Latest / Salon Gazette / A Spooky Season of Stories: Romanticizing Autumn Through Film, Fantasy, Childhood Nostalgia, and Coming-of-Age Tales

Transcript

A Spooky Season of Stories: Romanticizing Autumn Through Film, Fantasy, Childhood Nostalgia, and Coming-of-Age Tales · Salon Gazette

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bienvenue au salon hosted by Sarah Marielle.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry for missing an episode last week.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, life was just lifing, and I found it really difficult to make the time to sit down and record.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just stressing myself like no other.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that I would instead of forcing myself to push out an episode, I thought I would just wait until this week.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I apologize for that because I know personally how I feel when you form a parasocial relationship, especially with a podcast, with an account, etc., and it becomes a part of your routine.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: When some of my favorite podcast creators won't release, will skip a week of their episode.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I get kind of annoyed and frustrated.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then I find that when they kind of address it on the next episode and they explain the reasons why it happens, I feel like I am I'm able to give them more grace and understand where they're coming from and just kind of move on.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that it wasn't too inconvenient, and now that we're back, I'm really excited.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're talking about all things movies and films and just TV that I'm watching this season, this fall season, especially spooky season, and I'm so so so excited because I've been kind of re-watching things I've watched before in the past just as a means of nostalgia.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think, especially around the time of the holidays with cozy season, nostalgia just kind of adds in a positive manner to the whole aesthetic.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what especially with I feel like fall and spooky season and the incoming of winter season can be kind of foreboding and make you feel a little bit ungrounded, a little isolated, etc.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just a little too real.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I think nostalgia and just engaging with our imagination is a perfect way of kind of softening those jagged edges.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways I've been doing that, and that I tend to do every year on this time, is through the movies and TV that I'm watching and what I'm taking in and how I'm channeling that energy into the spooky slash cozy season aesthetic.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into that though, I wanted to kind of give you guys a I don't know, I'm experimenting with because I also love it in podcasts when the host kind of gives you a little recap or maybe an element of their personal life to kind of ground themselves into the episode, and just for familiarity's sake, I think there's something really yummy and delicious about developing a kind of obviously healthy, we don't want any unhealthy parasocial relationships, but I think parasocial relationships are valid, they are a means of socializing and bonding, etc.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways that I find I love when creators initiate that is when they kind of recap their audience, which I'm part of, of like their personal life and what they've been up to.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so nothing too crazy for now at least, but just a little something, a little segment, maybe I want to add at the beginning of each of these episodes, is kind of my fave from this week, what I've been loving, or like one particular thing that I've really been enjoying, or something that is kind of been this week really memorable or the most impactful.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this week, what that is for me is I had my first well, no, not my first, but my first professional photo shoot yesterday.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've done photo shoots before, but just with friends kind of wanting to hone in their photography skills and wanting a free model to experiment with.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: But yesterday I had a professional photo shoot, you guys, and it was so exciting, so so so exciting.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've never shared this on here before because I was gonna say, if you don't know, well, of course they don't know, Sarah, because I've never talked about it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I was signed to a talent agency recently.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I still find it so crazy to say out loud because I don't know.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I just need to, I think I'm having imposter syndrome maybe, but I just need to get over it.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I was signed to an agency recently, and there's a lot of things happening, and probably in the future I'll update you guys about that as things develop and I take on new things.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's a lot of events coming up that I need to prepare, and of course, I had to kind of get my I have to start on my book, on my digital book and my portfolio, etc.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that when my agency sends out my portfolio to castings, I have obviously a good chance of getting the job.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a photo shoot yesterday to kind of add to my book and really develop my digital profile, and yeah, it was amazing, you guys.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: This guy, his name is Henry Juliao.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: He said he's been doing photography professionally at least for seven years, but his profile, you guys, is ridiculous.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like his portfolio, I mean, ridiculous, ridiculously good.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, because I was looking for photographers, we were looking for photographers in the area, and some of their prices, like, and and it's not even about the price, honestly, it's the price versus the value.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so you go on somebody's page, you look at their portfolio, and you see their work, and you're like, either you're saying, Okay, this is amazing, and I see the value that I'm paying for, or I don't really understand what I'm paying for, and this looks kind of mid, and like I could maybe have a friend take it for me, or dare I say take it on my iPhone.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: No disrespect, of course, but I'm just being honest.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but with this guy, his portfolio is off the chain, like his colors, how vibrant they are, especially his theatrical work, his headshots, his portraiture, like it's amazing and so vibrant and vivacious, and so affordable in relation to like if everybody was keeping the same energy in terms of charging for their their expertise, then this guy should be charging way more than some of his peers because he's way way better.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But his prices are actually more affordable and more reasonable, which is it's it was just like a like a double, a double, like wow, okay, I'm definitely going with this guy, and it was amazing, he was really reassuring, and was kind of like just reassuring me and making me feel comfortable.