Two Movie Allegories

Dictionary.com defines Allegory as "The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form."
Today's blog is going to talk about two movies that I saw today that seem to fit this category. One you will I'm sure quickly see as an allegory, the other may seem a stretch to you.

Before we begin...SPOILER ALERT FOR WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE & COUPLES RETREAT...

We will start with the more obvious Allegory of Where the Wild Things Are. This classic children's book was written to years before I was born. And with this new movie adaptation, it shows that it is aging Wildly and with quite a lot of style. Director Spike Jonze decided against using high tech CGI creatures, but went instead with what looks like upgraded versions of the Sid & Marty Kroftt saturday morning creations of my childhood (HR Puffinstiff, Land of The Lost). In this story Max gets in trouble for his wild behavior and runs off (in the book he's sent to his room, in the movie he runs away). He finds himself in a wild forest with The Wild Things. Here is where the Allegory kicks in. Each of the Wild things seems to represent different pieces of Max, or any child's personality. Carol is the selfishness and anger of acting out, Judith is distrust of others, paired with Ira who is low self esteem, Alexander is the feeling that grown ups never listen. You get it? each Character is part of Max, and in becoming King of the Wild things, he has to try to bring all these parts of him together, and bring them all under his control. Or maybe I'm reading to much into it, and its just the story of a rowdy kid and his wild imagination...

Anyway, moving on to Couples Retreat. I'm sure most people go into this movie just looking for rowdy laughs and a good time, and you can definitely come away with that. But I found in it an allegory, with each couple displaying a different problem one might encounter in their marriage. We see the man who's wife has left him, and he is trying to fill the void with any young thing he can find, though really still in love with his wife. We see the couple who has been together since high school, each with a wandering eye, not realizing they just need to look at each other with a fresh eye. There is the couple who are striving so he=ard to keep everything on track and on a schedule, that they don't realize they are losing the love that brought them together. And we have the couple that are each so busy with their own thing, they totally miss the fact that they are leading seperate lives together. I challenge you to go see this movie with your mate, and go into it not just looking for the cheap laugh, but looking for something to bring you closer. It's no FIREPROOF, but it might be the funny romantic kick your relationship needs...A Couples Retreat if you would.

The Aging Movie Fanatic

WARNING PLOT SPOILERS FOR THE INVENTION OF LYING AND WHIP IT! AHEAD:

When I was very young, my requirement for a movie was simple: Did it have the word Disney stamped at the beginning. As I grew I broadened my film watching window. When I was eleven a little movie came out that turned my world around. Summer of 1977, and everyone was going to see this movie. My sister Gloria went and saw it, and told me I should go. It took a while, but I finally convinced Mom and Dad to take to me to see Star Wars, it was amazing, and introduced me to the wonders of Science fiction and fantasy. I have never looked back.

Through out Jr. high and I High School I filled my time trying to see as many SciFi and Fantasy films as I could. When I hit college I discovered more thoughtful films. Independent films, art films, comedies, and cult classics like YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, BUCKAROO BANZAI, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. My film watching was expanding and growing and maturing. During thid time I simply wanted to fill my film watching days with any and everything I could find.

I've tamed down a bit in recent years, and since getting married I stick largely to romantic comedies, or just plain goofball comedies (Will Ferral type things). We tend to stay away from movies where people die of some long drawn out illness. And I couldn't get my wife to watch a Sci-Fi movie if my life depended on it (although she likes Harry Potter and Twilight). I do occasionally go out on my own to see something that my wife wouldn't enjoy.

That brings me to the movies I saw on Thursday. The first was Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervase (sp) in The Invention of Lying although it did have the nice under lying message that you should not judge people simply on the outer appearances but on who they really are, i found the film rather disturbing in that the whole premise was that God, Heaven and religion are all lies. I was disturbed by this, and by the fact that none of the previews for the movie had clued me in that this is what was going to be the main thrust of the film. In my younger movie watching days I might have just laughed this off and said so what. Instead I went away very disturbed. Although this was not a horrible movie, and it had its funny moments, and Jennifer Garner was cute as usual; still I can not recommend it.

But the second movie I saw Thursday, Whip It! is another story altogether. Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut in this film of a teenager (played by Ellen Page) who finds herself drawn to roller derby. Her mother wants her to be in all these beauty pageants, and she does these to please her mother, but her real love is for the roller derby. It is a rough and tumble heart felt coming of age film. The scene I love is when her dad brings all the roller derby girls up to where she is in a pageant, and her dad tells her mother , "800 hundred dollars {cost of the dress} I can stand to lose, but what I can't stand is losing the chance to see our daughter happy." That is a very cool dad I would say. Anyway, I loved this film. Go see it.