A couple of years ago I blogged about M. Night Shyamalan’s movie The Village. It was a wonderful cinematic effort about intentional communities and the problem with controlling others through fear. Recently I have seen another movie with an equally riveting ideology, but with different human mistakes.
The City of Ember was released in most major cities last Friday (10-10-08). The movie is based on a book of the same title by author Jeanne DuPrau. DuPrau’s premise revolves around a secret underground city set 200+ years into the future after some untold cataclysmic occurrence has basically wiped out life as we know it on the Earth’s surface. Well, it is presumed Earth, but could be any M class planet.
The city of Ember was created by The Builders to insure two centuries of life would continue before once again trusting the surface for life support. But through a series of unfortunate events, the great secret has been lost and now Ember is in dire condition and dying a slow death, unable to support its failing technologies and dwindling food supplies. Hope comes in the form of two young teens, worried about their future, and uncommonly tenacious in asking the questions The Builders hoped to quell by restricting knowledge.
I learned of this movie through our Emo child, recently turned 14. She has a passion for fantasy fiction and read this book, along with its companion, The City of Sparks, many years ago. As I feel I must in many cases, I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie, so said wonderful daughter brought me a copy from the middle school library. It is a youthful exploration of many adult subjects, and set my mind a’twirling picking apart the black and white of how we as responsible adults make choices about our past and our futures.
Of course, one of my peeves about movies made from books is how Hollywood gets hold of a great concept and then contorts its message in scintillating action and CGI graphics until the original message is hopelessly lost in a mire of adrenaline pumping and mind numbing activity whose only goal is to entertain, not inspire.
I think what I come away with from the exposure here is not so much the travesty of contaminating quality literature with movie style drama, but yet the unforeseeable consequences of people who make choices for other’s lives, even with the best of intentions.
The Builders put a lot of safe guards in place; they thought “they thought of everything.” What they failed to understand is when you restrict information; you restrict the ability to think as well. When you teach someone, “that is all there is and nothing more,” most listeners will believe you. Only the strong will go on to explore and create and ask questions. And fewer yet will actually DO anything about what transpires in the mind.
To be fully alive we must be taught to think for ourselves, we must be encouraged to probe, to evaluate, to invent, and to continue the process of allowing those who come after us to exceed our expectations. Holding others to the standards we have of ourselves is nothing more than basic ego run amuck. To attempt to control another being magnificently born of The Creator, is to second guess the divine intent we will never fully grasp.
As a parent, I am always considering the ramifications of my actions and attitudes on the next generation. What am I doing through love and concern for their future that may inadvertently cause negative effect for them further down the line? How am I protecting them now that will limit them later? And the situation I most want to prepare myself for is the likelihood that any or all of the kids will one day say, “You know that thing (or things) you did? It was a problem because…” When that day comes, may I have the inner strength to simply say “I’m sorry” without defensiveness or contrary retort.
Maybe the greatest feat of parenting is not to teach them to keep their elbows off the table or to pick up their socks off the floor, but to aspire to inspire and encourage tolerance and understanding for those things we do not yet comprehend. And most importantly, respect the rights we all have to make our own choices and indulge the soul an outlet that leads to personal contentment.
I invite you to get your hands on a copy of The City of Ember, and take a day or two enjoying what it felt like as a young person to get lost in an alternative universe. Of course, you could always opt for the movie version, but you’ll loose a lot of the possibility that lingers only in the mind’s eye.
~ the laundry goddess, October 13, 2008
