8/6/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Have you seen the Barbie movie yet? I encourage you to do so, but suggest you have a private showing in the WH. According to the WP, “some people seem to have forgotten how to go to the movies… drunken outbursts, public nudity & nonstop cellphone use (are) disrupt(ing) packed theaters.” Luckily, that was not my experience yesterday when I went to see it a 2nd time.

            As an educator, I am fascinated to learn about the messages ‘tweens might be taking from the movie. Are they able to infer what patriarchy means after hearing it more than 10 times? Do they get how the Mattel executives claim to be interested in girls’ empowerment but get excited when Ken’s “mo-jo-do-jo-casa house” sells like hot cakes? Do they understand the critique on romantic love when Barbie tries to convince Ken that his devotion to her should not be his identity? Do they get what Allan’s all about?

            What kind of effect can one movie have? Can art change the world? Probably not, but it can spark imaginations. I know it sparked mine.

According to Artspace, “psychoanalysis reminds us that traumas produce distortions, repression, fictions of various sorts. Repressed traumas often inspire repetitions.” When trauma has an outlet, healing can begin. Art also enables us to get out of our own heads for at least a short time to see the world in a new way.

Maung Saungkha, poet & leader of the Bamar People's Liberation Army, says, “we must overcome our ego, homesickness & intellectual pride… we must fight a revolution within ourselves before we can fight a revolution against others.” Art supports this process.

Ellen McLaughlin, who is playing King Lear in Boulder, makes the point that when we make art we don’t have to be perfect. She says her part is one she will, “never get right. It’s like trying to throw a no-hitter…You’re never gonna do it. But the effort to do it is worthwhile, & you learn something from that effort.”

Make art not war.

BYBS,

RCA