Movies & Books that remind us of voicelessness......why do they remind us?

[BonesMS]

Madagascar:  Did the lemur King Julius XIII seem like a Narcissist?  He seemed that way to me.  One scene he ordered that the comments of one of his subjects be "stricken from the record" because it disagreed with "the king".

This other scene was more telling:

Alex the Lion:  "I can't take your crown!"

King Julius XIII:  "That's OK!  I gave myself a BIGGER one!"

Bones

[JustKathy]

Throw Momma from The Train

Though not for the reason you would think (though I would have loved to have thrown my momma from a train).

There's a moment in that film that brought me to tears. The Danny DeVito character has lost his father, and has only the domineering mother left. At one point, he wants to show the Billy Crystal character his valuable coin collection. He pulls out these coins, and spreads them out, and says "this was the quarter that my dad gave me at Coney Island, and this was the nickel I got in change when my dad bought be an ice cream," and so on. That scene just broke my heart. I, too, have worthless little items that I cling to . . . things that were given to me by people who loved me. Even though that movie was side splitting hysterical, that scene just melted my heart.

[KatG]

I love that coin scene JustKathy, true treasure.   Little like the Tom Hanks movie (can't remember the name) where he's stuck in the airport with a coffee can filled with signatures that his father got, keeping and reminding himself of his father's love.

Glenn Close' charactor in Dangerous Liasons.   She sets traps and landmines, thereby preventing people from telling her truth when they discover her.  What did she say was her favorite weakness - was it pride?

Edit: no, it was vanity.  I'll need to think about that one.

[English]

I am right now in the middle of HBO's version of Grey Gardens.  Oh my, oh my, oh my...OMG I see NM everywhere.

[Sealynx]

Post Cards From the Edge....I think I posted this elsewhere. When Shirley McLaine's character goes to the rehab center where her daughter is recovering from addiction, she makes herself the center of attention. It reminded me of that all the times I should have been the focus of something, even my first gallery exhibition and my mother managed to show up and try to take the attention away from me.

[sKePTiKal]

So... pondering just what happens that allow movies to touch us...

I for one, "go into the movie" and experience the characters' emotions... and if that criss-crosses something I've experienced first-hand, well then my eyes start to leak... or I roll on the floor laughing. It's like I allow myself to "feel" more in the movie... than in my own life (well, that's changing now)... as if because it's a movie, whatever defends, protects, or controls those emotions gets "turned off" or disabled... and I'm "allowed" to just FEEL, because it's a movie. If it's scary or a thriller... hubby reminds me: it's just a movie... and we pause it often so that I can take a break... and re-ground myself. And there are some movies I simply CAN'T watch because it feels like I'm abusing myself...

more for the list:

Back Cat Moan - deals with rape but also love; central character confronts her mother on this... who denies doing a thing wrong. Happy ending, too... though sad.

Twister - I have a morbid fascination with tornados, having grown up in the midwest... but I liked the way the love relationship helped the main character resolve her motivations for chasing storms... get to her "essential self".

The Outlaw Josey Wales - this is a great story about morality... about what matters...and whether violence is ever justified... or if it's just a fact of life. Lots of viewpoints presented, too.

The last two, I watch & rewatch... along with The House of Flying Daggers... an adventure-love story, sort of... but also a tale of how we defeat our own selves...

[Ami]

Has anyone seen Gilmore Girls, a Fox TV show, I think?  I rented it from Net Flix so not sure. That M was a true N.         Ami

[Portia]

Has anyone read (or seen) The Ninth Life of Louis Drax ? I read it, haven't seen it. The mother is very interesting. I carry some 'pictures' from the book in my head now (I read it about 2 years ago).

There is a line in the book about a creature existing only for it's own survival...I can't remember it exactly, but it struck me hard at the time.

[Portia]

Bumping in hope

[Meh]

Jane Austin book club

It's a chick-flick romance, pretty saccharin again.

The actress Emily Blunt plays this character named Prudie. I LOVE this character. Prudie is perfectly super uptight, she is a french teacher but has never been to Paris and desperately wants to go. She wants to be cultured. Her mother is a flaky, druggie type.

A couple scenes in the movie show Prudie having these emotional breakdown outbursts. One is when her mother dies and at the funeral her husband talks to her enemy with big boobs. The other breakdown is at dinner with the book club friends and she is talking about her husband in front of her friends. She is also verging on having an affair with one of her students.

Prudie is so stiff, tries to hold it together, hold it inside.   

[bearwithme]

The movie March of the Penguins really moved me.  Nature at its core is so fundamental.  Nurture + Protection from elements + proper bonding = Survival.

The movie Stuart Saves His Family  is by far the best portrayal of a dysfunctional family.  Father is such an N and the sister is a food-aholic, mom is subservient, brother is an N and then there's Stuart, who is "good enough, smart enough and doggone it, people like him."  I love the part when Stuart Smalley, played by Al Franken, loses his slot on a cable show and become jobless and then is found by his friends laying in his bed binging on Twinkies and Fig Newtons and he won't get out of bed.

Another part I liked is when he has a flash back of his childhood when his N alcoholic father takes them to the Hollywood sign in California when he's drunk...he tries to take their picture in front of the sign on a busy road and they almost get hit by cars roaring down the hill...kids are screaming in fear, etc., it's so funny!!!

Another part that's the best is when Stuart's Aunt Rita (I think that's her name) dies and it's the only person in the family that Stuart ever felt real love from, well they all have to go home to attend her funeral....I won't spoil what happens but it's hilarious!!  The whole family ends up in therapy...oh I have to see this movie again!!

[bearwithme]

I like this so "bump"

[BonesMS]

I was watching the DVD of the first Shrek movie last night.  It finally HIT me as I'm seeing all of the "images" of Lord Farquaad EVERYWHERE in Duloc....the HUGE HEAD and the STAINED GLASS WINDOWS!!!!!     Farquaad is a NARCISSIST!!!!!!

Bones

[cantors.counter]

Gran Torino

I saw it for the first time this past weekend. Eastwood's character reminded me so much of my father-in-law, may he rest in peace. The old man could be so acerbic, but underneath it was the softness he dare not express.

[seasons]

I agree Ami

Emily, they mother/grandmother is a perfect full blown N.

Watched the whole series with my daughter.