I can do a bunch of stuff over a weekend and still be behind. Today reminded me of that at school. So I came home, had dinner, and when Annika started asking about going shopping, I said “how about movie Monday?” I was thinking that I could clean out my backpack, maybe get a couple things done, and we could just chill. She said “yeah! Let’s have popcorn and watch Spirited Away.” She was on board. Cool.

I made the popcorn, sat down for a few minutes, and tried to do a few things while the movie started. Annika wasn’t having it. “Watch this part!” She kept telling me. “Look at this!” Finally I gave in to her – I was getting a headache anyway – and watched the movie with her. She was more interested in my responses to the movie since she’d seen it before. She wasn’t disappointed.

Seriously, what is up with that film? I’m pretty sure my face showed all the shades of confusion, which Annika thought was delightful. I know it has a fantastic reputation with critics, which it deserves in the sense that it is intricate, beautiful, and engaging. But what the hell? I feel like I have to watch it again a few times to understand it, but I’m not really sure I want to. Some of the images are unforgettably uncomfortable.

I did some research and got some good context for the film from scene-by-scene and frame-be-frame analysis of the signs and Japanese characters that I didn’t understand. I read some character and theme analysis too, which helped me understand the different spirits and symbolism a little better. Still, I feel like I’m not following it completely. I kind of wish I could share it with my Legends students and get their feedback. It fits our Hero’s Journey lessons and fits the fantasy/mythology focus.

So now I’m in bed nursing my bad headache (migraine?) while rerunning some of the ideas in my head and trying to follow them. I definitely didn’t expect to be doing film analysis with a headache tonight. Life is weird.