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it was my first time meeting him, and so getting comfortable with someone, and especially like photography is so vulnerable, and then like seeing the images and seeing how somebody sees you like through their own eyes, it's such a I find it a vulnerable experience because you know, self-esteem and everything, all of that comes into question, and it can kind of mess with your self-esteem and make you feel not as secure within yourself, which is so crazy because I consider myself to be a very secure and confident person, and so it's really interesting and exciting for me when I'm when I'm placed in situations where I realize that this new situation is kind of rocking my confidence a little bit, and I I love finding new elements to strengthen my confidence and and be a well-rounded person in my self-assurance and in my confidence.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the most the thing that kind of impacted me the most this week was that photo shoot, and I'm so excited to do more in the future, and I'm so excited to I've kind of gotten a sneak peek of how they turned out, but I have to choose some of my favorites and then send it back to him so that he can do his professional edits, etc.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: removing some things and just yeah, finalizing the photo the photos in his own aesthetic in his own style.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm excited for that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was such a such a learning curve, such a growth curve, lol, and it was amazing.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that was my fave from this week, and now moving on to the main segment of this episode, which is about, like I've said, the movies that I've in the TV and the shows that I've been watching and engaging with during this spooky season, and I guess I'm bringing this up, like I said at the beginning.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think that not I think, I know and I've experienced that you guys know I love all things art and artistic expression, etc.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: with the zeitgeist, with people's personal creativity, and so incorporating that and in the spirit of romanticizing the season, which I'm always doing, you guys can always be sure that wherever we are, whether it's fall, winter, spring, summer, I'm always finding ways to stay in touch with the season as a way of grounding myself, and one of the biggest ways I do that is by romanticizing the seasons.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this in a previous episode, so I'm not sure which one it was.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to remember.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think oh, it was the it was the autumn episode that I made.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember fully the title, but I I'm pretty sure it started something about autumn harvest.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was basically talking about all things fall as the season came in, and just ways to romanticize the season so that we can get grounded and let go of summer, feel like we can put summer to rest without mourning it or being sad about it and moving into a new season in a positive manner.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was talking about how romanticizing it is one of the biggest ways and one of the biggest helps to kind of settle and flow into doing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you guys aren't familiar with Studio Ghibli, I feel like a lot of people know some of the movies.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think the most popular one is Spirited Away.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's from this whole franchise kind of I don't know if it's a franchise, but Studio Ghibli has a very, very distinct, like if you've watched Spirited Away, you know what I'm talking about.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: It has a very distinct kind of feel and look to it, kind of like those those they're live action movies, but they're made with like you know those movies that take years to make, kind of like Coraline, Frank and Weenie.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're made like I don't know why the word coming to my brain is like the dolls.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the characters in the movies are real 3D characters that they place and then they like real people are moving those dolls for lack of a better term, like frame by frame, and they're capturing that, and then obviously they edit that into the final product, which is the movie, and that takes a long time to make, it really does, and it's kind of the same for Studio Ghibli in the sense of them drawing the animation by hand, and also the sound effects are very like particular, they make all the sound effects, you know, like movie productions, TV production sometimes, like the sound that you're hearing from like the movie itself or the TV show is not exactly the sound that's being captured live live.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's people whose jobs are literally to kind of manufacture those noises.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know it sounds crazy, but those of you who know, like you know, like it's a whole department of maybe like somebody's walking on leaves, and instead of capturing the live footage and the live audio of that person walking in the leaves, they'll actually manufacture it in maybe like in a studio where in like in a controlled environment.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if that's always the case, but a lot of times for movies, in movies, if you just kind of look and you watch, you kind of see like there's no way that I don't know, like the the footage that you're getting like live in front of your face, because the sound will sound so crisp and it almost doesn't sound real.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of times they manufacture so they can kind of like capture to the fullest extent like the saturation of everything that they want to hit you, that they want to hit you at like the perfect moment.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I don't know why I like got so deep into that.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the reason I did is because Studio Ghibli and the producers, one of the most famous ones is I think it's I don't remember what his first name is, but one of the most popular directors from that studio is Miyazaki.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I love his work, honestly.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, like I was saying, that's something that's very particular with Studio Ghibli, is that they like that skill, the way they draw the characters and like the movies in general are very particular and very specialized, like it takes a certain skill.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody, well, I don't want to say not everybody can do it, but they that's like one of their defining factors, so they'll do that by hand or like with incredible detail to kind of preserve the integrity of like what the studio stands for and the aesthetic of that, as well as the sound effects, like I said.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know, you can see it in the final products, just in the expertise, in how the movies turn out and how amazing they are.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And How's Moving Castle has always been like one of my favorite, not one, my favorite movie from Studio Ghibli for sure.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of them.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's obviously there's Spirited Away, one of the most famous ones.