The good, the bad and the ugly.

Today, I watched a Western film with my sons. It happened to be The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Now, before you start imagining that Malaysia is broadcasting old Westerns, I would like to point out that I got it on DVD, in a local store. It was in the "classics" section.

I grew up with Westerns. I used to watch them with my father. He was particularly fond of the genre and I remember well his excitement as he watched the films. He would identify strongly with the hero and become very engrossed in his every action. Indeed, at key moments he would lean forward towards the TV screen, clenching his fists, in the tension of the moment. I see, now, that this is evidence of his capacity for imaginative involvement - but at the time I just used to think how much he liked these films.

So, I suppose, in many ways, I associate Western movies with my father. It was almost always with him, that I watched them. Thus, it was a telling moment when I bought a Western movie to watch with my own sons. I suppose I was just being my Dad, to them. Now, I should point out that they had never seen a Western film, before. The genre is not popular in this part of the world and one has never been on TV here. Then again, the genre is no longer popular. New Westerns are not being made. Thus, for them, it was a new experience.

They watched intently. Mainly, though, they waited to see what would happen. I think the pace was unfamiliar to them. Modern movies are faster and linger less on expressions and character. The boys did not know what to make of a movie that wasn't always leaping onto the next scene as fast as possible. I didn't realize, until I watched this with them, how much the pace of modern movies differs from the ones I grew up with. Now, movies are a race, then, they were a stroll.

Ainan criticized the lingering shot at the end as the Good receded into the distance: "I don't even know why they include that.", he puzzled. "It is for atmosphere.", I informed him, knowing that it didn't fit his ideas of what a film should be.

"Did you enjoy it?", I asked Ainan at the end.

"Yes.", he confessed.

I was glad, for a moment.

"But not as much as other films".

I understood, then, that the childhood I knew was gone and I could not even bring a piece of it, into theirs. Their world was different. Their expectations were different. Even what a film shouuld be, was different. I had grown up in more leisured times - in the sense that a film, then, was allowed to take its time to tell a story. Now, stories have to explode across the screen - and that is what kids expect.

I remember well and fondly those childhood days watching Westerns with my father. However, my sons will not have such memories of watching them with me. Times have changed. The world has moved on and what once was, cannot be again.

Yet, it was good to see how they would respond to it. It taught me, at least, how different their expectations are, nowadays. I somehow doubt that they will ever go to the trouble of showing their sons a Western, someday.

I wonder what they will remember of how I brought them up? What will they one day show their sons? (Or daughters?) Will they ever do anything, in memory of me?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

An appreciation of beauty.

There is a phrase that Ainan says a lot, particularly recently. Perhaps you might like to guess what it is? He uses this phrase to describe things in the world and he says it with a quiet reverence. I find its use most revealing of who Ainan actually is.

Please have a guess. It is the same phrase over and over again. He doesn't say it repeatedly, in a day, but I might hear it once or twice a week, when he encounters something that makes him react that way.

Have you made your guess? Well, the phrase is: "It's beautiful!". He says it with such quiet intensity, that I know, for sure, that he feels the beauty of what he is seeing. He says it spontaneously and not in response to a question.

I first noticed this, a few months ago, when he was reading about Circumzenithal Arcs and Circumhorizontal Arcs - which are both rainbow like atmospheric phenomena. He said: "It's beautiful!". I perked up at that, because it wasn't a scientific reaction to his reading, but an aesthetic one. Thereafter, of course, I started to pay more attention to whether or not he was responding aesthetically to things and I came to observe that such a response in him, was rather common. Ainan really appreciates beauty.

I find this interesting. It goes along well with the mathematicians and scientists of old, whom I have read referring to equations as "beautiful". They usually say this when something is clear, simple and effective. So perhaps they are actually responding to "elegance". Nevertheless, I find it tantalizing that Ainan should share an aesthetic appreciation of phenomena with these names (whose names elude me!) of old.

However, I should point out that Ainan's appreciation of beauty goes beyond that of the scientist's purview, into that of the artist. He notes as beautiful such things as the glint off a sword, in a picture, a building, or a car - and not just scientific phenomena. He is, therefore, responding to VISUAL beauty.

I wonder at this. Is there an artist in Ainan waiting to come out? Will he prove to be a more balanced type of creative individual - one both artist and scientist? This repeated phrase of his is a hint that he may very well become so - for he has a definite aesthetic response to the world and that, I propose, is one of the more powerful signs of a nascent artist: first comes the artistic appreciation of the world and then come the artistic creations. Without the appreciation of beauty, to begin with, there would be no drive to create artistically at all. There are other hints, too, in him...but I will leave those to other posts.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)