What We'll Do To Spite Our Mothers

Is it okay to do blog posts on TV shows as long as Ms.Robbins is in love with the show?

Note: The underlined blue words are links to videos of scenes I'm talking about (my form of textual evidence) and the time in parenthesis refers to what part of the video it happens in.

My inspiration to write a blog post on My So Called Life came from here; please read it, it's amazing.

‎"Lately i can't even look at my mother without wanting to stab her. Repeatedly." (5:00-5:10)

Every girl has felt this way before. Don't even try to deny it. And it doesn't mean that you're insane or sadistic or homicidal-- it just mean that you're a teenager. Mother/daughter relationships are so complicated and so confusing and next to impossible to ever explain. What I love about Angela Chase from My So Called Life is that she always can for us. And if she can't explain something, she'll explain just why she can't seem to explain it. From obsessive friendships to the kind of love where he doesn't even know you exist, Angela describes every moment of female adolescence perfectly-- and she doesn't leave out mothers.

I don't think that you can leave out mothers in a TV show about being a 15 year old girl, because no matter how awful or wonderful, present or absent, protective or lenient your mother is, she will affect your teenage years in a huge way. Hands down, flat out. Because she's your mother.

When I saw the first episode of My So Called Life, I felt like someone had read my diary and made it into a script. I was Angela Chase and Patty Chase was my mother. No question about it. Just like Angela, my friends would exclaim how nice she was and just like Angela, I'd mutter that it was only because they were there. Just like Angela, I'd refuse to clean my room or eat a balanced meal because I knew that it would give my mother too much satisfaction. Like there was some war going on between us that I had to win and she didn't know about it, and maybe I didn't either. And lately when I look at her, I feel like stabbing her. Repeatedly. And half the time I don't even know why.

Just like Angela.

But sometimes, I have that knot in my stomach, that urge to run to my moms room and crawl into bed next to her and cry and cry and cry and not have to explain anything and for her to just hold me and make everything better again like mothers do.

Just like Angela.

I don't think that anyone purely hates or loves every aspect of either of their parents- just like no person is fully good or bad- it hits somewhere in the middle. Angela creates that perfect balance of feelings that everyone can connect to. She hates her mother, she loves her mother. She's introducing her to Jordan, she's not talking to her. She's listening to her, she's disobeying her. She misses her, she can't even stand the sound of her voice. She's being a moody, indecisive teenager.

And that's why I'm Angela and my mom is her mom. That's why every girl who's ever watched this show has immediately declared that, they too, were Angela more than anyone else who claimed the same, and that her mom was their mom more so than each anyone who might've thought the same. Because they each have at least one quality that cannot go unseen in any mother or daughter. Because Patty Chase is the dedicated, loving mother that's only human, that makes a million mistakes because of it, and that cares all too much if her daughter stays out late. Because Angela is all of us, she is the perfect example of a flawed, angry, blissful and at times, lost teenage girl. Because she shows us we're not alone. Ever.

I wish I could say that Leonardo DiCaprio made this movie what it is...

I never thought I'd say that a Shakespeare play became one of my favorite movies of all time (not to sound like an ignorant, modern-day teen or anything-- I love Shakespeare, of course. But, when thinking about movies, there's always Mean girls and Elf and The parent trap and The Lizzie McGuire movie to consider which top practically everything). Seriously though, This movie is amazing. When we began the Romeo and Juliet unit and the first excited whispers about the about the fact that we would actually be watching a movie in class (as if we've never done that before) began, everyone (or at least every girl (yes, including me)) wanted to know only one thing- "IS IT THE LEONARDO DICAPRIO VERSION?!?!?!?!?!". And when Ms.Robbins told us that no, it was not- it was the Baz Luhrmann version, and that it would not ever (in her class) be referred to as anything but the Baz Luhrmann version, I thought it was just a joke. Just something she established because she was (understandably) sick and tired of thirteen year old girls having panic attacks about how absolutely perfect and exquisite the young Leonardo DiCaprio was everytime he went on screen (especially in those beginning scenes in the sunset/beach/sycamore grove- oh.my.god.). However, along with the many other things that I learned from watching this movie in class, by the end I had come to the realization that that was not at all Ms.Robbin's reason (or at least not her main one) for naming this "The Baz Luhrmann version"-- it was because that man is a creative genius and though he may not be as beautiful as him, he deserves every ounce of credit for this visionary masterpiece.