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's Kiki's Delivery Service, there's Panyo, there's Princess Mononoke, there's a bunch of them.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when like a feeling hits you that triggers memories or just a feeling from your childhood, and it can be so cathartic and just like psychologically impactful.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's this movie for me.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and honestly, rewatching it as an adult, like I think this is my third time or second time maybe rewatching it with different eyes.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking to myself, like, no wonder I have the ideas that I have about love and romance and just falling in love in general.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because How's Moving Castle is a romance movie, it really, really, really leans into that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I'm trying to gather my thoughts and collect, it's really hard to describe, like, okay, so I'm gonna set the scene for you.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine me, like, this was when I was living in Haiti.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: I used to share a room with my sister, and I don't remember where everybody was, but I was kind of I think it was like on a weekend or something, because I just remember it being afternoon, early afternoon, and it was a cozy day, and there wasn't anyone in the room.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: We had a TV in our room, and usually like in the living area, there would be like just people hanging out, and I just remember no one being around, and this movie was just playing in the background, and I kind of you know, when this movie is just playing in the background on your TV and you're kind of running around and something catches your attention, and you stand there maybe for like five minutes before you kind of get roped in, and you're like, Oh wait, I kind of want to like watch this movie, so it was that for me, and I remember just kind of being wrapped up in a little blanket when I finally realized like okay, I want to watch this movie like in full, like it's really interesting.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I sat down, stopped playing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I sat down and I watched the movie, and the movie, the aesthetic of How's Moving Castle in general is kind of it's really eerie.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I was talking to a friend about it actually.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about Studio Ghibli, and we were naming our favorite movies from that studio, and I said mine's How's Moving Castle, and she said, Ooh, that one is creepy and eerie, and I told her that's exactly why I love it, that's exactly why I resonate with it so much.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, at the time when I was watching it, I remember that distinct feeling, it was like unnerving, but in a way, I've always been a naturally curious person, and so where that might kind of freak someone else out or freak another little girl out, wherein they like run away, things like that would always I'm the person that's like okay, something is like unnerving to me, but I'm gonna I know this sounds bad, but I'm as much as I hate to say it, and I like you know what the heck, Sarah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the girl in the movies in the scare movies that hears a noise in their house, and instead of like running away and running out, I'll go to investigate, like not obnoxiously, I'll sneak around, but I'll I'll move closer to it.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what why that is.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe when it comes to fight or flight, maybe I'm a fighter.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think I am, but I also try not to be stupid, right?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and walk into a fight that I'm clearly not going to win, anyways.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: All of that goes to say that a movie like that, even though I remember feeling unnerved by it, it was very much so intriguing, and so I wanted to see it through and and finish it.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember watching it and kind of cosied up and you know, like watching a mild scare movie, this little girl, and just I think honestly, besides my original bias and the nostalgia that comes from that, I really think that Howl's Moving Castle is the most like gripping out of all of the well, maybe some people might argue that that's spirited away, and and perhaps they're right, spirited away is very gripping, it has a lot of kind of twists and turns and elements that keep your attention.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: But since this is about Howl's Moving Castle, I just think that it does such an amazing job, especially like keeping a child's attention like on the movie, because you know, kids like we get distracted easily, and maybe they're doing this and they're doing that, and they're missing parts of the movie.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that movie does a really great job of adding so many intriguing and unnerving, but makes you want to lean more into it elements that keeps you entertained at every minute of the movie, like there's just so much to unpack in every part of the movie.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I really think that this movie is one of the most interesting ones from Studio Ghibli, but yeah, thinking about it like it's so beautiful and wholesome.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you guys have ever interacted with Studio Ghibli in the movies that come out of that studio, like you will know the scenery, the way that no wonder they stick to their kind of specialty and wanting to make everything by hand and wanting it to have a human feel to it, because you can see it in the imagery of the movies, dude.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like the way, especially my favorite one of my favorite elements is the way that they draw nature scenes like forests and rivers and just everything having to do with outside is so breathtaking, you guys.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a crazy wild imagination that kind of makes me like a I'm kind of like a dreamy person, and I don't mean like oh my god, she's so dreamy.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean like head in the clouds, daydreaming a lot, and having like a vast imagination.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's me, I am that girl, and so.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: The imagery of Studio Ghibli in general, but especially like Howl's Moving Castle.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, there's a scene in that movie where Howl takes no spoilers, of course.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like I'm not gonna spoil the movie by revealing this little element, but there's a scene where Howl takes Sophie to a private garden that he has, and just oh, like it's so good when I see the imagery from Studio Ghibli, especially that movie.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes me daydream, it makes me daydream about like I want to be that whimsy little girl frolicking through the tall grass, having a picnic in the scenery, maybe taking a nice nap while the sun is shining, and there's like a river sparkling, or like a lake nearby, it's so beautiful, the colors are so vibrant, and the sounds of like birds chirping, etc.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, and that movie, like oh that scene is so so so amazing, and so I just like I've always been a dreamy girl, like I was like that.