Enchanted.

I know you're surprised: my title is actually short!

But I just watched that movie tonight, and it has me thinking about a few things:
a) Why can't we all have such simple faith in love?
b) Why can't we all have such simple ideas about love?
c) Just 'cause we're thinking doesn't mean we should lose the lighthearted and easy enthusiasm that Giselle had. **Spoiler Alert for "c)"!!**
d) Maturity doesn't have to mean forfeiting childlike innocence and faith: people may have snickered at Giselle for her naivety, but she was so much happier than everyone else seemed to be.
e) I know it's a Hollywood creation. But why does it have to be? Some movies, yes, should never be more than fiction. But things like that? Why should those ideas remain on the silver screen?

a) Giselle was so faithful that Prince Edward would find her. Not once did she stop doubting, even after Patrick Dempsey's character Robert had said a number of times that she was wrong about her fairy tale love ideals. Yes, of course, Giselle and Robert ended up in love. So the fairy tale ideals are shattered in that sense (though, they did fall in love in only a few days which does stick to the fairy tale). Either way, Giselle was absolutely sure that Prince Edward loved her and that he would find her because he loved her. Why can't we all have such faith in that?

b) Not only was her faith in the love simple, but her ideas about love were simple. There were no such things as obstacles to her idea of love. And if there were, they were mole hills compared to what the love should ultimately encompass and hold. That simple idea of love is passion. Not just infatuation where you do stupid things for the person. But absolute passion and drive and the commitment to stay true to the one you have pledged your heart to.

We're all looking for this fairy tale love.... My mum can't comprehend why high school, middle school, and even nowadays, elementary school kids are having "boyfriends" and "girlfriends" because my mum thinks that dating should just be casual. It becomes more serious when the boy and girl come to love each other in the depth that marriage and an eternity together requires. I understand what she's saying... But even I wanted those first few boys to be "the one." I was heartbroken when I found they weren't. Now, I have DJ. I don't ever want to lose him, and I regret having ever dated another guy. :(

c) **Spoiler Alert** This was probably an unintentional message of the writers' but it's one I think was subconsciously slipped in. The part in the movie where Prince Edward and Giselle are finally reunited, Prince starts singing the "True Love's Kiss" song where Giselle picks up the line "you were made" with "to finish your duet." But she doesn't. Instead, she blinks and asks "what? Oh, I was thinking."

I know... There's nothing wrong with that. Especially in context. But for me, however, it said that she had lost her fairy tale self and become the more.... rational... whatever person of reality... She had... matured, in a sense... She was thinking, being rational about the whole "love thing." And again, yes, yes, had she not been thinking, she would have gone back with Prince Edward and the whole time we're being led up to wanting her to marry Robert. But still... I mean, you can see where I'm coming from, right? :( I just think it's sad that she lost her enthusiasm to thinking... And don't get me wrong: I love thinking. I have a post about it below somewhere. But I don't believe thinking should dominate solely and remove any of the warmth and life from.... well, life.

d) Plus, in the movie, Giselle is completely unaccustomed to how New York is. I don't live in New York, so I don't know if it was an accurate portrayal... But the portrayal would have been true for a number of other cities as well, not just New York. Anyway. She was wholly ignorant and naive to the workings of the inner city, and thus, she would seem to have been called a loon and snickered at. Why can't there be a balance of maturity and understanding with innocence and some ignorance?

e) And finally, why can't we treat fairy tales like they can come true? I mean, we believe in miracles and other such things like luck that are out of our hands. But fairy tales aren't out of our hands. It just takes the right mindset and the right amount of will. Same goes for all the other "feel good" movies like The Blindside and such inspirational movies.

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I guess that's all I've to say for tonight... I don't know... I am just sorta.... lost on this whole subject... Well, not fully. I'm set for myself. That's not to say I don't have problems between DJ and me. But my point is that he and I are willing and therefore able to work through any and all difficulties. I just wish other people would see love as so simple. Maybe they wouldn't view it like a burden, then....

*M

Whims to Wisps...

I've been thinking lately about a number of things, not the least of which is innocence or faith in childhood.

Our lack of imagination and fear of dragons and wishes of princesses or elves or knighthood or to be superheroes or any number of things goes hand in hand with our learning.

I say that I would love to learn everything. But... I think about it and wonder if it'd be in any way beneficial....

Of course it would be in the sense that I would no longer be going through life an ignorant dunce. But... I also would be losing the simplistic bliss of knowing little.

I have fancies, things I like to pretend are the cause for this or that. Even now, in my "enlightened" state (or semi-enlightened, at least). When it mists (not rains, exactly; just a few drops here or there), I like to pretend that it's the wind, tempting me to play with it. By throwing tiny, cold dots of wet on to my arms, my cheeks, my lips, the wind is saying "Come, come! I'm feeling flighty today. Won't you come dance with me? Or how about a game? I know! Tag! You're it!"

I know that's not the case. But isn't it better to think of it that way?

The world seems less dim, less.....straightforward if everything is asking to play a game.

The moon: "Sing to me. Please. I have need to listen to something sweet. How about a game of hide and seek? You hide, first." And when the moon instead slips behind the clouds, would it not be sweeter yet to laugh and say "Oh, Moon. You're playing the game wrong. If I am to hide first, then you have to stay unhidden so as to seek me out!" The moon will laugh in reply and either wait to return from behind the clouds and cry "Found ya!" or keep giggling and whisper "Find me first!"

The city: "Oh, dear. I'm so busy. Why don't you come along with me and we'll take a ride? Won't it be fun, playing 'I Spy' along the way? I'll start: it's bright..."

And the days when war was just a game.... Why can it not be that way? Why do we deem it necessary to kill? Little boys and girls enjoy the ducking and weaving and crawling in the dirt unnoticed to their opponents' side. Then "kk kk kk bang!" The other side goes down, clutching various spots on their chests, crying out, then landing on the ground rolling in mirth. Would that not be better?

The world could be such a fantastical place. Unicorns could be real again. Ogres and goblins would lurk in the night, ready to capture unwitting prey. And these same similar ogres and goblins would be the ones to fall as heroes and heroines go to save the day.

The world would be brighter if all was but a stage... if all was but a game... if all was but a dream.

Fantasies are far more fanciful to entertain than reality can be.

*M