Thoughts concerning Monsters, Rats, Toys, and more...

“You’ve got a friend in me” …The cymbals clang… “You’ve got a friend in me…When the road looks tough ahead and you’re miles and miles from your nice, warm bed… You just remember what your old pal said…you’ve got a friend in me…” Randy Newman crooned to me as I sat in my normal chair thinking about what to write. This song brought classic Pixar images to my mind. Mike Wazowski and Sulley. Buzz and Woody. Dory and Marlin…the list goes on and on…

            (If none of these names come to mind, then I highly suggest that you make a hot cup of coffee and sit down and watch every single Pixar movie ever made. 24 hours. It will definitely be worth it. )

            As I thought about these different Pixar friendships, I began to think of the different Pixar characters. Monsters. Robots. Toys. Cars. Fish. Rats. Retired superheroes. Bugs. What was it that all these characters had in common? Well, they weren’t Disney princesses or soaring superheroes. These were the characters that we, the audience, don’t always hear from. Sure, monster movies began with Frankenstein and Count Dracula, but when has there really been a movie from the monsters’ perspective? Or the toys? Or the rest of the Pixar characters?

            Pixar sneakily took the characters that usually play supporting roles and gave them their own stage and spotlight. That’s why you are able to see a rat cook or a robot fall in love. I can just picture John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter sitting around a table like King Arthur and his knights of the round table. After a tall pile of crumpled idea papers heightened, one of the three probably voiced: “ What if we came up with a character who hasn’t had a movie of his own? An underdog character?” Someone else probably had the great animation muse whisper in his ear: “TOYS”. Yeah, maybe more of a scream. Thus was birthed Toy Story—a movie from the toys’ perspective. Sure, toys have had other movies, but not many from their own perspective.

And toys were just the beginning. Next came a bug circus followed by comedic monsters and then by lost fish. Suddenly a retired superhero was revamping his career and a rat cooked in the top French restaurant. Pixar took normally ignored characters and gave them a story—a purpose. Now, you and I (as the audience) can become friends with these underdog characters. For the child, the monster under the bed will become a funny friend and not a horrifying scarer. Rather than thinking of a robot as a meaningless piece of machinery, we can see that it is still capable of love despite its pre-programming. Not only is Pixar giving its audience a new look at characters, but it’s also planting creative seeds within kids.

Maybe the next time you see a child scribbling down his own story or coloring in his little green monster, you can think of the writers who inspired him. The writers who taught those children to take a second glance at characters—that there is more that meets the eye to their little dinosaur toy or the chubby caterpillar on their windowsill. So, when you see one of these children, encourage them, rather than rolling your eyes. And rather than snickering, inspire them. Don’t underestimate their imagination.

            And, that’s how magic is made. 

  

Contemplations of Wee Hobbits

        Just recently, as I was trailing through one of my favorite Lord of the Rings movies, The Fellowship of the Ring, I was caught off guard by a certain scene. Thus was birthed deep thought. Thus was birthed this blog post. Enjoy!

         The scene that really caught my eye was when Frodo and the gang first arrived in Rivendell. This is the first time that Frodo is able to speak with Bilbo, since this whole ring ordeal started. As the viewer, you’re wondering what this hobbit conversation will entail. Will Frodo give the ring back to Bilbo, since Bilbo was the one who placed the burden on him originally? Or maybe Bilbo will snatch the ring from Frodo’s neck and take off with it? Well, since The Fellowship of the Ring came out on DVD a few years ago, rather than yesterday, you most likely know what happened. But, I think that we can revisit this scene and learn so much more.

        Frodo is caressing the map of the Shire with his fingertips. You see the aching in his eyes. That’s where he wants to be. Why isn’t he?

 “ I miss the shire,” Frodo turns to Bilbo, “I spent all my childhood pretending I was off somewhere else. Off with you on one of your adventures. But my own adventure turned out to be quite different. I’m not like you, Bilbo.”

             But, that wasn’t just Frodo speaking. It was me.

