Here's a Challenge!

I'm still hung up on the movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild."  Seen it?

If not, please do.  You're probably seen the adorable and exceedingly talented young girl who stars in the movie.  You may have heard that she (having acted in the film at age six) was nominated for an Academy Award.  But that is all beside the point. When I saw the movie, I was blown away by a variety of things, just my opinion, and I share a few here:

•This will be a classic that just gains more fame as years go by.

•The slim play by a 22-year-old the movie's based on is a perfect example, to me, of letting your creative voice  out, and let it stand, something I hope we can help children learn.

•The movie offers endless opportunities for discussions of all types.

And so, next month, it's my turn to host my book club, and that means I get to pick the book.  I intend to pick the play (Juicy and Delicious, available on amazon.com) and let our readers enjoy a short book they may or may not like, but will only take them 20 minutes to read.  I also get to lead the discussion, so these will be some of my questions:

1.  I found love, joy, grace, and redemption as major themes in the play/movie.  What words come to mind for you?

2.  Are kids who have to live in survival mode/or major life struggle more apt  to handle life than kids who are coddled, or insulated from most challenging situations?  (I'm thinking of this self-esteem for doing ordinary stuff business, for one thing.)

3.  If it "takes a village" to raise a child, how did the few main characters in this play/movie contribute to helping the character Hushpuppy become more able to survive, even thrive?

4.  What symbolism did you find, especially in the movie?  (Hint:  I thought it was fabulous to find so much symbolism in a movie and I would love to "teach" this movie to high school students!)

5.  I've heard all kinds of arguments on how realistic this movie is, meaning what's real and what's Hushpuppy's imagination. How much do you believe such things can happen?

6.  Did anyone else notice that this movie did not take a typical stance in plot?   In most movies the plot is almost predictable.

Clearly I'm a big fan and will be biased in my answers; whether I'm right or wrong is irrelevant.  Why am I so keen on this movie (and thus the original short short play)?  Because, frankly, if I were Eudora Welty, Truman Capote, Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and others from our good, old Southern Big Literary Talent Past (and let's not leave out Tennessee Williams), I'd be hootin' and hollerin' from the grave, raving about this film.

It's so Southern, which means it's so universal, so brutal, charming, and true.  There has been nothing like it, and isn't that refreshing?  Plus the entire way the film came about, with limited budget, untrained actors (some of them), and more—just makes this  amazing to me.  Plus, when, since you've read your favorite classic short story, have you memorized lines - lines of few words - but so memorable you will never forget them?  

The challenge is see the movie, read the play, come to the book club.  Those above are just a few of the questions.  Plus, there's bound to be wine and chocolate, and oh, wow, I'd love to hear what Pat Conroy thinks!

I've met these beasts, this child, this dad, this teacher, those aurocks, and survived.  I have skin in this movie. As a writer, I'd have been so proud to have written this.  I can't wait to see what this playwright and this filmmaker do next.

Lastly, if you have seen the movie, I just have one last thing to say: "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (or however you want to spell a good-old-fashioned scream.)