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about it more and more, I'm like, oh, I've always been like this, I've always been a girl who just kind of had my head in the clouds, let my imagination roam free, and just see what I come up with, etc.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that movie really pulls and encourages me to daydream and imagine myself in that movie, and just what my life would be like and how I would feel, and just the romance between Sophie and Hal is so complicated in a very satisfactory and wholesome manner.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, every well, not every, but most animated movies or TV shows that are directed towards kids, there's always like an underlying theme or lesson that they're trying to teach their audience.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and usually, I don't know, I I think they tend to be kind of mild, obviously, if they're geared towards children, like you can't just be laying down like something super complicated on their consciousness, like it's just too much, they have plenty of time to develop that as they get older.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I really appreciate how House Moving Castle kind of confronts the viewer with really deep and life-affirming just life in general, like the deeper themes of life, like it kind of lays it out for its viewer to ponder with to ponder on.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I think that's so amazing and so beautiful because I don't know, I think it's just kind of trusting the audience with especially kids with more than what society might think they're able to handle, and so imagine like me as a little girl, like obviously, what what do I know really about life?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't really know that much.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I'm maybe I was like seven or eight years old, or maybe six when I watched that movie for the first time.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, what life crazy life lessons have I learned?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember as I was watching the movie, and as it was kind of sinking into me, just kind of thinking to myself, like, there's something deeper going on here, and I can't quite place my finger on why it impacted me so much, but I knew it was trying to make important points about life and just what's really important in life, and about love and loyalty and age, etc.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's so beautiful, and my I realize now that I've watched this movie again with brand new eyes, older eyes, that this movie has really colored in my subconscious what my ideas, what my daydreams, what my imagination, and what my wishes are about what I wish to experience when it comes to love and falling in love with someone and having somebody fall in love with me.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's so beautiful and so amazing in just how gothic the movie is, but so soft at its center and so wholesome, for lack of a better term, honestly.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure what the the word is that I'm looking for instead of wholesome.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: But when something really hits you in your fields, and it has to do with themes that humans have confronted time and time again throughout generation, throughout history, etc.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think it's so beautiful and deep and romantic, and the ending is so freaking fabulous.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I literally cried when I rewatched it because I just realized like another reason why I'm so nostalgic about this movie is because I feel like my life in Haiti is so separate from the life I live now.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was like it was a whole lifetime ago, and my my environment was different, everything was different, and so when I was re-watching, and when I rewatched it, I realized like oh my god, like this little girl's wishes, my wishes for what I wanted my future to look like, especially when it comes to just a domestic life and having a family and having a partner, like these the themes, especially at towards the end of the movie and the happy ending that they get, those that is what colored my idea of how I wanted my life to look when I'm eventually in that phase of my life of having a partner and kind of exploring the world together and accepting the darkest and deep the darkest parts of ourselves for what it is, and confronting our vulnerabilities, each other's vulnerabilities, and choosing to love each other through thick and thin, like through the ugly, really, and the beautiful, and just the balance and the equilibrium and the harmony of that, and how beautiful it is, and the family that Sophie gains because of that, and just the little boy and their love story, and Calcifer, and how they're all together in their flying castle, and just it's just them against the world in their own little homie cocoon, and I freaking love it.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, How's Moving Castle is my favorite, favorite, favorite studio Jillian movie.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't watched it, you guys need to.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: I watched it on HBO Max, I'm not sure where else it's streaming, but for those of you who have HBO Max, you can watch it there.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you guys need to watch How's Moving Castle, it's literally amazing.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: And let me know what you think of it, and I really hope that it freaking impacts you just as deeply as it has impacted me.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: I freaking love that movie so much, but for the sake of not hogging this episode all in How's Moving Castle, we'll move on.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Next, what I've been watching, I've been re-watching Wednesday, which is the show about which it's with Jenna Ortega, the new one about Wednesday from the Addams family.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um that one is streaming on Netflix, but I love that show, you guys.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I always love like I love holiday traditions, starting new ones, continuing with old ones, and more than ever, I feel like I don't know, I think I remember when I was still kind of new to this country and reconciling with the customs and the culture shock and adopting new routines and new parts of my identity.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I have or had a friend who told me that she it was like a tradition of hers to re-watch certain movies around Halloween time.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of hers was like Twitches, I think that's what it's called.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's the movie with the Maori sisters um about being witches.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is like um is like represents the sun, the other one represents the moon, and yeah, they're like the twin sisters.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't look it up.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember like I found that to be so wholesome and it it really like it brings on like a homey, cozy energy, and nostalgia is so so so so powerful, especially around this time, around the holidays.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I've made it a true a new tradition to watch and re-watch Wednesday around spooky season because I feel like it's the perfect time for it, honestly.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Jenna Ortega is so amazing at being Wednesday, like she really, really is Wednesday, and the reason I love Wednesday so much A, it's because of Jenna Ortega, I think she really is an amazing actress, but B, it's because I relate to Wednesday so much, and it's so crazy to me because I think this is my third or fourth time rewatching Wednesday.