Charlie, Buster, and the scragamuffins
We all realize that children should be seen and not heard.
That’s why we plant them in front of the latest Disney mishmash while we eat a
quiet meal by ourselves, for once. Quite a bit has changed since that adage was
first uttered, including cinema. What about the movies the wee ones watch?
Unless you’re pushing 90, you don’t remember the silent film
era. However, you could be a parent considering self-asphyxiation by stuffed
animal if you have to spend another minute with Barney or Arthur or Elmo or
whatever else P.Blodeon blurts into our national juvenile consciousness. On the
other hand, The Matrix may not be the
best choice for the little scragamuffins.
Consider the humble silent movie. Expose your kids now to
films that challenge expectations, and maybe the day will be closer when they
sit still in a restaurant or talk intelligently with you about… whatever. So,
what can you possible watch that will entertain the children and not expose
your own silent-film-phobia? 19th-century film was heavy on short
documentaries, which nowadays serve as travelogues, geographical and
chronological.
Comedy is especially good. The Dryden Theatre shows silent
films on Tuesday nights, often in better condition than you’ll find anywhere
else. On October 18, Harold Lloyd stars in Safety
Last!, a classic for any era. Before then, do some warm-ups with Charlie
Chaplin and Buster Keaton on DVD or video. If you’re feeling particularly bold,
a lot of entertaining experiments are out there: Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, and the films of Georges Mรฉliรจs.
Be aware that the silent era was pre-code and many misguided
and misanthropic films were made. On the other hand, these films often display
the joy of creation. Such now-ubiquitous techniques as moving cameras and
close-ups were brand new ideas, abused less and loved more.
— Craig Brownlie
Septembers
Septembers are poignant times in the lives of parents and
children. At summer’s end we first send our 5-year-olds off to school. They say
goodbye to the cocoon of early childhood. Every September they step up to new
grades, schools, and independence. Teens fall in love with autumn’s renewed
friendships. Then, suddenly, they’re grown and off to college, travel, work:
their lives. Gone. Parents keep letting go a bit more every September. Kids
keep pulling away. Every September we learn that endings are new beginnings,
once we let go.
Why don’t these separations ever go well? Our kindergartners
cry or simply run off to their new classroom, forgetting to say good-bye. We
embarrass our kids at the bus stop. We linger too long or leave too soon at the
college dorm. We can’t ask our kids to understand what it is like for us to let
them go and, try as we may, we can’t really know their yearnings to leave. The
contrasting pulls of bonding and separation require these moments to be both
painful and sweet. There is no graceful middle.
A few weeks ago, friends asked me what it was like to “drop
off” my daughter to start college. “Drop off” seemed too passive a phrase. I
said, “I did not drop her off. She cut the tether on the catapult she had been
stretching back for 18 years.” Off she soared. I can’t wait to see where she’s
headed.
— Laurence I. Sugarman, MD
This week for families:
On Friday September 16, Robin
Pulver, author of Axle Annie and the
Speed Grump, will be atBarnes
& Noble, 3349 Monroe Avenue, at 7 p.m. Free. 586-6020
This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2005.
