Movie Therapy-- "Holes"

Objective: 

Teach our son, TsukiMoon, about feelings and motivations of others.

Theory:  

To watch movies that have a complex character development will build TsukiMoon's understanding of people and their emotions.   "Holes" also teaches how to help others become better.

On The Ground:

Our latest in Movie Therapy was to watch "Holes."

I first read "Holes" back in 2000 when it was first published.  I thought it was such a great, tight story that I immediately shared it with my husband and parents, also buying several copies to give to friends.  

My mother, who is super critical of; bad plot devices, characters breaking character, and predictable story lines, loved it.  My husband thought it was such a compact story that it rivaled "Pulp Fiction" in tying up every lose end, maybe even better he said.  It was a perfect a choice to teach our son, TsukiMoon  how when you treat others with caring can heal everyone and everything.

The story is complex. Every story element has a purpose, carefully intertwined with another.  The first time we watched it, it was a difficult for TsukiMoon to follow all the moving parts.  He watched it again the following night and was better able to apprehend the finer points.

He asked lots a lot of questions about the relationship between Stanley and Zero.  He couldn't understand why Stanley would help Zero, why Zero couldn't read, and why Zero was so sick after his days spent under the boat, Mary Lou.  The whole thing stretched his understanding.

When TsukiMoon ask questions about people's motivations, it is a good thing.  He asked a lot about "Holes."  He wants to understand people.  As long as the flick is interesting is enough it is pretty easy to teach him the mechanics of people's feeling because he wants to know.

"I did not know how to reach him, how to catch up with him...  The land of tears is so mysterious." --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince"

Don't worry darling, we will help you.

Movie Therapy-- "The Imitation Game"

Objective: 

Teach our son, TsukiMoon, about feelings and motivations of others.

Theory:  

Watching movies that have complex character development will build TsukiMoon's understanding of people.  Also watching closeups of faces that are 12-15 feet tall helps TsukiMoon see and internalize emotions of others.

On the ground:

Finding the right movies that are character driven, are fast pace, but aren't heavy on violence or sex is a trick.  TsukiMoon is 9 years old, most of the movies in this specific area are not appropriate, not fast enough paced, or not an interesting subject to him. 

Our first choice to try out this theory was "The Imitation Game" this holiday.  It was a perfect movie for TsukiMoon   It was about WW2, TsukiMoon's favorite subject.  It was fast paced but character driven, full of emotional turmoil and nuance.  Plus telling an early story of the person who created the Turning Machine didn't hurt either.

"The Imitation Game" is true story is about British Intelligence breaking the Nazi enigma machine which would decode all of the Nazi troop movements.  The theory of Alan Turning was that it took a machine to unlock the secrets of another machine.  Going against all his colleagues and his seniors, frustrating them greatly, he pursued something that he believed in.  It turned out that his answer was correct.  

The way that the actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, played Alan Turning as a person on the spectrum.  Wether this was true I don't know but it was good for TsukiMoon to watch a person communicate badly with others and watch the reactions of others to his seemly illogical reactions (relative to "normal" people).

TsukiMoon enjoyed the movie.  We talked as a family how Turning could have communicated better, what clues he missed in the people he worked with.  It is important for TsukiMoon to learn problem solving by seeing solutions that work and those that don't.  A good first start.

Movie Therapy-- "October Sky"

Objective: 

Teach our son, TsukiMoon, about feelings and motivations of others.

Theory:  

Watching movies that have complex character development will build TsukiMoon's understanding of people and their emotions.

On the ground:

Unlike television, movies usually have a solution, which is an important part of the process to help Boo learn.  TsukiMoon needs to see that there are solutions to the challenges that people face.  

The choice to watch "October Sky" came out of TsukiMoon's interest in rockets.  As mentioned in other parts of this blog, TsukiMoon's dad took him to a rocket day at a local airfield.  We had done this earlier in TsukiMoon's life, when he was about 5 but not since.  On happenstance when I was off at a knitting convention, Mr. TsukiMoon was reminded of Rocket Day at a near by airfield.  They went to the house and got the rocket that was used when TsukiMoon was 5 and brought it to the launch pads set up on the tarmac.  

This one small activity to fill time that day, turned into the latest obsession.  We have watched "The Right Stuff" and "From the Earth to the Moon," to give a history lesson to the use of rockets.  Then we remembered "October Sky."  

It is tough to find a movie that doesn't have a whole lot of unsuitable language for a 9 year old.  We don't mind swearing and regularly talk to TsukiMoon about the use of swear words, stating it is inappropriate to use them at his age.  As a rule follower, we had easy buy in (for now).  The challenge with any media is does the content more then what the child knows or, really, what I am willing to explain."October Sky" was a good choice.

TsukiMoon was enraptured with the story.  It was helpful to watch a set of boys work through the challenges of rocketry.  They had to work with people in the West Virginia mining town to get the parts they needed (read this as: teaching how to "communicate with others"), changed the design, then test, test, test their modified concept.  

Does this help TsukiMoon immediately?  Maybe, probably not.  At the least it feeds his interest at the time.  At the most it gives him one more piece of understanding of how people overcome challenges.  It teaches that the tests we face as humans don't have to stop us, we persevere.   

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common then unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan, "Press On!" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."  --Calvin Coolidge