things i learned from sharkboy and lavagirl.
September 11, 2008
Today, I’m taking a page from Writer Dad – why not, he’s a cool guy – and I figure, I have four kids, and I’m a writer, so I’m sort of a writer dad in my own way!
My kids’ current favourite movie is “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl” – it seems to play non-stop at our house. It has a happy story and appeals to our 7-year old as well as our 4-year old triplets.
On the surface, a kids movie – but having watched it a few times, there is more to it.
Amazing what you can learn from a children’s story.
“Everything that is or was, began with a dream…”
-Lavagirl
This, within the first 30 seconds or so of the movie. It made me think, the first time I really paid attention to it.
We all have dreams.
My dreams are to become a writer, and to live in New Zealand. Well, I am currently writing this blog, and I’m working on my book about my wife, my hero. So I guess that dream has already become a reality.
I am a writer.
Eventually, I will be a published writer, like many others. I believe it. My draft manuscript will be finished within a few months.
And we’ve been to New Zealand, for a visit – we continue to work towards this dream. Every week, we progress.
We will get there.
That leads right into the next line that struck me -
“You must keep moving to survive. Always go forward, never back.”
-anonymous shark
True, isn’t it. Always go forward, never back. Don’t live in the past. Live in the present, look to the future. Keep alive the memories of the good, of what you’ve learned, but don’t dwell on the unpleasant things that may have happened in your past – you survived them, and you can’t change them anyway, so let go of them. Learn from them, by all means, but always go forward.
All this, within the first five minutes of the movie.
My kids watch this movie over and over again, and you know what?
With messages like that, I don’t mind.
So there you have it. You don’t need to go out and buy the latest personal improvement book – just watch a children’s movie, or read a children’s story.
Tomorrow: more hard-hitting Viking words of wisdom!
Saturday: The zombification of the Factory continues – will the man and his lovely wife escape with their brains intact?
(Photograph – The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Dimension Films, 2005.)
Did you know that Robert Rodriguez wrote that movie with his five year old son rocket. That’s probably one of the reasons your children like it so much; it was written not too far from their perspective.
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That’s why I love the children’s classics:, Winnie-the-Pooh and House at Pooh Corners, Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, etc. I read all of them to my kids. They got the silliness and the adventures, and I got the underlying messages. Mind you, I have read the Narnia series as a kid and loved it; as an adult reading it to my children I was horrified. Whoa! Talk about moralistic and prejudice! I choked my way through it because my kids wouldn’t let me stop.
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@Writer Dad,
No, I didn’t know that! Wow, that’s really cool and you’re right, that explains why kids like it. From the mind of a child. I’ll have to read more about it. I actually like the movie a lot myself, to be honest. I’m still a kid at heart, I guess.
@Panther,
That’s so true isn’t it – the best stories can be enjoyed by everyone. There are many others too, and it is nice to have something with more meaning than Dora…
Brett,
What a phenomal story. I work with my 7th graders, and they are SO surprised when I explain to them how they can learn what the word “History” means from a particular scene in “The Lion King.” I brought my Rafiki doll in this past Tuesday, and did just that. It’s truly amazing that children’s stories can be so meaningful.
And your comments on past, present, future – so true. I am SO tired of people saying to FORGET the past. We certainly shouldn’t LIVE in it, but we must make time for both good memories and how we survived – and learned from – past experiences.
Recently, a few bloggers have written on living forever. I direct them to the children’sstory “Tuck Everlasting.” (The book, NOT the movie!) After having read that book in a book club with one of my daughters, I had a whole new meaning adbout what life and death REALLY are.
Thanks for posting this.
Rita
Rita’s last blog post..My “Novel” Luncheon
Rita,
Thank you (and, you’re welcome!) – “The Lion King” is an excellent example of this, I agree, and a great story otherwise. The past is very important, as it is what helped shape us, and the good memories and lessons can continue to help shape us as we move forward.
