HARBEN LETS HL Fashion Show Preview - The Founder

The Founder | Thursday 11 March 2010
E X T R A
Where the Wild Things Are
James Humphrey
****
Maurice Sendak’s Where the
Wild Things Are is hardly the easiest
book to adapt; a fairly simple
tale of a runaway child, who discovers
a land of Wild Things, has a
few adventures and returns just in
time for tea. While the story told in
the 1963 picture book certainly is
lovingly thought out, its shortness
provokes reactions similar to those
to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button; how
can you extend a short story into a
‘Youth In Revolt’
Competition Winners
Last week, the Film Section ran a
competition to promote the cinematic
release of Youth In Revolt, where
The Founder readership had to submit
dramatic depictions of their own
acts of teenage rebellion, and where
were the two winning entries:
All girl schools have derogatory
nick-names for each other. Bullers
called Bromley High ‘The Whores
on the Hill’ and vice-versa. Being
the only school of the three mounted
on a hill, I expected Newstead to
have a similarly slaggy, slopey title.
Actually, we were ‘Virgin Megastore’;
the geeky lot, who pranced
about like leprechauns in a horrid
green uniform, with the emblem
of an acorn emblazoned across
our chests: ‘From tiny acorns, do
mighty oak trees grow’.
These tiny acorns were not expected
to scatter far from the oak.
full piece of cinema? But, for what
could have been a fairly friendlyfamily
feature (another escapist
adventure story for kids, similar
in vein to Narnia or Harry Potter)
director Spike Jonze delivers an
adaptation which leaves a strange
lingering feeling afterwards.
‘Shades of grey’ seems to be an
adequate phrase to apply to the
overarching feeling of the film,
from its visual palette to the very
characterisation of the Wild Things.
Max (played by Max Records) is
not a clear-cut kid either, neither
the innocent child that wanders
unexpectedly into a new world nor
Whereas my friends and sister took
regular days off school, it was near
the end of year eleven and I’d never
had so much as a sick-day. So,
when my friend suggested a cheeky
McDonalds breakfast, missing
registration and a P.S.H.E lesson on
how sex was evil (whilst other girlschools
practiced putting condoms
on dildos), I was aghast, and then
rather excited.
We rushed back on the bus. A
Fillet o’ Fish on top of my measely
porridge breakfast! The slice of
granny’s Eccles cake I’d packed
for lunch seemed almost bland in
comparison! Whilst licking our
greasy fingers, we checked our
watches, guessing what our separate
classes would be doing, wondering
if we would be missed. It was
probably around this time that
Mum phoned in, saying that I’d left
my furry caterpillar pencil-case at
a spoilt tearaway brat in need of a
good lesson. Records provides a
brilliant performance which neither
makes you entirely sympathetic or
apathetic to Max, but you certainly
begin to understand and empathise
with him. When we arrive on the
island, after seeing Max’s youthful
inability to deal with the changes
in his family, we get the relief of
freedom as he excitedly explores
this new-found territory.
Enter the Wild Things (voiced
by James Gandolfini, Paul Dano,
Forest Whitaker, et al), who give
Max a further sense of freedom and
friendship, but also bear respon-
home. However, my absence had
been noted and mum jumped to
the logical conclusion that I’d been
abducted.
Rocking into the school in time
for Geography, after a couple of
hours in the neighbouring park
singing along to Daz Sampson’s
‘Teenage Life Song’ (that cringeworthy
Eurovision classic of yesteryear),
I was pounced upon by
school friends and teachers alike.
The head of upper school had me
summoned into her office. I had
the eyes of a thousand leprechauns
piercing into my traitor’s skull.
After an hour or so of tears and
a mortifying hug from the teacher,
who saw that I was in a fair tiz,
I was allowed to phone home to
reassure mum that I was safe. My
stomach was lodged in my throat.
Hearing a cracked voice at the end
of the phone, I felt awful. The local
sibility upon him and trust. What
Jonze does in this visually stunning,
action-packed and amusing
(yet tainted with sadness) segment
of the film is introduce our young
protagonist to the burdens of
adulthood. Tension and fear don’t
rise out of facing enemies but with
the breakdown of friendship and
trust in his ‘kingdom’, a fluctuating
mood which changes the film’s
tone continually. One moment I
felt we were sitting in a fun-loving,
optimistic fantasy (where kids can
do whatever they want) but other
times I wished for the safety of
Max’s human family, as the Wild
Things and Max occasionally failed
to understand one another, leading
to disastrous consequences.
1. Bambi’s mum gets shot
(this brings children all
over the world to terms
with death).
2. There’s a talking bunny
rabbit.
3. There’s a skunk called ‘
Flower’ (that’s ironic).
4. There’s a talking deer
(several, in fact; I really
hospitals had all been checked;
my sister (who was bunking at the
time) had been phoned and asked
whether she knew of my whereabouts.
Best of all, the police had
been round to take DNA off my
toothbrush.
This acorn has learnt its lesson
but, marred by rebellion, can it ever
become the mighty oak? With that
level of expectation, I’d rather be
a whore on a hill, thank you very
much!
By Natalie “Well-’Ard” Woodward
I am generally a nice girl. And
when I was a teenager I was just
as generally nice. I did my homework
on time, I brushed my teeth,
and I successfully blagged my way
through lessons to delight of my
teachers (and now my lecturers).
However, as I progressed through
my teens I
realised I had a problem. A problem
that who won’t go away – for
you see ... I have an evil twin. Her
name is Evil Ju. She is the bane of
my life; doing such bad things while
I get the blame. For example, when
we were 12 our sister stole my bar
of chocolate, of course Evil Ju then
thought it was her duty and
privilege to cut out the boobs in
13
Film
While the film may not be entirely
family friendly, the themes are
certainly family-orientated; Jonze
brings light to the deeper complexities
that might emerge within oneself.
A younger demographic may
not pick up certain themes, perhaps
even be frightened by them, but a
children’s film like this does not often
come along. It delivers the kind
of thought-provoking insight that
a film like Martin Rosen’s Watership
Down might portray; neither
glossing over nor dumbing down
real issues from an adult world for a
predominately children’s audience.
Liam’s 6 Reasons Why
He Likes...Bambi
Liam Fleming
like talking animals).
5. I like to try and find the
hidden mtessages in Dis-
ney movies (I have yet to
find one in this, though)
6. I didn’t realise Bambi was
a boy (it was a surprise
when he showed up near
the end with massive antl
ers).
a number of our sister’s favourite
tops. Hmm, it might have been funnier
if it wasn’t me who had to sew
them all in again! I also remember
when we were 14, Evil Ju wanted to
try Jack Daniels and coke (we were
obviously tired of
Bacardi breezers!). We couldn’t
find either Jack or coke so we
ended up just drinking all of the
very expensive whiskey that Evil
Ju stole from our dad’s cabinet.
It’s alright though, as I puked it all
back up again...on the pale cream
carpet in the living room! Strangely,
from then on Evil Ju always did her
worse whenever we drank: there
was the toilet explosion of 2006,
the police confiscating my bra,
and of course the naked party at
Grandma’s...It’s hard, but I tell all
here in the hope of warning you.
Evil Ju is still out there; often seen
at Monkeys and the SU, she is still
just as dangerous, and of course
looks exactly like me...
By Jules “The Pain” Paynton
Congratulations to the two young
scamps, who will be rewarded for
the blatant disregard for the rules
of society with a Youth In Revolt
goodybag each, and thanks to all
who contributed.