12-03-2018, 10:48 AM
I am wondering if anybody on this forum saw this movie. I didn't even know about it until this morning when I pulled something up, and, no, this has nothing to do with a former FLOTUS. This is a tragic story of coming of age angst. As a writer of song lyrics, as I was reading this I was thinking of a song that could be written based on this story. Yet I realized there already was a classic song with this theme. And it follows the enclosed write-up.
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]‘Lady Bird’, Love, and Attention
![[Image: 1*5s3r0m2flRqqAMeZKlZQLw.jpeg]](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/fit/c/100/100/1*5s3r0m2flRqqAMeZKlZQLw.jpeg)
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]Drew Coffman[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]Follow[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54)]Jan 23[/color]
(This article discusses the plot of Lady Bird. Read at your own risk!)
Moving from one city to another is a gut-wrenching thing.
It’s also, quite simply, part of life.
I know many people who couldn’t fathom living in the same city for a lifetime. I’m one of them.
‘Lady Bird’ deals with the subject of moving, and I was reminded of the sheer awkwardness of the transition that comes along with it while watching the film. It’s a surreal heartache that’s written deeply into its bones.
The movie is, at it’s core, a coming of age story. It’s about a quirky young woman growing up in Sacramento. It’s about how the city she lives in feels dull and boring and lifeless. It’s about how she yearns to escape.
The story’s main character has all the family problems that a typical teenager struggles with, dysfunctions which anyone that age is inclined to have. She feels trapped in her existence and circumstance. So, she dreams of a new home.
A catholic school student in her senior year, Lady Bird writes an essay for her college applications, drawing from her life. She’s called in to the office by a nun she has a particularly amicable relationship with, because the sister has read her essay and wants to tell her just how good it is.
“It is clear that you love Sacramento,” the nun says, and to this Lady Bird is genuinely shocked. Sick of the suburbs and desperate for something different, she is sure that she hates the place.
“I guess I pay attention,” Lady Bird responds, seeming to struggle to find the words.
The nun’s response seems to be as much for the audience as it is for the headstrong eighteen-year-old in her office:
“Don’t you think they’re the same thing? Love and attention?”
Indeed they are. At least to a certain extent.
What is love without the lavishing of attention on the other party? Conversely, what is the act of attention but love? The attention that a parent might give a child in a strained relationship? The attention that someone struggling with their identity might give to the person they’re dating? The attention that a teenager might give to their best friend?
The attention that you give those around you, just by being present.
Lady Bird applies to colleges in New York City, and though her chances are slim (due to middling grades and a long college waitlist), she gets in. It’s only then that she realizes how much she misses everyone and everything that was in her life beforehand.
Right before Lady Bird leaves, she gets her driver’s license. She’s a bit late in receiving it at the age of 18, but this is just another part of being a poor kid from a one-car family. When she arrives in New York she finds herself thinking back to her last days in Sacramento, of driving on the streets and freeways which at one time had seemed so mundane but now seem so full of nostalgia.
Lady Bird finds herself thinking about her mother. About how this uncommunicative and emotionally out of touch person drove down the same lanes that she did. She finds herself thinking about her father. About how the roads were full of places where she’d asked him to pull over and let her out, a request made so that she’d be spared the indignity of that final mile to school. She finds herself thinking those Sacramento roads themselves, full of so many little details. About how the city which seemed so dull now feels so special.
When we leave a place (or a person), we’re apt to think of it (or them) so much more. We create an inner, mental attention which ignores the imperfections and can blossom into love.
The tragedy that Lady Bird reveals is how unfortunate it is that sometimes we give that love only when we’ve left a place behind.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hWW8Lr-Ajg
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]‘Lady Bird’, Love, and Attention
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]Drew Coffman[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84)]Follow[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.54)]Jan 23[/color]
(This article discusses the plot of Lady Bird. Read at your own risk!)
Moving from one city to another is a gut-wrenching thing.
It’s also, quite simply, part of life.
I know many people who couldn’t fathom living in the same city for a lifetime. I’m one of them.
‘Lady Bird’ deals with the subject of moving, and I was reminded of the sheer awkwardness of the transition that comes along with it while watching the film. It’s a surreal heartache that’s written deeply into its bones.
The movie is, at it’s core, a coming of age story. It’s about a quirky young woman growing up in Sacramento. It’s about how the city she lives in feels dull and boring and lifeless. It’s about how she yearns to escape.
The story’s main character has all the family problems that a typical teenager struggles with, dysfunctions which anyone that age is inclined to have. She feels trapped in her existence and circumstance. So, she dreams of a new home.
A catholic school student in her senior year, Lady Bird writes an essay for her college applications, drawing from her life. She’s called in to the office by a nun she has a particularly amicable relationship with, because the sister has read her essay and wants to tell her just how good it is.
“It is clear that you love Sacramento,” the nun says, and to this Lady Bird is genuinely shocked. Sick of the suburbs and desperate for something different, she is sure that she hates the place.
“I guess I pay attention,” Lady Bird responds, seeming to struggle to find the words.
The nun’s response seems to be as much for the audience as it is for the headstrong eighteen-year-old in her office:
“Don’t you think they’re the same thing? Love and attention?”
Indeed they are. At least to a certain extent.
What is love without the lavishing of attention on the other party? Conversely, what is the act of attention but love? The attention that a parent might give a child in a strained relationship? The attention that someone struggling with their identity might give to the person they’re dating? The attention that a teenager might give to their best friend?
The attention that you give those around you, just by being present.
Lady Bird applies to colleges in New York City, and though her chances are slim (due to middling grades and a long college waitlist), she gets in. It’s only then that she realizes how much she misses everyone and everything that was in her life beforehand.
Right before Lady Bird leaves, she gets her driver’s license. She’s a bit late in receiving it at the age of 18, but this is just another part of being a poor kid from a one-car family. When she arrives in New York she finds herself thinking back to her last days in Sacramento, of driving on the streets and freeways which at one time had seemed so mundane but now seem so full of nostalgia.
Lady Bird finds herself thinking about her mother. About how this uncommunicative and emotionally out of touch person drove down the same lanes that she did. She finds herself thinking about her father. About how the roads were full of places where she’d asked him to pull over and let her out, a request made so that she’d be spared the indignity of that final mile to school. She finds herself thinking those Sacramento roads themselves, full of so many little details. About how the city which seemed so dull now feels so special.
When we leave a place (or a person), we’re apt to think of it (or them) so much more. We create an inner, mental attention which ignores the imperfections and can blossom into love.
The tragedy that Lady Bird reveals is how unfortunate it is that sometimes we give that love only when we’ve left a place behind.
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- [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68)]Film[/color]
- [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68)]Movies[/color]
- [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68)]Coming Of Age[/color]
- [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68)]Love[/color]
- [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.68)]Attention[/color]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hWW8Lr-Ajg