I’ve not read “Tuck Everlasting”, but not one to comment without knowledge, I Googled it – that sounds like a wonderful and very meaningful story. I think I’ll have to find it and read it, because I know exactly what you mean, about the “immortal bloggers”. I’ve read a lot about that stuff too, and the more I read about it, the more I’m not quite sure that’s the way to go.
I had fun posting this, and then, I have to say “thank you” to you, for putting me on to Tuck Everlasting.
-Brett
PS – another children’s book I really like is “The Giving Tree”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree
I bought it for Cathryn, actually, after she told me about it. I saw it at a local bookstore, remembered she said it was good, and then read it.
Holy cow, it was hard not to cry reading it. What a story.
I LOVE children’s books and movies! Ironically, I suppose, since I have absolutely zero desire, like Friar, to have kids. But I have two tall bookcases of kids’ books and several kids’ films. I find kids’ books the most magical and wonderful of all to read, especially aloud to Colin. I adore the illustrations. Many of the ones I keep evoke such warm, happy memories, too. If I’ve been anything consistently in my life, it’s an avid reader.
I just finished reading aloud to Colin book two of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (actually YA but so complex!!). (Brett: I think you really should read it). I always drag Colin to the kids’ section in Chapters and read him a story. Seriously. The Giving Tree was one such story. So was Guess How Much I Love You (“To the moon and back” is one of our favourite sayings to each other.) But we also read things like Scaredy Squirrel books and the hilarious Mo Willem Pigeon books, and of course the classics.
One kids’ movie I totally loved was Ratatouille. Colin and I were amazed at the lines in that one. How much more we can pick up as adults, too!
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PS. Thanks for the link, my friend!
steph’s last blog post..Finding Your Voice – And Sticking with It
I have a huge collection of animated films (of course) and my absolute favorite is ‘The Lion King’. It actually goes deeper for me because that movie is what made me change careers, move across the country and go back to school for a year to study animation (at age 30). So yeah, it kinda has ‘huge’ sentimental value to me.
One of my favorite scenes is in Finding Nemo too. When Dory and Marlin are inside the whale. When the whale leans back and they are hanging onto the tongue. Dory tells Marlin they have to “let go” and he says, “How do you know something bad isn’t going to happen?” And she says, “I don’t.” They let go and all was well (they had arrived at Sydney).
That’s a huge lesson for anyone, kids included. You must take risks. Sometimes it’s scary. You don’t know what will happen, but if you never do you’ll just stay where you are and not live, learn and grow.
…stuck inside a whale swimming in circles.
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@Brett
Hahahah! Way to deflate the Tortured Intellectuals!
There are more then enough pretentious people out there who think they know it all, with their word-wise points of view and philosophies.
Yet, with all their wisdom, the SAME Life Lessons are out there, on a cheesy kids TV show. (Shark Boy…?? Heh heh heh
)
Kinda shows that you don’t have to be an intellectual PhD to figure out the Big Picture. If you take the time to look, everything you need to know is right under your nose…it’s just all common sense.
PS. The Giving Tree. I read that when I was 8. Oh, man…that was SAD! (But a great story!)
Friar’s last blog post..Basil the Special Dog (Updated, Part III)
Brett — Angie’s daughter loves that movie too. Kiss the blondies for me.
Writer Dad — I didn’t know he wrote the movie with his son. That’s pretty cool, and it explains a lot.
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Karen JL: Finding Nemo is one of my absolute favourites, and that was one of my favourite moments, too! I could watch that movie a hundred times (ooh, now I want to watch it tonight but we’re out at a friends’ house).
Dory is pretty much the way we ought to be.
steph’s last blog post..Finding Your Voice – And Sticking with It
@steph,
I don’t think it is ironic at all, I mean, a good story is a good story, and doesn’t require big words and so forth (see James’ post from the other day about Stephen King’s writing).
For you are right, children’s stories tend to have great illustrations that “adult” books are not allowed to have, and if the language is simple, the story *has* to be great.