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Every single time I watch that show, I feel so validated in my identity and in who I am, because sometimes I really do be feeling like a Grench and just a little different and perhaps too polarizing for some people, a little kind of like venom.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a mean person, like at all.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I actually think I'm personally, I think I'm a really nice person, and I've been told by countless, countless people, and continue to be told that they think I'm such a nice person.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm definitely a nice person.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that I'm probably just an intense person, and I I know I know this about myself because I've observed how other people react to me, is I kind of have a brooding, foreboding energy about me, and I know that's because that's only because I tend to take life pretty seriously, not in a depressive way, although I did when I was younger, it did kind of feed into struggling with mental health and having depression because I was well, it was because like it didn't come out of a vacuum, it didn't come out of nowhere.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's because I was dealing with a lot of things at a very young age that was maybe deeper than what like a 10-year-old, 11-year-old should be should be dealing with, but such is life, and so it kind of made me force me to be somebody who took life very seriously, who had to address like deep themes of life, such as purpose, death, family, etc.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I've as I've healed my mental health, and now I feel like my mental health is the best it's ever been.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank god, hallelujah! But I'm still kind of an intense person, I still find myself focusing not too much.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: I also like to nurture my inner child and making sure that I'm not taking life too seriously so that I you know balance, it's all about balance, but I do still find it really nourishing to engage with the deeper themes of life, and you guys you guys know this.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you've listened to past episodes about just addressing the maybe hard to talk about but necessary conversations of life, no matter how hard it is.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, I I consider myself to be a pretty intense person.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: I do gravitate towards the more taboo and and darker sides of life, like those things don't scare me because I've trained myself to be a person who can kind of look at those things in the face, like death, violence, you know, people's motivations, psychology, the light, and the dark sides of humanity, etc.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I've noticed that that can be really intimidating for some people, not everyone, because not everybody is meant for you.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some people will see that energy about you, and they will see you as their kind of people, and that's how I feel.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, she's not real, like this is a character, but art imitates life, right?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I know art imitates life because I can relate to Wednesdays so much.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've literally told my brother sometimes because my brother very much so kind of has a golden retriever's personality, and I have the personality of a black cat, seriously, like I am feline by nature, like I don't know why I think that's crazy to say, but I do very much so have a cat's personality, and so whenever I watch Wednesday and I notice just how unapologetic she is about being herself, about not caring, about whether she's palatable to certain people, about sticking her guns with her tastes, what she likes, her boundaries, especially her boundaries.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love how cutthroat she is and intimidating, and kind of just knowing what she's about and not like I was reading something about Wednesday that I found very valid.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's not that Wednesday is not feminine, which you know, if you're not feminine, like it's not the end of the world.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: But as somebody who I do enjoy being a woman and I enjoy tapping into my femininity, I really liked this that this person was describing.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: They were saying, like, Wednesday is is feminine, she's just not feminine in the ways that society kind of dictates or has colored as to what femininity is, as to aesthetics, etc., and conversations, etc.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: She is feminine in her own way, it comes out like in her taste, she's very particular about how she presents herself, she's very particular about her privacy and her sense of identity and being, and she loves the arts, she loves music, like the fact that she plays the cello so passionately, all these things, like she's very much so feminine, it's just kind of it's just different, it's uh it's dark, it's intense, but it's it's her own signature essence, and I love that.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: And like sometimes when I don't know, I'm not trying to make myself like I really don't like seeing myself as oh my god, woe is me.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm such a victim.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I am not, it's just my experience, what I've experienced in the past, and and still do sometimes.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I know through like society, through the zeitgeist, through art, etc.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Music, like there's a kind of quid pro quo, I can talk quid pro quo aesthetic as to what femininity looks like and how it behaves, what it sounds like, what is the aesthetic, and a lot of times I think a lot of people feel this way actually, I don't relate to it, but I know myself to still be a very feminine person, and so sometimes I'll just feel kind of like I don't fit in, like I don't belong, or like I'm not really accepted by certain people, and sometimes obviously, because we are comfort-oriented creatures as humans, like nobody wants to feel like an outcast from outcast lol.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am totally an outcast, like I would literally go to the school for outcasts, like that is my place, but like when you obviously nobody wants to be when we're talking about real life, nobody wants to be an outcast because the way that humans have developed through evolution is that when you feel isolated from the collective, from the group, it's it kind of sends alarms into your brain because in the past it was it was integral for survival for everybody to kind of stick together because anybody who would be outcasted from the group wouldn't survive when it came to this was during the time when you know humans were like hunting and gathering, etc., and forming communities to protect themselves from outside threats.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you were shunned from the group, you had much less chance of surviving, and so your brain has kind of wired itself to kind of send alarms when you feel isolated from people, when you feel isolated from the collective.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I've had times where I feel kind of like, okay, do I need to kind of change myself to be more palatable or practice little things here and there to be more palatable to people?
