not native fruit

carolina

We watched a film called 'Carolina' last night on DVD.  It starred Shirley MacLaine and perhaps a few other somewhat well-known names.  At first we thought we might not continue with it, but we did and we weren't disappointed.  I felt I received a lot of insight into my own family's story by watching this film.  I would say that the Mirabeau (pronounced Mira-boo) family would be fairly representative of the people descended from white-Indian-by-choice people - whether through adoption, marriage or just plain free-love - who always had a somewhat different set of values and ran away from becoming a part of the buttoned-down Euro-imperio culture in America, often ending up  living on the margins of society. 

I think when I was a kid I would not have understood who these people were.  They were just some kind of funny people who lived somewhere in America, some kind of dumb-ignorant white people, right out of the comic strip 'Li'l Abner.'  But that is just the kind of pejorative language the Euro-imperio-culturists imposed on this group who looked white, were at least part white, but who espoused native american values in which women controlled their own sexuality, were sexually free individuals until they chose a mate after which they were generally monogomous (sp?), animals were a part of the household, elder women kind of ran things, and so forth.  Because this group became marginalized and always had to struggle, their culture can't really shine with its own light, although this film tries to give us some bright moments, at least.

In my eyes, this American subculture is a victim of projection.  For example, many of the native tribes allowed their young people to experiment sexually with different partners, although after marriage that usually ceased, and in some tribes sex outside of the marriage bond was punishable rather severely. 

harry potter

I went with my eighty-three year old friend, Elizabeth, to see 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' the other day, after having just re-read the book preparatory to beginning the new one.  (I've since finished re-reading 'The Half-Blood Prince' - is it Sirius? - and will begin the new book this weekend.)  We both enjoyed the film production.  My friend has been a therapist for many years, and I have the theological and pastoral counseling background, as well as my own healing work, so we approached the film from those angles. 

Up until this most recent re-reading and viewing, I was starting to feel that the books were getting 'too dark' - but now I realize I was wrong about that.  These books are just the most phenomenal creation!  Nearly every fairy-tale motif and folk-fantasy is represented within their pages, and the psycho-spiritual wisdom is simply astounding.  Not to mention the author's grasp on the psychology of the young, as represented by Harry in particular.  In fact, what she was doing in these later books escaped me until I re-read them.  So glad I did! 

freya in film/teatro del mundo

recently i've watched two danish films, 'old men in new cars' and 'smilla's sense of snow' (read the book too), and i noticed that in both of these films there is a heroine who is indestructible.  In the case of 'old men in new cars' her indestructibility is farcical, but smilla's is no less unbelievable.  as you know, i'm looking for talismans of danish culture in order to better understand my own roots.  i would never have noticed this danish penchant for indestructible females if i hadn't watched these two films in close proximity.  it leads me to believe that the goddess 'freya' may be living yet in the danish psyche.  not only are these females indestructible but they are motivated by compassion.  smilla subjects herself to all sorts of harm in order to unmask the wrongful death of a child, and Mille's huge capacity for love (romantic love) 'saves' a psychotic woman-killer from himself.  (Similarities in their names, too: Mille and Smilla).  In recent reading on Denmark, I noticed that their government's first woman representative was in 1947 - pretty good!

last night we watched 'the five people you meet in heaven.'  very sentimental, a hallmark presentation, but we enjoyed the basic premise, and i really liked the 'ruby pier' carnival-like setting.  well, i remember piers like that from when i was a child and we went to the seashore, especially Atlantic City.  when i was a teenager i worked at a local theater, and one of our specialties was 'Alice in Wonderland.'  There were all sorts of fantastic costumes and characters - the white rabbit, the red queen, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, etc. -  and looking back on it from here, i often think what a great introduction to life it was: the many characters (several played by the same actor perhaps), the shifting scenes, the various dramas and comedies, the imagination of it all.  it put things in perspective and showed me what we're all about.  as they said in 'five people,' 'all the stories are one story.'