There is an adage that "You become what you think about". Nervous public speakers are advised to focus on being "confident and calm" and not to think about "not being nervous". Likewise the Bible tells us "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Phil. 4:8)
In contrast, modern cinema and television have embraced the idea of the anti-hero, the hero who does the right thing even though he doesn't want to, or the hero who wants to do the right thing until he finds out it's going to destroy his relationship with the beautiful heroine. The more guilt ridden, self questioning and waffly the internal conflict, the better.
Take a film like Prince Caspian. One of the principle themes of the original book is that it is good to resist using the wrong means to achieve the right end. In the book, the children do this admirably, while in the film, Peter and Caspian become moody young adults in a destructive power struggle to prove themselves leaders. I have been told this was a necessary change to provide them with character development arcs.
But in contrast, I offer Chihiro, the heroine of Spirited Away, who throughout the movie responds to her dangerous and uncertain situation with quiet determination, hard work and compassion for those around her. Like the children in the Narnia stories, Chihiro finds herself in a world of magic and spirits. She takes a job in a bathhouse for the spirits hoping for an opportunity to free her parents from an enchantment and to escape with them back to the human world.
Through her days at the bathhouse, Chihiro does her work well and shows small kindnesses to those around her. Twice she is confronted by monsters who want to prevent her from helping a dying friend and despite the threat to herself, she refuses to comply with their demands on her attention and quietly and politely insists that she must hurry to help her friend. There are no internal debates or worries about what will happen to her if she tries to help someone in need, but with every choice she demonstrates what she truly believes about what is the right thing to do.
I know that somewhere someone will argue that life isn't so simplistic and that Narnia's conflicted Peter and Caspian are better representations of what the average person's internal life is really like. But I wonder. Is our obsession with character development arcs encouraging us to become more conflicted than we already are? Perhaps if we focus instead on characters like Chihiro who demonstrate forgiveness, gratitude and perseverance in difficult situations, we may find that our conflict resolves itself.
More about Spirited Away
My friend Marc's blog Just My Opinion for real movie reviews
In contrast, modern cinema and television have embraced the idea of the anti-hero, the hero who does the right thing even though he doesn't want to, or the hero who wants to do the right thing until he finds out it's going to destroy his relationship with the beautiful heroine. The more guilt ridden, self questioning and waffly the internal conflict, the better.
Take a film like Prince Caspian. One of the principle themes of the original book is that it is good to resist using the wrong means to achieve the right end. In the book, the children do this admirably, while in the film, Peter and Caspian become moody young adults in a destructive power struggle to prove themselves leaders. I have been told this was a necessary change to provide them with character development arcs.
But in contrast, I offer Chihiro, the heroine of Spirited Away, who throughout the movie responds to her dangerous and uncertain situation with quiet determination, hard work and compassion for those around her. Like the children in the Narnia stories, Chihiro finds herself in a world of magic and spirits. She takes a job in a bathhouse for the spirits hoping for an opportunity to free her parents from an enchantment and to escape with them back to the human world.
Through her days at the bathhouse, Chihiro does her work well and shows small kindnesses to those around her. Twice she is confronted by monsters who want to prevent her from helping a dying friend and despite the threat to herself, she refuses to comply with their demands on her attention and quietly and politely insists that she must hurry to help her friend. There are no internal debates or worries about what will happen to her if she tries to help someone in need, but with every choice she demonstrates what she truly believes about what is the right thing to do.
I know that somewhere someone will argue that life isn't so simplistic and that Narnia's conflicted Peter and Caspian are better representations of what the average person's internal life is really like. But I wonder. Is our obsession with character development arcs encouraging us to become more conflicted than we already are? Perhaps if we focus instead on characters like Chihiro who demonstrate forgiveness, gratitude and perseverance in difficult situations, we may find that our conflict resolves itself.
More about Spirited Away
My friend Marc's blog Just My Opinion for real movie reviews
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