           How many times do you catch yourself saying, “I want an adventure. I want to live big. I want to do something with my life.” I mean…who doesn’t? I don’t know when the last time was that I spoke with someone who said he wanted to do utterly nothing with his life. Some of us want adventure. Why do we even read or watch movies to begin with? We all want to journey with a character through whatever he or she is going through or pretend like we are there. Not many of us can deny having done what Frodo said. We spend our childhood pretending we are off somewhere else. Not just our childhood, but also our youth and our adulthood.  I know that I still do. I picture myself living off in London or gallivanting around China. White water rafting in the Redwoods. Mountain climbing on the Alps. Hitchhiking through Romania. Taste testing authentic Middle Eastern foods. One of the main reasons that I watch Doctor Who is because I still haven’t found my own doctor and blue box to travel in. I crave adventure.

         Yet, this isn’t a classic speech about how Frodo wants an adventure or wants to do something with his life. It’s just the opposite. Frodo misses the shire. As non-adventurous as it was, Frodo wanted to be back there, surrounded by the clean calm air where wraiths were absent. He yearned to smoke his pipe without seeing his orc sword turn blue. The calmness and serenity of the Shire is what Frodo wanted. He wasn’t like Bilbo. Frodo’s adventure was much different.

I can’t even count how many times adventures are claimed for the sake of adventure. Now, I don’t condemn that whatsoever. What if Alice thought practically and ignored the adventurous tug of her heart? Well, in that case—good-bye Cheshire cat, goodbye white rabbit with a waistcoat, and goodbye talking flowers! 

But, Frodo’s case is much different. Following a rabbit down a rabbit hole is much more appealing than standing above the grim malice that boiled within Mordor. And if Frodo had the same intention as Alice (for adventure and curiosity), then he would have never taken the ring in the first place. See… why was Frodo not like Bilbo? Bilbo, like Alice and many other characters, journeyed for an adventure. Bilbo never wanted an adventure at first until he went on one. Then, that became all Bilbo wanted. He had to be taken from the quiet life he knew and had to learn to want an adventure. Frodo never had that issue. Frodo grew up pretending he was off on one of Bilbo’s adventures.

However, Frodo had to take the next step. He was still going to complete an adventure, but he couldn’t go for the purpose of just an adventure. His reasoning had to be deeper than that. He had to go for the purpose of doing what was right. Like Frodo, I must develop a similar purpose—completing adventures for more of a reason than just wanting a good adventure. Suddenly, gallivanting through China turns into helping the Chinese people. Hitchhiking through Romania means talking to the Romanian people and being one of the few to listen to them. All of us want a Bilbo adventure with big spiders, slayed dragons, and dwarf songs. But, not many of us will willingly take a Frodo adventure. He barely made it out in the end.

That is a tough pill to swallow. Frodo wasn’t a young rebellious teenager wanting to get away from the clutches of his small town quiet home, in order to seek adventure. He was going to face more evil than most people had faced and all he wanted was the familiar brush of the Shire’s cool grass or the laughter of the hobbits lighting up the air.

Now, many of you who are reading this may not be choosing whether to go slay a dragon or destroy a ring of evil in the fires of Mordor. Most of you are just like me. An ordinary person making ordinary decisions. But, even you can relate.

As a girl I would dream up what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. Now, as those major life decisions come near, I yearn for the days of old. Like Frodo, I yearn for the shire. Why is there such a difference? Because one is real and one is imaginary. In my youth, I could choose whether I would marry that person or not. As a woman, I make that decision. Now, it’s not a “Hmm…never mind” decision. It is a decision I will live with and honor till the day that I die. Frodo understood that. He understood his childhood fantasy of adventure. He also understood the adventures and the decisions connected that trailed behind his every move.

Yet, seeing Frodo’s decisions shows that there is still hope for the ordinary person—you and me. Despite how desperately Frodo wanted the Shire, he moved on. Not only for the sake of an adventure, but also for the purpose of doing what was right. He wasn’t a child imagining he was on an adventure with Bilbo anymore. This was real life. Real decisions.

See how helpful listening to a hobbit is. Even the smallest people can teach you the greatest lessons. 