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever I watch Wednesday, it always affirms to me that, like, oh, yeah, no, stick your guns and stick your ground and be who you are because there are people who will see you for who you are and recognize you as part of their clan, part of their group, so to say.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I just love Wednesday, like, she's so crazy, dude, and passionate and relentless and independent.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't let anybody dictate what's how she sees the world, she doesn't let anybody stop her from pursuing her curiosities, from being who she is, like she'll stick her ground when people try to make fun of her for being like, Oh my god, like you don't fit in, or like you're so dark, and and she'll be like, Yeah, and and what about it?
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you walk a mile in my shoe?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you wanna like not kind of challenging people, but in a way, yes, kind of challenging people, like, okay, you can you walk a mile in my shoe and do what I do and look in the eye some of the things I can look at with ease, and not to say that like this mindset is superior or like you're better than someone, but I don't know, I just feel so seen by her, and it's so funny.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I'm around this season, this spooky season, and I'm watching Wednesday, I will be going through lots of kind of social challenging social dynamics in my life.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's always a time for that, right?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: To kind of roll around, and for some reason, I feel like I'm always going through those experiences around the time I'm watching Wednesday, and it will give me so much validation in a way of asking myself, like, what would Wednesday do?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or just feeling validated, like she'll she'll say something in a show, and I'm like, period, yes, oh my god, exactly.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so I'm not crazy, so I am right.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, ugh, I love Wednesday, I love Jenna Ortega, and you know what I love?
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love the many nicknames that Gomez, Wednesday's father, has for her.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's so I actually started a list.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely haven't heard, I mean, I've heard all of them, but I haven't written down all of them.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I started a list of all the ones that he he calls her.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, first he'll say my little, and it'll end with like something that's so counterintuitive.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: But so, what I have so far is like my little death trap, my little storm cloud, my little viper, my little scorpion, my little tormenta, my little black cloud.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I love these nicknames, I feel so seen by them, especially my little tempest, like my little viper, it's so good.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, to be loved is to be known, and he knows her and he loves her for that.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: It just you'd be like, Oh, I've missed those accusing eyes.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, I love this show.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love Wednesday.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I just finished season one this week, so I'm gonna dive into season two um and continue my journey of this of romanticizing this spooky/slash autumn season.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys haven't watched Wednesday, and I know like I can already hear some of the critique that people might have about Wednesday of about it being like cheesy and just like kooky, and it is so what?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's like going to like a play, like if you can't immerse yourself in the experience of kind of like a Disney movie, a Disney movie or a play, like yes, it's gonna be cheesy.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's part, that's what comes with the game, with art in general, honestly.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's a I don't know, I I interpret those as kind of being like the silliness and the cheesiness of your inner child, like it is very it's supposed to be a bonding factor to kind of make it sentimental and and touch or or tap into that inner child part of you that is very much so like responds to that cheesiness and to that sentimentality.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, like if you can't immerse yourself in that sense of cheesiness, then I don't know, I feel like you're missing the whole point.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's purposely cheesy, especially like when you're talking about Tim Burton, he's the one.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who um I'm not fully sure what his extensive roles are, but he's the one who directed Wednesday, and his style tends to be very much so cheesy and like spooky and just on the darker and gothic side, and I love that about him.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, just let your inner child live, let it be cheesy.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, moving on.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Next, I watched Kiki's delivery service, and this was actually my first time watching Kiki's delivery service.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I saw the aesthetic, I saw Witch, Black Cat.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's spooky season.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, perfect timing, and it was really good.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: I loved it, it was really cute and wholesome.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I really see with some of these studio Jibley movies, I really see how much they're kind of catering or trying to pull in that much younger energy, much younger audience.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, because it would it was very much so like light in terms of its more deeper themes about life, it's in general, etc.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know what can I say about it.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've been down, not feel like I have been down a rabbit hole about pun intended, about themes of Alice in Wonderland, and I'll expand as to why that is like next, because the next movie is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and that started from this magazine that I picked up a couple weeks ago.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like I was very much so getting the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic or archetype from Kiki.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like she's very much so.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: This girl, she's young, she leaves home into a world of unknown, and she's trying to find her footing, and there's a lot of elements and things that she doesn't understand, behaviors that she's you know, she's young, like she's she's discovering life, and she's discovering the serious parts of life, as well as the sentimental, etc.