I wanted to zoom in on one specific thing that may seem a little unimportant but, in reality, adds so much to this movie- color (and when I say color I mean how Luhrmann used color to symbolize, not just the fact that he used it instead of black and white or something). When you're making a movie, you have so much more room for creative-ness and there are so many more visual things that you just physically couldn't have in a play. Baz Luhrmann uses this to his full advantage always and has "creative-movie-things" in practically every single shot+ this shines through especially in his choice of color uses. He chose yellow and blue to represent Montague and Capulet, and if you watch for these colors throughout, it's something that shows up all the time and one of those details that you may never notice, but if you do, you appreciate even more all the thought and work put into this movie and it's intentional craft moves. Color comes up in the backlight they use on characters faces in close-ups, it comes up in backdrops, it comes up in the clothes and the colors of their cars, it comes up in the fish between Romeo and Juliet, it comes up in the church, it comes up really everywhere, and everytime it does, it means something. It's there for a reason. And, even if people don't consciously notice these colors or realize what they represent, I think that having each side and each character on either side being visually affiliated with a color really helps the audience remember and understand each characters strong disposition and opinion and personality even if it's just their brain automatically and unconsciously making that connection.

I think that, in general, people learn a lot more when they do something in school than at home. Maybe it's because they're paying attention or because teachers are there, pointing out smart things. But, either way, it's really remarkable how much more I got out of watching this movie once in school than the millions of times I've seen it at home. It's one of those movies where you know it's beautiful and thought out and special for some reason but, as a thirteen year old not-film-expert, you can't seen to put your finger on specifically what that reason is. It's everything- it's the way that the light hits their faces- a bit sharper for Tybalt and softer for Benvolio, it's the way everything means something. How Romeo and Juliet's meeting foreshadows and represents what their future will be-- on opposite sides of the fish tank, fish of Montague+ Capulet colors and layers of water pushing them apart always. It's the beautiful modern costume party take on the Capulet dinner and how each costume represents it's wearer. It's how he changes the whole ending without adding or taking away a single word. It's how he makes everything fit together, work just right, even hundreds of years later. Watching the movie now that all these things are brought to my attention is overwhelming because every thought I have is "blue there!", "yellow over there!", "close up!", "what.does.it.mean...?". I've never taken a film study class before or even heard anyone talk about it so, maybe this little taste has gotten me anxious and it will soon ware off, but either way, I'm excited. I'm excited that I got so much out of this, and I'm excited to finish dissecting the play, and I'm excited about how I will view the movie when I, inevitably, see it again, and I'm excited that I'm actually excited about this, and I'm really excited to go out and rent all of these.

'The World's on Fire' response

I've never cried at a music video before. That is, not until I watched 'The World's on Fire' a second time.

Honestly- at sad movies I'm a wreck. But, songs? Music videos?

Never.

I guess it's just that music videos are usually no more than 5 minutes- I don't have enough time to get connected enough to the character to make me upset when something happens to them. And that's what was different about this video. I was already connected to the characters and the people and the issues in a sense. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm so familiar with the topic of poverty or maybe because these themes are so much deeper and more urgent and important than most you see in hollywood music videos theses days which was the entire point of the whole thing.

The images and footage of the people and places in poverty combined with Sarah McLachlan's writing, and ideas, and just the point about how the world is so corrupt that the amount of money spent on average music video can really make a difference in the world and on individual peoples lives, all together make such an affecting image that I am not likely to forget.

Lyrics are something that cannot stand alone, as we discovered last year in ELA. They need their matching music, they need what makes them what they are, what gives them meaning.

In this case, the lyrics needed it's video which is the whole purpose and inspiration of the song. When we first glanced at and annotated the lyrics, they didn't mean much on their own- there were so many theories as to what the words were meant to say in that context. Until, of course, we watched the music video and it became abundantly clear. It's amazing how the meaning can change like that- one moment we had people thinking it was about her own world falling apart due to heartbreak and the next, it meant so much more because of those three minutes of inspiration.

This song was written sung and presented beautifully but, the thing that made it really truly unique was the idea that this song really was giving back to the world, materialistically, financially and emotionally.