Ringing Bell (1978)

I came across this short but powerful film after watching the movie sea prince and fire child

***Spoilers below***

The story is about a young lamb named Chirin who lived with his mother and their herd in a meadow. Chirin was more energetic than all the other lambs put together and wore a bell around his neck so that his mother could find him if he wandered too far while playing. All is good in Chirin's life until one night when the wolf king comes down from his mountain and attacks the sheep in their little hut. He starts attacking one or two of the sheep and then sees Chirin and charges for him, but before the wolf can eat him, Chirin's mother throws herself on Chirin and sacrifices herself for her baby. When Chirin is able to struggle out from under his mother the wolf has gone and he finds that his mother is dead, so he leaves the meadow to find the wolf on the mountain and get revenge. When he climbs the mountain and finds the wolf he tries charging him, yelling that he killed his mother, but the wolf doesn't give him the time of day and flicks him down the side of a small drop with his tail, knocking Chirin out. When he wakes up he goes again to find the wolf, but this time tells the wolf that he wants to be his apprentice. sheep are weak and they hide instead of fighting, but wolves are strong. The wolf laughs him off and Chirin goes off to prove himself as a wolf by trying to scare buffalo, a skunk, and a couple of ground hogs or something, but instead of scaring them they just laugh and end up pushing him around instead. Chirin returns to the wolf defeated and then decides to follow the wolf around. The wolf ends up giving in and trains Chirin to live the hard and lonely life of a wolf. After much time has past and Chirin has grown into an adult ram, the wolf decides it is time to attack the sheep in the meadow again, this time with Chirin. Chirin barges into the little shack and the sheep are scrambling around everywhere to hide. One little lamb calls for his mother and she runs to him and shields him with her body, like Chirin's mother did so long ago. This strikes a chord in him and he runs out of the hut. The wolf comes to meet him and tells him not to run away. Chirin doesn't want to wolf to kill anymore sheep so he and the wolf fight and chirin ends up killing him. Then Chirin leaves, more alone and heartsick than ever before, never to be seen or heard from again.

***End spoilers***

This movie touched a chord in me, I think it would in almost anyone. When you first start watching it it seems like it will be a really fluffy vacuous movie that you'll forget 10 minutes after watching it. Instead, it's almost a testament to those who have loved and lost and then let the pain of that loss lead them down a darker road. I know that it doesn't seem like a movie for children, but I think that the way this was handled is appropriate for a children's film. There is no blood or gore, it just deals with serious issues instead of happily ever afters and the vacuous fluff we've become used to. This was made in the 70's so what's deemed appropriate now and what was then has obviously changed, but I think that films like this should be seen by children. Life is not always going to be happy, not everyone you meet will be happy, and sometimes you will be in bad situations.

The character in this film makes a choice to isolate himself and to be mean, like the wolf who killed his mom, but the way the movie ends leaves the viewer feeling his sadness and his dissatisfaction with his own life. It doesn't tell the child what should be done in a sad situation, but lets the viewer make their own decision. I actually loved it when I first saw it (as an adult) because it didn't have that happy, Disney ending. I mean I love happy endings, but our society has really sucked everything out of the 'happily ever after' idea, so much so that a happy ending seems almost false or staged in film. In almost every film you know that the characters will all be happy at the end of the movie, even if they don't end up getting the guy/girl, they are happy with their lives. This often leads to young kids who grow up having to find out that life isn't a happily ever after. There will be bad things that happen and you won't always get the guy/ girl. In fact, romance may not even be the focal point of your happiness, shocking an idea as that is. This movie had an unsatisfied character and left the viewer with something to think about. Chirin's struggle will stay with you after the credits. It definitely leaves an impression on the viewer. Now, whether or not you want to expose your child to the fact that everything is not happy in the world and that the choices you make will effect you in some way or another is up to the parent, but this is definitely a children's film. It's deeper than it seems on the surface and gives a child something to think about. Great film.

                

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

This book was so adorable! I read it in a couple of hours, I was hooked from the first page.