I’ll have a look at the Pullman trilogy, per your suggestion. Yes, we also like Guess How Much I Love You – the pictures are really funny!
Our kids liked Ratatouille as well, though I didn’t have a chance to watch it with them.
(And you are welcome for the link – I figured I owed you one!)
@Karen JL,
That’s a really cool personal story, you know – very cool how an animated film encouraged you to make a career and a life change.
And what a great example from Nemo! I’d forgotten about that one. I really like that movie too. The fact that I know it’s Ellen’s voice makes it just that much funnier, because she’s so spun!!!
@Friar,
Funny, isn’t it – the further I dig into this stuff, the more I see that it isn’t that complicated – I mean, it’s always nice to be reminded of it with a new and different story, but hey – the Vikings knew about it, and then Sharkboy…
Just today, I learned that the Tickler file system from David Allen’s Getting Things Done was actually patented in 1888!
http://unclutterer.com/2008/09/11/gtd-a-revolutionary-idea-in-1888/
Not saying that Allen is misrepresenting himself or anything, but just that sometimes, what’s old is new again.
@Amy,
The blondies shall be kissed in about 3 hours. And then we shall watch Sharkboy and Lavagirl for the 8 millionth time!
@Brett
Oh, hey…I didn’t realize you had linked to Basil!
Thanks, Buddy.
Friar’s last blog post..Basil the Special Dog (Updated, Part III)
Friar,
No worries… I figured I hadn’t done too much linking for a bit, so it was time to link out to some folks who do cool stuff.
Brett,
I love, love, love children’s books so much that I have an entire bookshelf of them in my living room when you walk in my house. I wouldn’t even begin to know where to start with the recommendations. Of course being a past pre-school teacher a lot of them were in the three to five year old catagory and I have a tone of Dr. Suess and a lot of classics. I may own more kids books then adult books. That is saying a lot.
But then…I just love books. All books. Well, most books.
I’m just not really a Dicken’s fan. I can appreciate him, just don’t love him.
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Ah Sam, you don’t owe me anything. Ever.
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Wendi – GASP!! You don’t love Dickens?! My heart! (He’s one of my favourite classic authors.)
steph’s last blog post..Finding Your Voice – And Sticking with It
Children’s books and movies have always appealed to me as an adult. When it comes to teaching life lessons, it’s hard to top Disney, Silverstein, Seuss, and Van Allsburg.
It was by watching “Bambi” and “Lady and the Tramp” that I developed my love of animals.
(I won’t say Berenstain for fear of enraging Friar!)
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My favorite children’s book ever was Nora Jean, Jumping Bean. I remember having my dad come into my first grade class and read the book out loud – he has a great reading voice, so he came into my class quite often to read aloud to us. This is one of those books that I still hold dear, and will definitely be reading to my children someday.
Also, here’s a fun little Easter Egg for Lion King: You know how Rafiki always says “Asanti sana, squashed banana!” “Asanti sana” actually means “thank you” in the language they speak in Kenya (sorry, can’t remember if the language is called Kenyan or something else).
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@Steph’
We read “Oliver Twist” in Grade 13 English.
After 600 pages of schmaltzy-style Victorian English, we had enough. As Oliver’s chin quivered, and he wept tears of joy, etc…
Got to the point that at the end of the book, we were so sick of it, and our whole class started to HATE Oliver! We thought he was a big suck!
I’m still sick of it.
I haven’t read Dickens since.
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@Rebecca
“Baloo” (The big Bear from the Jungle Book) was TEN TIMES the bear those namby-pamby Berenstain Bear wusses are!
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Yay, I’ve found a whole new community of people that love children’s movies and books! I think my favourite at the moment would still have to Madagascar! “I like to move it move it!”. Brett, that’s so cool that you want to come live in New Zealand! It’s awesome here, especially Christmas on the beach
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@Wendi,
Really? That is so cool!!! All books are special, because they can give, and give, and give again. And like I said, and the more I think about it, because children’s books tend to have simple language and short sentences, the story *has* to be good.
