I took enough of a stress break tonight to watch "The Chronicles on Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," somewhat out of curiosity and somewhat out of obligation. I remember in 4th grade that my teacher, Mrs. Rakestraw (what a horrible name) read it to us a little each day. Seemed pretty good. Those things are best when you're young enough not to realize you're being indoctrinated. I didn't mind the movie too much until they got to the point of re-enacting the crucifixion, which I had to fast-forward through. "The Passion of the Christ" for children. Great.
Of all the potentially lousy messages available to children in this film, this is the one I'd like to be a curmudgeon about -- those kids, our heroes, get to be the rulers of this magical land in the end. But they do almost nothing to earn it. Their mere presence seems to set in motion an unavoidable destiny. The little brother who betrays them comes back into the fold, but really does nothing. The girls, Mary Magdalene and whomever else they're supposed to be, ride on Aslan to free the frozen people, but don't contribute much. And Peter is a lousy military commander -- affairs are in dire straits until the lion shows up with reinforcements, kills the witch and saves the day. I suppose this reinforces the Protestant doctrine that faith and not works impresses God, but come on. For all their tactical futility, the English children are rewarded with the rule of all Narnia.
Saw "Mystic River" this week, too. Much better, and set in Boston.
Back in the full swing of the semester again. I applied to an internship at "Nature" today, and will be doing more of the same, culminating in the science writing internship fair this coming Saturday. My elective class is about ancient Rome and Athens, but focuses specifically on the topography and buildings, so that should be interesting. And I just finished a first draft of an essay about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. If I like the end version, I'll post it here.
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