Stuck in Wanderlust

“Someday, someday, my country will come…”

What is something that makes its recipient physically exhausted and emotionally stimulated all at the same time? An activity that takes all of yourself, yet you continue to willingly give more. For a moment, you are able to step away from your busy hectic life and drown yourself in the beauty of culture. Yes, you guessed it. Traveling. Going to a new place with a constant buzz of wanderlust is one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced, especially when one does not only travel to a new place, but also to a new culture. Why do I like traveling so much? Simply because of this quote: “When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.” (Doctor Who). I want to see that world.

Now, I just came back from a long, strenuous, beautiful, and enchanting trip to Europe, specifically Stockholm, Sweden and Tampere, Finland.  Claude Monet once said “Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad…” I believe my European experience was exactly that—a conglomeration of beauty.

Strolling through Stockholm. Just beautiful.

Like any culture and country, Sweden and Finland has its upsides and downs. Yet, when I first arrived there... I was a Juliet, who was newly in love with her Romeo. See, that is exactly what this experience was like—being in love. The same butterflies, lightheadedness, and eccentric giddiness that may accompany youthful love was the same feeling that traveled with me in Europe. Yes, as odd as it was, Europe was my Romeo. Clothed in cobblestones streets and dressed with accents, euros, and history, Europe made me fall madly in love with it. Yet, once I arrived back in America, I realized some hard to swallow differences as a foreigner. Enjoy a sneak peek into my European experience:

 Walking down the cobblestone streets (Please America, get some!), I felt drenched in the history and culture surrounding me. A man speaking in a different accent. Foreign letters coloring the signs. Foreign billboards. New and different foods. Foreign. New. Foreign. New. Excitement. Thrill. Adventure. I could go on and on. See, when I travel, I want to be completely taken back and surprised. Sweden and Finland did the job for me.

Having completely novel people introduced in my life with their own culture, languages, mannerisms, and more was a complete roller coaster of excitement. One of my personal favorite Swedish & Finnish cultural perks was “fika”. Now “fika” (pronounced fee-ka) is the coffee break for the Swedes and Finns. Wait a second…Americans have coffee breaks too, right? Well, not like these people. Picture delicious food, arraying from berry crepes to delicious foreign cinnamon rolls, always at the grasp of your hand. Being a snack eater, I gave my stomach a cloud 9 experience with fika. My stomach was much obliged.

Of course, after the fika, sauna was the next step to my American transformation. Again, yes, the sauna is something Americans have too. But, we don’t take advantage of its full potential, like the Swedish and Finnish people do. So, next time you go to either of these countries…do not skip out on their perks. Sauna and fika? Yes, please.

Delicious fika!

Grabbing my Finnish Ernest Hemingway copy of "And the Sun Rises" in an authentic Finnish bookstore!

When I was traveling with my wee romantic heart amidst Sweden, I had a Swedish friend tell me something surprising about his country—marriage was unpopular. Marriage is handled much differently in Sweden/ Finland than where I come from. Living in the Bible belt, marriage is traditional. In the circles that I run in, the guy and girl meet, develop a strong attraction for the other, date, fall in love, and marry. It’s as simple as that. Take marriage out of the equation? Might as well tell me that dragons and knights were still roaming the countryside.

 So, once I arrived home, I did some research concerning the subject. Practically every web writer I read spoke about the unpopularity of marriage in Sweden. However, as I thought about it, I was less surprised. In America, we don’t realized how divorce has become one of our identifying figures to other countries. Going to Sweden as a foreigner, I was taken back by how marriage is treated differently. Yet, when a Swede visits America, he or she is probably equally surprised by our high divorce rates. When you go to different countries, EXPECT differences. When you marry a man, expect that he will have a weakness or two...if you don’t, then you may feel angry and divorce him. Don’t divorce a country—Number one rule of a traveler. Just because you may disagree with a country’s standards does not mean you have to disrespect it by any means. I adore both Sweden and Finland, although I disagree with them in some areas.

That was just a tip of the iceberg concerning my most recent European travels. Tell me about your own travels & experiences! I would love to hear it! Got a case of wanderlust? Well, you've come to the right blog! Join the club :)

Stockholm, Sweden...Truly a beautiful place.