It's the story about two kids, a girl and a boy, and how they feel about each other as they grow older. It was decently written and was more complex than I initially assumed it would be. At first glance this looks like your typical story of unrequited love, girl loves boy, boy wants nothing to do with girl. But the story is actually much more than this. The girl, Julie, is a headstrong, genuine person who lives her life with conviction. Hearing a summary of the book you would assume that she is some spineless, wilting heroine who feels like she needs a boy to know who she is, but she's just the opposite. The reason she goes after Bryce the way that she does is because she puts 150% into everything she does. She's a dreamer and an activist, one of those people who you meet only once in a lifetime.. if you're lucky. Bryce comes to realize this, and by getting to know her, comes to see how prejudiced and superficial he is.

The story is told by both Bryce and Julie, and they take turns telling the reader what happened chapter by chapter. And, as one might assume, the story starts off with the girl being obsessed with the boy and the boy wanting nothing to do with the girl. Since this is a romance of sorts I would assume that you would be able to fabricate the basic plot line from that information, so I won't 'spoil' it for you.

The characters go through self discovery and heartbreak. There is a theme of 'breaking free of one's old mentality' and embracing a passion for life and the main characters emphasize this transition (or the state of being if not the actual transition itself... though the moving from one state to the other is the most fascinating aspect and would be the crux of the story).

I really love finding stories like this. It's a sweet, innocent romance (in the actual sense of the word, not in the smutty sense), but with some depth to it which makes the story all the more real and palpable. You get to watch these kids grow into the people they will be. Julie is such a free spirit, though you don't quite expect this right away as Bryce starts off the first chapter, I really enjoyed her character. and Bryce gets an inner strength as he grows older that represents a real struggle for the individual's own self awareness.

The ending was somewhat unsatisfying because it kind of left the reader hanging... and it was excellent because of that. this isn't a story about dating, it's about before that happens, when you first discover love. You can tell the author did an excellent job with this because you're left wanting more, you want to know how it will end. We as the western audience we are crave the 'honeymoon' phase, even if it means destroying true love just to have somewhere to start all over again. This book gives the reader hints of the honeymoon phase, but doesn't go into it, leaves the reader at the cusp of what could be.

Much more amazing than I initially assumed it would be, this book is great and I recommend it.

I'm The Biggest Thing In The Ocean by Kevin Sherry

This is about a giant squid who goes around the ocean showing us how he's bigger than everything, and you can tell he's really proud of this fact, in a fun way. Then a whale comes behind him and eats him in all of his glory and he's shocked for a second. But then he looks around at all of the other animals in the whale and then proclaims happily that he's the biggest thing in the whale.

 It's an optimistic book about a squid who happy with who he is enough to see how he's great no matter the situation. It's short, but it's good to read out loud and has bright, colourful pictures.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was a great book. It's one of those ones where you just love the main character. Charlie's in grade 9, a smart kid with no friends, and this book follows Charlie's life through a series of letters he writes to us, the readers.

What I think I love about Charlie is his honesty in his approach to the world. He seems somewhat disconnected, and is, as he has no friends to peer pressure him at the beginning of the story. So he views people at school from an outsiders perspective. He never sounds persecuted though (as you would have to be emotionally involved to be persecuted, and Charlie is almost estranged from his own life, being the wallflower and all) he just reports the events in his life with an earnestness that makes you want the best for him. He talks about both touchy subjects and regular 'growing up' issues normally, and approaches these with a cautious nervousness, though at the same time he's... I guess he chooses an opinion and then sticks with that conviction. He makes me smile, I want to hug him. I really got emotionally attached to him, when he experiences something good, I'm really happy for him. I think I teared up a bit when he kissed that girl.

Anyways, Charlie's problem is that he has no presence in his own life. He is a wallflower in his own life, so much so that he writes us these letters so that the reader has a larger presence vicariously in his life than he does himself. There is one scene when he's the DJ at a party, and he gauges the mood of the party so well that he accurately picks out songs to reflect that mood, which he's so good at because he's always looking outside of himself. He's very 'other' focused, too selfless. There's a potential reason for this at the end, though it is debatable as to how much of this is just his personality as opposed to a response to something else.

This is a great book with a great character.