Jackman's portrayal. Like an above comment, I don't think Javert was repentent hence the suicide. Although I don't think we should cover up the ugly, I did think the Inn scene was just too over the top. That is what you get with Cohan. If it weren't for that one scene I think the movie would appeal to a younger audience. I won't be taking my 11 yr. old son as much as I think the story is executed so well in the movie. The Hobbit. The book is not nearly that violent. They really drew out those scenes in the movie that in the book are very short. This really bothered me and made the movie just too long.
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
DeleteI took my 17yo daughter but I am glad I did not take my 14yo son, although he knows how to divert his eyes. I think it comes down to the word 'appropriate' and age and gender contribute to that.