Friday, May 05, 2006
It was hokey, it was contrived, and I already knew the ending...
...but I have to confess that Akeelah and the Bee was one of the best (and certainly most family friendly) movies that I've seen in the last year. (Apologies to my beloved Pride and Prejudice, but this one actually held my 10 y/o dd's attention!).
How could you not love any medium that celebrates words? The vocabulary lesson alone (not to mention the shameless plug for Latin) was worth the admission price.
I also loved the fact that Akeelah, while she felt alienated from her surroundings) was not a "nerd"...she learns to embrace her intelligence without losing herself (or her neighborhood friends). My oldest dd (a bit of a "word nerd" herself--Did I mention that she placed fifth in our regional spelling bee?) needs to see more messages along that vein.
Sadly enough, at 10 (and grade skipped), she is already facing tremendous social pressure to "dumb herself down". Some of this pressure comes from older children who perceive her as an academic threat. Worse, however, are the well-intentioned comments from adults, aimed at encouraging her, that only serve to highlight her struggle to "fit in".
The theme of the movie can be summed up in this quote, framed on the wall of Akeelah's spelling bee coach:
How could you not love any medium that celebrates words? The vocabulary lesson alone (not to mention the shameless plug for Latin) was worth the admission price.
I also loved the fact that Akeelah, while she felt alienated from her surroundings) was not a "nerd"...she learns to embrace her intelligence without losing herself (or her neighborhood friends). My oldest dd (a bit of a "word nerd" herself--Did I mention that she placed fifth in our regional spelling bee?) needs to see more messages along that vein.
Sadly enough, at 10 (and grade skipped), she is already facing tremendous social pressure to "dumb herself down". Some of this pressure comes from older children who perceive her as an academic threat. Worse, however, are the well-intentioned comments from adults, aimed at encouraging her, that only serve to highlight her struggle to "fit in".
The theme of the movie can be summed up in this quote, framed on the wall of Akeelah's spelling bee coach:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us -- it's in everyone.And as we let our own light shine,we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson
Maybe that alone was worth the price of admission to the movie. It's the message I'm glad to have the media feed my brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous woman-child.
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1 Comments:
Oh I have so been there done that!!! In the 6th-7th grades (already grade-skipped LOL) I made B's on purpose so that I wouldn't be considered even more of a nerd than I already was. *sigh*
Fortunately after that we switched schools, where it was "cool" to be smart. :-P
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