The Miserable Ones

I think I started crying about ten minutes into the movie.

When I saw Les Mis the first time, it was at a friend's house and it was awful. Okay, awful is a bit excessive. It wasn't good. There was no acting. There was no movement. It was people standing in a line on a stage singing. I followed the plot line for probably about an hour, before deciding I didn't really understand what was going on any more and completely zoning out.
When I heard that it was being turned into a movie, I was naturally extremely skeptical. The music was of course, fantastic in the version I had seen, but was great music really a sole reason to go see a movie?
In the end, I decided it was.

I ended up going with my mom and explaining the basic plot to her, since for the first hour of the version I saw, I was paying attention pretty well.
So, we got to the theater, and settled in our seats.

Oh, and just by the way, Movies at Carmike 12- Cartersville is like the coldest place in Georgia. That place was insanely cold.

But, I'm getting sidetracked.

So, the movie starts with this gripping scene with the soldiers right? And everybody's singing "Sweet Jesus doesn't care..." and I can already start to feel the tears prickle the back of my eyelids. But I held it together, right?

For like seven more minutes.

When the priest guy bestowed grace and mercy upon Jean Valjean, I just sort of lost it.
And my mother turns to me and says, "Are you crying?"

Yes, dear readers. I was crying.

I don't know how many of you know this about me, but when it comes to emotions, I take after to my dad. My dad is a crier. My mom, while she will still cry, is less of a crier than my dad.

I am more of a crier than my dad.

I cry at the commercials for Finding Nemo. I kid you not.

So, naturally this movie was horrible for my crying problems.
First time in my life I've been glad I accidentally put on waterproof mascara (dang, that crud is hard to get off... ya know... since you can't use water...)

Anyhow, there were like three times I sobbed so hard I was literally shaking.

1- When Eponine was watching the whole interaction with Marius and Cosette at the fence/ her singing in the rain.
It really is true the saying, "There's nothing worse than watching the person you love love someone else."

2- When the little boy dies. I knew he was going to die, and so I had braced myself for it. And I had told myself not to cry. And I didn't. Until his brother broke through the barricade to get to his body. Eessh.

3- The ending/finale. That was so spectacularly done, and so beautiful.

I'm not sure who was more miserable: the people in the movie, or me, sitting in a dark theater, freezing and sobbing/shaking.

But it was a good kind of miserable. IT WAS AMAZING. I sat there in my miserable-ness, and was miserable and LOVED IT.

I'll be back.
I'll be back.

"Will you join in our crusade?
     Who will be strong and stand with me?
     Somewhere beyond the barricade
     Is there a world you long to see?
     Do you hear the people sing
     Say, do you hear the distant drums?
     It is the future that they bring
     When tomorrow comes!" ~Epilogue/Finale Song

Despicable Us

So, I got this really weird revelation today watching the very deep and emotionally scarring movie: Despicable Me.
I started thinking: We have two phrases to describe people. Either "Good or Evil" or "Good or Bad".
Did you notice that while the third word changed, the first did not?
Why do we use multiple words to describe "Evil" but good is always just good?
Another question: Why is it, that in all little kids movies, the bad guy is called, "The Bad Guy", but in more mature and movies for older audiences, the bad guy is always called the "Villain"?

I think I have a partial answer to both of those questions.

We deem bad guys, "Bad Guys" in children's movies, because they're just "bad". They're not really evil, or diabolical. Because it's a children's movie. The world is never really in peril, and all us older people know it.
However, in our movies, the bad guy is the "Villain" because he is Evil with a capital E. There's something about him that's not right, and he's whacked in the head, and he might really blow up the world.

Now, back to my original question about the bad/evil thing.

Okay, so let's go back to the beginning for a minute. The beginning of earth. What was the tree called in the Garden of Eden?

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

So, here's the deal.

Good is good is good is good. There's no getting around what good is. Good is purity, it's innocence, it's naivety  It's love, it's everything right and perfect in the world. There's no medium to good. There's no gray area where something might be good. It just is.

Somewhere along the way, we decided we needed another word for evil. Because Evil with a capital E, was used in the name of the tree. Evil meant Satan. It meant darkness, it meant terror, it meant panic, havoc, fear, mortal peril.

But, the problem is; there are shades to "Bad".

Stealing a cookie from the cookie jar isn't as bad as murdering someone. Calling someone a name isn't as bad as robbing a bank.

We decided we needed to define evil/bad, because there are so many shades of gray in between what we consider bad, and what we consider evil.

You would never tell a child, "You are so evil!" But yet, I say all the time, "You are so bad!"

Because somewhere along the way, the word bad became a medium. It's somewhere in between evil and good. It's not good, but it's not evil either.

Being "Bad" is a very dangerous spot to be in.

It's an undefined area, an area humans made up. We made it up. We invented it in our petty minds.

When really God implied in that garden, that the things you do are either Good with a capital G, or they're Evil with a capital E.

There is no in between.