@steph,
Then you shall just have my friendship
@Rebecca,
Life lessons – that’s the key to them, isn’t it. Another one my kids like, that I hate reading
is “Love You Forever”. Robert Munsch knows how to make this dad get teary every time. And the kids, well, they don’t quite understand the story completely yet… so I always have to say I got dust in my eyes…
@Allison,
I have a few books like that too – they are things I don’t want to let go. I’ve passed them on to my kids, which is pretty neat, because the dates inside the books are so old – but they’ve held up, and are telling the same stories to a new generation.
I think they speak Swahili there, but don’t quote me (I could ask Cathryn as she knows a lot about Africa, being from South Africa and all).
@Scribbles,
Welcome! Thank you for stopping in to say hello today – and that scene in Madagascar is really funny, I agree. My oldest son always sings that song, and it sort of drives my wife nuts!
That is our dream – Christmas on the beach. My wife, Cathryn, immigrated to Canada from South Africa at age 9, so she remembers Christmas on the beach there. We’re not really big winter & snow people
so we are dying to move. We were very lucky to be able to vacation there a little over a year ago, right at the beginning of August. Your winter is so much nicer than our winter!
In fact, the weather here right now – end of our summer – feels a lot like it did last year in NZ, in winter. We went into the water at Piha and Karekare, and Zorbing at Rotorua – very nice. Sadly we didn’t get any further south than the Rotorua region, but we will be back – to stay, eventually. That is when we’ll have a chance to go to South Island, and see the sights there.
So we expect to be Kiwis eventually! I had a quick look at your blog, and I love it! I was laughing at your post about “Rolling jaffas down the aisle…” – those were pretty good, I thought!
Brett:
I bought “The Giving Tree” for my daughter – now 20 – to read to ME at night. She read it to me and was SO ANGRY. She said something to the effect of “that is the meanest boy I ever saw. He’s so mean. All he does is take, take, take. And he gives the tree nothing. This boy is awful and I hate this book.”
She was up all night, trying to write a more “balanced story.” I was then informed that her little sister was NEVER to see that “horrible book.” I gave it away the next day.
No matter what we think about our kid’s books, sometimes the book is viewed VERY differently by the child.
This is a kid who just got accepted into a PhD program for cognitive psych. Go figure.
Rita
Rita’s last blog post..Casting Call for Authors!
Brett,
(I hate it when I’m late to the party!)
Great post. Never seen the movie, now I think the NYO and I will need to rent it. I love the dream quote, naturally. Very “me” on my Up With People days. (Sorry, Friar, gotta have a few!)
Whoa, the comments today are rolling along, aren’t they?
Let’s see: I love Nemo, and love that scene, Karen. Makes me cry every time, because you want to hold on to your kids and protect them from everything, and that’s Marlin’s moment to learn to let go… *sniff*
I am the biggest adult lover of kids tv, movies, books ever. There’s all sorts of grown up stuff in them. They keep me innocent (who snickered?) and childlike.
Narnia: same reaction as you had, Panther. Loved the books when I was a kid myself. Reading them as an adult to my kid I was shocked. Might as well beat her over the head with a bible, but would she let me stop? No-o.
No objections to the bible, just the beating over the head part.
If David Allen claims he invented tickler files, I’d like to know how I was using one in real estate back in about 1990. No GTD then. I read about tickler files from a real estate guru named Danny Kennedy. Cool link—I had no idea she didn’t invent the concept!
The Giving Tree: I like most Shel Silverstein stuff, but that one depressed me too much. I prefer Seuss when I want to be depressed by children’s lit, like The Lorax, for instance.