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: What it means to be like a human in the world, and how confusing and rewarding and anxiety-inducing that can be.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was very much so getting Alice in Wonderland vibes from Kiki, and I don't know, it was just a really wholesome movie to watch.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it kind of honestly, the archetype of Alice in Wonderland is the story of my life.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: I swear to you.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: I swear to God, and I think a lot of girls, a lot of people can relate because I have, by the grace of God, honestly, I've been able to hold on to my inner child and to my identification with that part of myself to this day.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Part of it has been like willful effort on my part because I recognize how important that is to me and to everyone, honestly.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's important for everybody to stay in touch with their inner child because I really think that's a part of the anchor of where your soul comes from and the identity of your soul.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: And also part of it has just been, I think, not I think, just by the grace of God and him wanting the best for me and him not wanting to lose like the light of my soul.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm saying that because that can be really hard to not can be, it is really hard to hold on to that in the real world and to not let that get kind of buried or tainted or jaded, and all the things that can happen as you interact with the real world and the harshness of this world, and yeah, I feel like that archetype has really been the story of my life, and so I really I always appreciate it when I run into those themes, especially through film and through art, etc.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I was very much so getting that vibe from Kiki, and it was it was just wholesome.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it was I don't know, I loved it for the aesthetic, and because I love Studio Jib, and because I love the archetype of Alice, and also because the movie, like the vibe and the the visuals are just beautiful.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: I do feel like it was kind of light on the obviously I'm an adult now, and so I think I think this movie is like perfect for somebody who's much younger because it's not as heavy and as intimidating.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I I think maybe why I might sound hesitant about it, which I'm not.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: I did love it.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it was kind of it was like a light watch, it wasn't really gripping in terms of like my emotions, which it's not necessary for every movie.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciated it for what it is, and the town that she flew to, dude, like by the seaside.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ugh, I want to live in a in a studio Ghibli movie, honestly.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: I saw this post on Instagram that was like, my life would be so much better.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, just think of how romantic and whimsy and peaceful and so fulfilling life would be if I just lived, if we just lived in a studio Ghibli movie.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it would come with its challenges, but I don't know.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: The dreaminess and the whimsiness far outweighs the the darkness or the it's just so apparent when you see it on screen.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it it can be really hard to see the light and the whimsy and the feel-good of life when you're surrounded by so much darkness in real life, which is why I think it's so beautiful, which is why I think we gravitate towards art and visual art so much, especially like movies and film and TV, etc., is because when you're on the outside, kind of watching from an outsider's perspective, you can kind of see it very clearly.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, obviously, the whimsy is like is so apparent, and so it just reminds me like to look for that in my real life in the real world, and yeah, the town that she flew to, dude, I was like, Oh my god, like I want to live there, I want to go there.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it looks so peaceful and so intriguing, and just like my inner child is just jumping at the thought of getting to explore a town like this, and as well as the side of me that loves like stability and routine and the slow and domestic parts of life, like uh, it's so amazing.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: My my imagination and my daydreams want to go so like it's just running right now, but yeah, Kiku's delivery service, it was really good and really cute and really wholesome and just amazing.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if I should say this, but no, it's not a big spoiler.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the movie, her cat Gigi, she can't like the cat can't talk anymore.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I also heard some people say that in different versions of the movie, like in different languages, it turns out that Gigi can talk again, that um Kiki can't understand Gigi again.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: But this version that I watched, Gigi couldn't talk, and it kind of seemed like Gigi, like they were still friends, but Gigi moved on with his life in terms of like he found somebody that he loves, and they have kids together, and it's just so wholesome.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm saying that because I think it was such if if that was I mean, art is up to the viewer's interpretation, it's not just for the person that creates it to kind of interpret solely where they're coming from and what it means.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I I you know I take liberty with how I interpret this, but I I saw it and I saw some people also describing it's kind of like it represents Kiki growing up because obviously all the studio Ghiblies, the main character, like goes through a period of transformation and of growth, and then they find themselves and they find their footing, and then the movie ends.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so after she had gone through her trial and her ordeal and she's found her footing, it kind of represents, like, even though it's not apparent through her outside appearance, like she's still a kid, but it signifies that her growing up and kind of letting go of her reliance on her imagination and kind of her one and only friend being her cat, as amazing as that is, but she's made new friends and she's grown up and she's gotten through the hurdles of the challenges that came her way, and and she's learned from that and transformed a little bit.