FILM FEST

By: Cynthia Litman


Pearl of the Day: Emotion Captured

My grandmother loved the movies and found they fit the pearl “poetry in motion”. The medium was birthed in her lifetime and she loved it, soaked it up and enjoyed the off screen drama of the movie stars. We've shared many multi-generational conversations over films, which are immortal.

Today’s world is much more celebrity and information obsessed but what I care about is the bonding over media - movies, television, theater, music, art – love it all!

Through movies I recognize the characters, like how my dad is Indiana Jones. I struggle with my media fixation and balancing my responsibility with my children to maintain a healthy relationship with media. Parents are their children’s filters and own MPAA authority (Mothers Peak Ahead Association).

No matter what time of year a movie night is special. Whether setting up at home for a movie night or going to the movies. There’s nothing like it. The smell of popcorn, plain M&M’s, and that larger than life screen. There’s something about the movies that’s timeless.

All of our senses go on a journey with the protagonist.

We sit in our seat yet are transported anywhere and with anyone the film wishes. We see different worlds and our imaginations can run wild. We are willing participants along for the ride. We are exposed to new and familiar worlds whether it’s a galaxy far-far away or  girl’s house next door.

I love sharing the movie experience with my kids. Holding them during a scary moment and watching them jump up and down with excitement is all part of the experience. For my son, he is “in” the movies he watches and on a full out adventure. When it’s raining meatballs, he’s dodging, catching and sampling them.  

The characters take us on an emotional roller coaster. Through them we feel happy, scared, love, hate, fear, content, abandonment, outrageous and super silliness. The emotional imprints are recorded and remain strong. As an adult, I just have more filters then I had as a child.

I distinctly remember my emotional spectrum being challenged while seeing “Wilbur”, “The Color Purple”, “Stealing Magnolias” and “Schindler’s List”; being called to action with “Never Ending Story,” “Goonies”, “Willow”, “Indiana Jones” and “Lord of the Rings”; laughing till it hurt with “Airplane”, “Coming To America” and “Spaceballs”; cutting a rug with “Grease”, “Footloose”, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, “Dirty Dancing” and “Step it Up”; falling in love with “Edward Scissorhands”, “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Top Gun”; learning life lessons and about friendship in “Stand by Me”, “Now and Then”, “Witches of Eastwick” and “Forrest Gump”; being scared straight by “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Jaws” and “Gremlins” (yes, I was scared) and belief system challenged with “Ghost”, “The Matrix”, “”Dogma” and “What Dreams May Come”.

I remember first glimpses of the darker side of life and “adult situations” such as nudity, alcohol, abuse, drugs, divorce and trauma through films. Films may bring these issues to the table sooner then your kids may be exposed to in real life. Yet, life imitates art and while life is stronger then fiction, understanding these issues helped me develop empathy when friends faced similar issues.


The aftermath of a movie can be just as fun and revealing to see what my kids take away. What they quote, who they remember and what they re-enact. It doesn’t seem like my kids will be setting down their light sabers any time soon. There exists a seemingly endless army of droids that need battling in my house, particularly before bedtime.

Storytelling has been an educational tool throughout time and media is the modern way to share our stories and connect with eachother. We can connect with characters who may be very foreign from us.  Yet oftentimes we become disconnected because we are too plugged into the media matrix.

If my law school classes were adapted to film, I would have had the highest scores ever. It’s my vernacular. My parents pushed books but I gravitated towards film. I believe there’s something to be learned from every film, about humanity, history or filmmaking itself. Although my adult self now measures film according to Alfred Hitchcock's scale of "a good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it." After all, a night out at the movies isn't inexpensive."

The children’s TV channels are filled with learning tools and there are untold kid's films and series on the independent scene. While we filter and navigate the options and often concede to our kid’s marching orders of what they want to watch and to buy the latest film merchandise, the experience lives on.

Whether your main attraction is losing track of time, playing the hero or stocking up on milk duds, a movie night is always an adventure.

Enjoy the show!

Resources:
Kids First! - Family Friendly/Children's Film Organization:  http://www.kidsfirst.org
Teach With Movies – Creating lesson plans for films http://www.teachwithmovies.org