New lesson you can learn from Sharkboy et al: comments will go off on a tangent if kids’ movies are discussed. Ho ho.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Bill Gates on Bad Experience
@Rita,
I’ve read that The Giving Tree does tend to polarize people a bit – the message is very strong. And who’s to say, who is right, and who is wrong. That’s kind of the cool thing about things like that – everyone takes something away from it, it may be different, but we all learn something. Most likely, something about ourselves, if we think about it.
I learned that most times, I’m the tree, but with my wife, I can often be the boy. Improvements required in both areas.
@Kelly,
Yes, we have quite a good bunch here today (so, thanks, everyone!) and that’s always good. I think when the comments take on a life of their own, you’re on to something…
I wonder about the GTD thing – I don’t know if Allen claimed to invent the tickler (I couldn’t get all the way through the book, too damned boring for me). But he sure has popularized it.
@Brett
Today, the selfish kid would have taken the stump, and converted into particle board to make an Ikea coffee table.
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@ Kelly – I actually find that scene very powerful and uplifting (then again, I don’t have kids).
The scene in Nemo that *always* chokes me up is near the end when Marlin leaves Dory by herself and she’s pleading with him to not go. When she says, “When I’m with you…I’m home!”
Gets me. Every. Time.
I’m a sucker for crying fish…
(I could talk about this stuff forever! I might have to continue it on my blog Brett.)
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@Brett:
Erin Doland over at Unclutterer.com wrote yesterday about the man who patented the 43 files thing: http://unclutterer.com/2008/09/11/gtd-a-revolutionary-idea-in-1888/
Everyone has said pretty much everything I was going to, so I’m going to rant for a moment.
I learned about racism, environmentalism, Mutual Assured Destruction, how to to silly, how to be careful, how to accept yourself for being different all from Dr Suess, then along came Hollywood and WTF did they do to Dr Suess? They made Whos bad people and gave the Grinch a backstory. They marketed the sh*t out of anything Seuss when he was all about restraint and sustainability! (You’ll notice that they waited until the man was dead before exploiting him totally) It’s like Wall-E (my current fave) – the message of the movie and the message of the marketing are 100% at odds with each other.
@Friar – I totally agree with you on the coffee table thing! Too funny!
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Friar—Aaah! LOL.
Alex,
Yes! I never watch modern interpretations of literature, especially kids’ stuff. Once, moviemakers were faithful to the work’s intent, even if they had to shorten—think the original Dr. Dolittle, Mary Poppins, the 1940s Secret Garden if you’ve seen that (wonderful).
Now they have to add snark, something for the grownups, whom they condescend to and assume they couldn’t enjoy a fabulous story beautifully told. Throw in a little gross, maybe a smidge of violence, even a few not-quite-swear-words, and it’s a wrap! Apparently we’ve grown stupid, and don’t have any taste anymore.
Wall-E: First movie I’ve seen twice in the theatres voluntarily in years, maybe forever. OH, I love that film.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd Are?
@Friar,
And probably would have dug up the fertile soil around the roots, to use for flower planters in the window boxes…
@Alex,
Interesting, isn’t it, how big Hollywood often has a tendency to do that. Not always, but often. Of course, they have their own reasons (money!) for doing that, yet sometimes it’s as if they don’t want the true message to get through to the masses.
And that’s a really good point about Wall-E… I sort of thought that too, watching it, and then seeing all of the products that were out there to accompany the movie’s release.
@Friar: I knew I’d get you all ruffled and flustered
(And you’re right: Balloo is one bad-ass bear.)
Rebecca Smith’s last blog post..Don’t “lay” down on the job
It is amazing when a simple kids’ movie can have such messages that hopefully are infiltrating the young people who watch them! Can’t say I’ve seen Sharkboy and Lavagirl but I may introduce my nephew to it soon!
Thanks for the messages!
Jenny’s last blog post..Don’t Laugh At…
@Jenny,
You’d laugh, but we watched it *again* over the weekend, and I really paid attention to it – the positive messages run right through it – yes, watch it with a child!
You won’t regret it…