Up! (The mind in paradise, the body still on earth)
I have watched Up! in the cinema today (it has just started in Germany) and it has instantly become my most favorite movie, surpassing The Matrix and Over the Hedge. I have never seen a movie that moved me that much while still being full of funny scenes and dramatic action. Of course, the young kids in the theatre were amused by the slapstick scenes with the giant bird Kevin and the dog Dug. But they lacked the life experience to see the beauty in the heartrending scenes with Carl and his former wife Ellie and were rather confused by them instead. Nevertheless it was interesting to experience their carefree laughter at the next funny scene while still having a tear in the eye after the slideshow of Carl and Ellie’s life.
If you think about it, the movie does not offer a happy ending in the strict meaning of the word. You can regret many things in life, but you only have so much power over all the things that happen in your life and so you might never get the chance to achieve the goal you desire the most. Carl only achieved the main goal of his (and Ellie’s) life after the death of his beloved wife. And when he finally did he had to find out that it was, after all, a goal whose achievement bore no meaning in itself. The moment of his biggest triumph was also the moment of one of his biggest letdowns. “The journey (of life) is the reward.” Is that the main statement of the movie? I don’t really know. I just know that in moments like these life seems quite cruel as physical reality can supposably never satisfy the demands of the mind. I seriously wonder if man has gotten too intelligent too fast; the mind in paradise, the body still on earth.
What bothers me the most is how recklessly people are throwing away love. I don’t necessarily mean the love between lovers, but also the love towards your children or the love between best friends. The father of Russel who didn’t show up during the Wilderness Explorer award show at the end of the movie is a good example for this. Being successful at work can certainly be a rewarding experience, but no soul has yet experienced salvation because some arrows are pointing upwards. It’s usually not needed to turn everything upside down to make the world a slightly better place. For example by helping your clumsy sister when she messed up something again instead of making fun of her.
I dunno, just some random thoughts of a troubled mind.
I think I have now drawn enough strips for the time being to make my points about certain political topics (except one that will be published on Halloween). So in the following months you can expect to see more comics dealing with the inner life of my characters. The current story arc is an example for this.
Novil said: I think I have now drawn enough strips for the time being to make my points about certain political topics (except one that will be published on Halloween). So in the following months you can expect to see more comics dealing with the inner life of my characters. The current story arc is an example for this.
Thank you for this. I would much rather read about your characters.
Hey there, I discovered your comic like a week or two ago and I loved it right away. Reading your post made me realise that you’re a person that knows how to enjoy life and that’s probably the reason why your comic is so touching. I’d love to know more about the characters you created and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Keep up the good work!
ps : You made me want to watch that movie.
HAHAHAHA!! That comment made my day. Just how wrong can you get in one sentence. *lol* I’d rate myself with a 1 on a rating scale from 1 to 5 measuring general happiness.
Cheer up.
I have discovered your comic a few weeks ago and even in such a short time you have brought tears, joy, laughter and deep thoughts while reading it. Very much in the same way that UP has done for me also. It in many ways reminds me of your comic in how one moment it deals with very serious subject (the one with the Crazy Cat lady and the man in the prison comes to mind) then moves to something of joy and laughter to scens of just pure tears (the note from her mom comes to mind). I think one of your comics really captures the spirit of UP in just a few short pannels. The one of VIewpoints and is very similar to it. All of life is an adventure and while we can’t change our actions of our past we can learn from them…and learn how to view them differently. For joy or dispare…..comfort or terror is all in our view of this great adventure we all share with each other. I know may not make much sence but your last few comic plus your comments about UP have really sparked some deep thoughts into me. Now I am off to give my own Wife some of those swiftly passing moments.
SQUIRRLE!….
… Haha I watched it with my boyfriend a good couple of months ago. Never knew it would ever be released in the UK so we watched the american release on megeavideo. The beginning was very sweet but sad, the snipe and doug I loved XD
I think the point of “Up” is that true happiness is found in the journey of life, not where you necessarily end up afterwards. Life is full of letdowns, but there’s also a lot of wonderful things we seem to miss as we hurry around back and forth to our destinations. It’s like if you’ve ever driven to work for months on end and then one day you’re the passenger on the same drive to work. You’ll find so many things you’ve missed or didn’t know from a different perspective. Missed because when you were the driver you were only focused on getting to the job site. 🙂
Haven’t seen it – missed it in the theatre (darn it; really wanted to see the 3D). I *will* see it the first day it’s out on DVD (Well, likely the *second, since’ i’ll be getting it from Netflix…)