Telling a story

You all know how obsessed I am with the work of Hayao Miyazaki.  Well, now you know at any rate.  I am sure Joseph Conrad and Gertrude Stein are reaching from their graves to smack me upside the head when I say this, but I think Miyazaki is the most interesting, creative and profound story teller of the 20th century.  His movies are visual masterpieces with no distinct time or place.  The stories are of courage and struggle and hope and relationships.

We went to see The Secret World of Arrietty yesterday.  It was slow-paced and funny and touching and beautiful.

Just as the Industrial Revolution produced a huge pack of amazing stories (from Jane Eyre to Frankenstein to poetry), the technological pace of the 20th and 21st centuries is creating a new wealth of stories with a distinctly visual theme--graphic novels, movies etc.

The language of stories has been hitting us all lately.  We are reading Lord of the Flies aloud right now.  Evie and I were both struck with how the language-usage makes us think "boy."  Was that intentional?  How do we use language to cast a spell?

In my convoluted mind that led me to Candide.  Satire is playing with words and emotions.  I think we'll watch the movie today and discuss the "best of all possible worlds."