Miscellaneous Blog Topic II : Mary Kate Curry

It seems that every function or gathering now inevitably results in that near-immortal question of "...so what are you going to do after college?" My goals for the future are fairly lofty; I want to attend some graduate school and ultimately earn a doctorate in theology. This revelation births the subsequent assumption that I ascribe to a Christian tradition, and I am often met with sympathy (by those enlightened enough to reject Christianity but accept it in others), derision (by those who mock Christianity), or a wink and an assumed fraternal friendship (by those who think we share in common a friend in Jesus Christ.) I am not a Christian, by any means, but neither am I agnostic or atheist. Presumptuous and pretentious though it often sounds, I am at this juncture a searcher. I mean this not as the college student who sifts through various Eastern religions; I am no pilgrim of the Hermann Hesse school. No; I know what I want to believe--my search is focused rather on why I am continually drawn to a belief that I cannot help but to reject. Thomas Merton, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor serve as my models now, but I wonder where I will go when their words no longer sustain my journey.

Joshua Booth - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland was actually a much better movie than I expected. There was a lot of great customs and the look of the film was so real that it looked fake. I really do not remember much about the original Alice in Wonderland story from early school years but I think this movie followed the original script fairly close. It is always a good thing in my opinion that a movie and book relate as similar as possible so that nothing is lost in transition. It was Alice who was in need of a wonderland after being forced to marry a man that she really did not want to spend the rest of her life with. It was rather weird that she was the only one who could see the rabbit and that she actually was running around the gathering looking for the rabbit that eventually led her to wonderland. Her ultimate goal of defeating the Jabberwocky is accomplished by the end of the movie and she is the hero. By going to Wonderland and returning she has the personal confidence and courage to let her family and friends aware of her true feelings and makes a vow to herself to not do anything that she is not comfortable with. My favorite character was the rabbit that was crazy that kept throwing glasses at everyone. He was a humorous character that brought that special needed humor to the film that made it interesting to me. This film was about average length and used lots of symbolism within it to display the imagery.

Elizabeth Henderson- The Five People You Meet in Heaven

This story has many ways that it talks about religion. The main character dies in an accident and ends up in heaven. There he meets characters that were a part of his life, however what he does not realize is that these people made a huge impact on his life, while he is in heaven he realized the affect these people had on him. Even though he did not appreciate these people when he was alive though dying he realized how much they meant to him while he was growing up. By the end of the book, the main character changes in the way he lives his life, the main people in his life are treated better and he has a new appreciation of those that are around him in everyday occurrences.

Elizabeth Henderson - The noticer

While reading this book, it talks about how one man has lived for many generations. He comes to people that need to realize other perspectives within their life. In the beginning there is a man that is homeless that needs to have a different perspective on how his life can go differently now. This happens within lives of many people that are featured though this book. Even though this book does not directly relate back to religion is not really mentioned in this book it does relate to things that religion stands for. People need to have a different perspective on life to be able to change their ways and make their lives better. Without changing what you are doing, many people will be stuck on the same path that is going towards destruction. The noticer, in this book does not tell the characters what to do he only tells gives them other things to do that in return change their lives for the better.

Elizabeth Hendrson- Love Dare

This book is more like a guide to a relationship. The book takes you through life one day at a time and talks about how you should treat your partner within your relationship. With each task which is a different one everyday there is an expert from the bible. Some of the examples talk about how you should be patient with your partner and do something nice. Towards the end of these 40 days it bring religion more into the book. It says that you should make the relationship with God better before your marriage can be fixed. This book has symbolism that relates back to religion. The entire dare takes 40 days to accomplish, and after that you have to take in account what you have learned over those days. HOwever, lent in the catholic religion is also 40 days, in which during that time you give up something to make yourself better.

North Fork - Jared Free

Although we viewed the film several weeks ago, I'd like to comment on Northfork. The film was an incridible movie to watch. The Montana landscape and scenery depicted in the movie were tremendous. Understanding the film was difficult, though.

The film depicts a small, Montana town, Northfork, that has been evacuated but for a few stubborn residents to make way for a hydroelectric dam that is set to flood the entire valley. Of the dozen or so residents who did not leave, most stayed behind for no particular reason at all. For them, there is a group of evacuators who make their rounds guiding those who have stayed behind to safety.

One of the holdouts, though, is different. Father Harlan, who runs the village orphanage, has stayed behind to tend to a young boy, Irwin, who was too sick to make the evacuation. The film essentially focuses on three stories; the story of the evacuators, which serves as comic relief in an otherwise very somber film, the story of Father Harlan and the earthbound Irwin, and lastly, the story of Irwin's spirit, as he prepares to make his own journey into death.

The movie is riddled with so much symbolism I have a difficult time determining what any of it means. The most frequent recurring image is a pair of angel wings, which one can determine symbolize the boy's inevitable position into the afterlife. In his unconscious state he's already accepted his fate, or already considers himself an angel. Or maybe that's what he knew he was all along; he was supposed to have always been in heaven, and his time here on earth was just a brief trial. Regardless, the most interesting image in the film was the mechanical/organic buffalo. This animal/machine appears in nearly all the boys dreams. It is very intimidating and threatening looking, however, it takes little or no notice of anyone else; namely the boy, who is the only person that seems to see the creature.

The film was beautiful, but very slow. I may have enjoyed it more if I understood what most of the symbolism meant.

Alice in Woderland - Joe Pascale

I have to admit that I was surprised by the movie Alice in Wonderland. I expected to not care for it very much, but in the end I believe it was a good film. In analyzing the film there is not much to be said that hasn't already been mentioned here. The movie was full of symbolism. One symbolic sign that caught my attention was the passageway into Underland, or Wonderland as Alice calls it. Ladders, a stairway, and a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end are just some examples of the passageways to Heaven. In Alice and Wonderland the passageway was a hole in the ground. What caught my attention was that generally a passageway falling into the center of the earth could easily be interpreted as a passageway to Hell. Perhaps Underland could be considered to be in a hellish state under the rule of the red queen. Her association with the color red is symbolic of the devil in a sense. In contrast to the red queen is the white queen and her association with white. White has long been a symbol of purity and cleanliness. Also, the battle between the queens is symbolic of the classic battle between good and evil. While watching the film during the final battle I could help but be reminded of the battles in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament. I imagined the jabbawakie (sp??) as one of the beast from Revelations. Though it was not a literal depiction of the beast, it did share certain qualities, such as a dragon head and horns.