Journal Excerpt

I think I could write an analytical essay on the movie Up. Or I could quote it in its entirety. E has moved on from Baby Signing Times: after asking to watch it about ten times a day for months, she woke up one day and decided it was incredibly boring and NO-NO-NO how could I make her watch something like that? Now it’s thirty minutes of Up every single day on repeat. It is literally the only thing she wants to watch. She insists we watch it through to the end of the credits. She keeps a running commentary going during the movie, which means pointing out “baby” (what she calls anyone under three feet), “doggy,” “balloon,” “bird,” and “house.” It’s like they purposely made a story out of all her favorite words.

I was thinking today how both main adult characters are quite similar, both maniacally pursuing a somewhat comical goal at the cost of forming meaningful human relationships. Both are driven to some degree by hurt, Carl because he’s lost Ellie and feels he was never able to give her what she wanted, and Charles because he called a liar and publicly humiliated. Muntz never learns to let his bird go, but Carl does, first his possessions and eventually his house.

It’s actually not a bad movie to watch while house-shopping. Their house was obviously well-loved and cared for, but it wasn’t everything in the end.

I think E watches it for the little Asian boy. Whenever she wants to watch it she says “more baby.. more baby.”