“…Bravery is an action, it’s not a feeling.”
I’m not sure why that sprang into my mind this evening, but it did. The arc for one of my main characters in the Starstuff trilogy has to do with bravery and cowardice, and that thought just came up as I was brushing my teeth. And I believe that to be true – being brave is doing something that is scary, or hard, or whatever…no person has even been brave without feeling some degree of fear or shame. Okay, perhaps not NO person. Often times, in fact, people do brave things in the moment without even thinking about it because they don’t have TIME to think about it…but truly, the things that take the most bravery (and time to consider what has to be done) are often done with a pounding heart and a shakey voice.
The character moment I have in mind is a redemption of sorts – this character has an issue with cowardice, and that leads him to make a choice that he regrets because it was the wrong choice…and the shame burns inside of him so much that he has to set it right, and when does set it right and he’s told that what he did was very brave, he’s confused. He doesn’t feel brave, he feels ashamed – “But bravery is an action, [character name redacted], it’s not a feeling.”
Had a badass work day today. I started much, much later than I’d have liked…but I put my head down and just got shit done. Very satisfied. And the Ho and I got to finish watching Zootopia, which we really enjoyed. I wouldn’t say that it was quite up to par with Pixar, even their latest stuff, or even quite as good as, say, Wreck it Ralph…BUT…it was better than, oh, Big Hero 6 or Kung Fu Panda 3. I’d say 3 1/2 out of 4 stars. The different lands that all the animals lived in was my favorite for sure, and they did some REALLY fun stuff with visual aesthetics. And the adventure was high in the film. So much fun stuff and harrowing escapes and wonderous sights.
I’d recommend it, for sure. It’s not going to blow you out of the water, and the themes are definitely heavy handed when compared to the sublime-ness-es of the Pixar greats, but the themes were very appropriate for the time…which is don’t group people together based on the way they look, or assume things about them. It divides us all, and our strength is in our unity.
Anywho, time for the sleeps. Gene Wilder passed today, who was genuinely one of my favorite actors. I wish he’d been more prolific during my “older” years, but that sadly wasn’t meant to be. I grew up on, of course, Willy Wonka, Young Frankenstein, The Producers…I read a story about him meeting Mel Brooks, and the two seem like they were peas in a pod. So silly. I’ll never forget the way he delivered his speeches, with the rising tone and intensity that they teach for Shakespeare. He played crazy so fucking good and so goddamned funny. I’ve always wished I could play a funny crazy like that. He was such a natural talent.
I’ll miss you Gene. You left some damned fine work behind you.