Shantala Palat My views on this film...Bridge to Terabithia...
a world of fantasy...imagination that knows no limits or boundaries...a world which you can escape into...away from the school bullies, the drudgery of life....and yet imagination has its dangers and sorrows too...It can never forever remain a alternate world and Jess truly understood it well...Between tears and smiles, the music of joy and creativity continued to play on....
I wonder what you folks think of the film...Is imagination good or dangerous for us? Is it therapy or escape from the real world?....
Niki Ray: Imagination is good in a positive manner but it should not be mistaken for hallucination. Firstly to have an imagination proves intelligence, creativity and the presence of an active mind. In a realistic world one doesn't really give in to imagination.
Aparna Sanyal: This is one of my favourite topics, Shantala! I remember reading about John Nash talking about his years of hallucination - he said there was no way he could have figured out he was imagining those voices and circumstances: after all, they came from the same place that his ideas on economics and mathematics came from. If the latter was feted and lauded, how was he to figure out that the former would work to destroy him vis-a-vis the 'real' world? There is another beautiful series of films on mathematical genius and madness, on similar lines... introduced to me by Durgadas Menon, if I am not mistaken. I think our thoughts and imagination are beautiful things; they are what makes us human. But they can turn against us sometimes... perhaps the way to regain control is to work with them, not against them. It takes time and patience... but perhaps in the end, is more long lasting? And perhaps we define the real world too narrowly? There is some fascinating work being done in the field of consciousness studies... makes you wonder what reality really is...
Another thing that really haunted me was the story of the illiterate, peasant girl - Joan of arc... who led the French to victory with the help of the voices... and yet, the voices could not come to her rescue when she needed them most, and she was burnt at the stake.
What if the reality around you is so cruel and harsh that it makes better sense to be in a different world? That's not so irrational, is it?
Val Resh: 1. What is termed 'escapism' for some is a possibility for few others. 'I am not condemned because I see what I see, but because you do not see what I see'. This escapism/possibility is a different or alternate state of reality where many existences are allowed to exist in their own natural authentic forms without being disturbed by what is the 'real' or without disturbing the 'real'. Logically speaking, the real then turns out to be the escapism from the other possible reality
2. It doesn't remain 'forever' , because the unimaginative or less imaginative people surrounding them would not allow it so because they simply have no clue or experience of it. Hence, majority speaks...and the fantasy world remains in fantasy world. The minute it mixes it becomes madness because it is then based on the forced perceptions of others.
3. Imagine when you sometimes have dreams that can seem unbelievably real to you?Where you truly felt / you touched/ smelt/ flew/ swam/ played/ etc....Imagine that these very states and the characters from the dream step out and stand beside you or sits in the couch next to you mother? Is that madness/ imagination/ dream/ fantasy/ escapism/ possibility/ alternate realities?
Dalip Daswani: What does it mean - "being realistic"? What is "reality"? "Perhaps we define the real world (reality?) too narrowly?" asks Aparna.. is it "irrational" to want to be in "a different world" she goes on.. to want to be in one's own make-believe world.. hmmm.. "the crazy ones".. [1:07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9GTUMh490&feature=related
how about seeing and describing *imagination* simply as imaginative? :) -- with possibility and potential for everything under the sun -- good, bad, safety, danger, therapy, madness, escape, fantasy, etc. etc...
Aparna Sanyal: Agree, Dalip Daswani.
Val Resh: Aparna Sanyal ....speaking of Joan of Arc...is it that we seem to think she needed the voices to come to her rescue because others wanted to acknowledge their existences? If Joan has been hearing them all her life & no one else did but only her, then why must the voices show up to others who simply had blind ears, or for that matter save her at the stake. If she wasn't at the stake she would not have been Joan of Arc. 25 years later after her execution, she was pronounced innocent & declared a martyr...(similar as the story of Galileo who said the Earth was round) Perhaps, the voices freed her off this requirement. This 'normal' requirement to be saved. Here in lies the paradox again.
Following her trial,(quoting Wiki):
1. There was no testimony against her, yet they denied her a legal adviser.
2. "Asked if she knew she was in God's grace, she answered: 'If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.'"[45] The question is a scholarly trap. Church doctrine held that no one could be certain of being in God's grace. If she had answered yes, then she would have convicted herself of heresy. If she had answered no, then she would have confessed her own guilt.
3. The Bishop denied her appeals, she was kept under the supervision of English soldiers instead of nuns, and many of the transcripts were altered to her disfavor. It was evident that she agreed to wear female clothing (the only reason for her disguise as a male was to fight the war) but the soldiers were ordered to molest her & tore those very clothing and left her with nothing but her male outfit to cover herself.
'The Voice' is a very personal experience perhaps not meant to be heard/seen/shared by others because it might just make everyone mad because they might not be given the gene of acceptance & genuine blind belief in existences seemingly unexplainable. If all 19yr old girls like Joan (during her era) heard the same voice, how many would really have the balls to cut their hair/disguise as a page and do what Joan did. Then surely enough Joan would call herself 'the chosen one'. Hence, it does stand to her believe as she was capable to take it further...it wasn't the voices who put her at the stake...it was mankind who did so for the fight of power....and they still continue doing so even in today's world.
Ajith Theatrical: i guess if ther is somethng universal, its only fantasy,fiction or hallucinations...
Realities are always relative, like a boy peeping out of a train and sees trees rushing backwards.... he believes that its the trees that are running backwards....not the train that moves forward..... maybe we can brand it as childish imagination and refusal of laws of motion....but only a mind not overpopulated by postulates n facts dares to ask questions....mayb i am dreaming f posting this commnt...mayb its just a figmnt f my imagination... as long as i m in this, its my reality....
supporting aparna ma'm view, i hav another movie suggstn.... Guillermo del Toro's Pan's labyrinth....
try n watch it guys...n realize which is more cruel....fantasy r reality....
Val Resh: Every1 shud be allowed their reality & belief...cruelty is relative in either 'worlds'. Acceptance & the freedom to choose is perhaps the path towards keeping both worlds co-existingly peaceful.
(between Sept 16th - 22nd)