Sailors on the Sea

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Where Would I Like to Live

Don't normally use this blog as a forum for movie reviews, but the movie I'm about to mention contained an exchange of dialogue which I found pertinent.

The movie is Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, and Andy Serkis. It isn't a great movie, but it's a nice movie. I liked it anyway. When it wasn't freezing up on our television screen. Our built-in DVD player isn't very good. We wound up finishing the movie on the computer, which shows all images dark.

I like the story's premise. There are people who can read characters out of books. They are called, Silvertongues. This story happens to be about a man who doesn't realize he has this power until he reads aloud to his wife and daughter. Suddenly, the characters he was reading about (which happened to be the bad guys) appear, and his wife is transported into the book as an exchange.

On the website linked to above the story blurb reads as follows: When Mo Folchart reads a story, the characters leap off the page. Literally. And that's the problem. Mo must somehow use his special powers to send the interlopers back to their world...and save ours. If ever a task was easier read than done, this is it. Mo and his daughter Meggie, aided by friends real and fictional, plunge into a thrilling quest that pits them against diabolical villains, fantastic beasts, and dangers at every turn. ... Follow Mo and Meggie into adventure more exciting than any ever read. Because it's adventure they're going to live.

I like Brendan Fraser. First saw him in Looney Tunes Back in Action. He's great at physical comedy, but he also can act. And he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, which I like.

The movie is escapism, and that suits me just fine. But at one point the movie touched on something very real for me. It occurred when Meggie and the book's author are locked in a dungeon together. The author is trying to rewrite the ending, but he's having difficultly making the words flow as though they were part of the original book. Meggie asks if he is suffering from "writer's block". Then she says she wants to be an author. The man sniffs and she asks him what is wrong. He then makes this statement (or something similar): "Being a writer is a lonely life. Sometimes the world we create are friendlier to us than the one in which we live. I would dearly love to live in mine."

It was at this point in time I felt a nudge on my leg. It was Spouse. Then came the question to me: Is that how you feel about your stories?

My response was instantaneous.

Absolutely.

Then I laughed and added,

In the world I created there is no one nagging me to get a job I don't want.

I wonder if I could survive in the world I created. It's frightfully medieval. As fat and out of shape as a I am, I would either become healthy in a hurry, or I would die even quicker. But it would be nice to live there. At least, I think it would.

6 comments:

fairyhedgehog said...

I think that's what I like in the books I read: another world to escape into.

You're much better at creating that than I am.

Bevie said...

I know the place I want to be. Maybe that's what it takes. I don't know.

Trina said...

I feel the same way about my own created world; I would have to be a storyteller there too, rather than an adventurer like my characters. I'd probably be the one who gets left behind to take care of the kids while everyone else is going off to fight!

Bevie said...

With my luck I would be one of the Unaligned. They're members of the family, but treated like slaves.

But it's free room and board!

Wolverine said...

One of the srories I wrote (it's not finished) is really cool. I would give a lot to go there.

That movie (Inkheart) was a real good one. I wouldn't watchit every day, but we are going to buy it today.

Bevie said...

Sometimes I wonder if heaven is a place where we can actually create these worlds we imagine and live in them. That would be cool.

Contributors

A Tentative Schedule

Monday - Progress Report
Where am I with regard to the Current Book

Tuesday - Thoughts About Writing
I was going to be profound, but let's be real

Wednesday - What Am I Learning
What can I take from what I am doing

Thursday - Work Sent Out For Review
Respondes to my submissions

Friday - Other Works of Fantasy
Some of my other fantasy writing

Saturday - The Impact of Music
How music has influenced what I write

Sunday - Venting
My 'morbid' time. A safe compromise, I think