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I just even though like the movie wasn't even it wasn't that deep for me, but at the end, like I cried because I don't know, I just love the sentimentality of it.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love a coming-of-age story and a growing up story, especially I told you guys like Alice in Wonderland, that's literally the story of my life.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the end, when it's like she's gone through her challenges and she's kind of addressed and confronted the really confusing and yeah, the confusing elements of her life, she's found her footing in that and found a sense of confidence and can move forward.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just find that so sentimentally satisfying and inspiring, honestly.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: It just kind of reminds me that, like, yeah, girl, I have been through a lot of my challenges, and by the grace of God, I've I've been able to get past those challenges and grow and find my footing, and I really know what it's like to kind of feel yourself growing up little by little.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: Certain parts of you that were so vulnerable, and now like you feel like you found your footing or you're more confident in that area of your life.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's so beautiful and so wholesome and so real.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciated that about Kiki and just such a wholesome story, honestly.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go watch Kiki's delivery service, honestly, if you haven't.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's another, like I said, another studio Ghibli movie, and just if anything, like the visuals, of course, are always amazing and will always just be like a captivating factor.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and then last but not least, certainly not least, I like I said, rewatched, I actually finished it last night.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's honestly like one of my favorite movies, and my favorite version of Alice in Wonderland so far.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's always more life to live, who knows, and more artists coming to the forefront and borrowing old stories and creating new interpretations of it.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I've always loved that movie.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love the actress Mia Wasigowska.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that's how you say her last name.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I've seen her in a bunch of other movies, and I've always loved her, and she's retained like a really special place in my heart as an actress.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love her, I love the aesthetic of the movie.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just obviously like I love Tim Burton, I love how dark and eerie his aesthetic is.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: I love how dark and eerie the aesthetic of that movie is.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: It just gives this underlying component of there's something bigger going on, there's something eerie that you need to pay attention to.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like it's it's like this, it's like something whispering to you, like this will be on the test.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: So pay attention.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's supposed to be whimsical and and tapping into your inner child, but there's just a darkness and eeriness about it.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the perfect representation of just how life is, the balance of life, honestly, the yin, the yang, the light, the dark, the innocent, and the the devious, etc.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that balance is just fascinating to me, honestly.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: How seemingly un what's the word?
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Seemingly unreconcilable elements can come together in harmony and coexist and color each other and impact each other.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: I find that to be very, very fascinating.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I started down this kind of rabbit hole, pun intended, because I was I don't remember what I was doing, but I was at a store walking by, and I walked by this magazine.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's I I actually have it here.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's life.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's life at the top, but it's basically the books, the screen, down the rabbit hole.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: Alice in Wonderland, her immortal adventures, 75 years of the Disney classic.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was kind of like a not I think it's like a memorandum or referendum on the history of Alice in Wonderland.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, Alice, if you can kind of hear me flipping through the pages, I'm just like um trying to tie my thoughts together in terms of like the history of it.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: Alice, like his name.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_00: Alice was dreamed up or created by this man called Lewis Carroll.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: His real name is I'm not sure.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think his first name is like Henry or something.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, his name is Charles.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was his real name is Charles Dodgson, and Lewis Carroll is just his pen name because he didn't really want fame like that.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: So he created this story because so he was this math teacher, and this was in the Victorian era, like he wrote the story, I think, in the 1850s or 1840s perhaps, or 1830s, even maybe.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so he was a teacher at a at a school, and a lot of schools back then they were like they were like boarding schools, so he lived there, and a lot of the students they lived there.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: So this Mr.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis Carroll, his pen name, he met the daughters of the dean of the university, which was his boss.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: He had he had a bunch of kids, but we're just gonna focus like on his daughters.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure he had three daughters or four daughters in total, not important, not important, but they had a picnic of some kind or a boat ride, and you know, Victorians like back then, people were a lot closer.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't really this like professional versus personal kind of relationship between people, so it was him and another guy, and they were taking a boat ride down the Thames, which is a river in London, and there were the three daughters, they're the three eldest kids, or the three eldest daughters of this man, the dean, and one of them named Alice, I think she's the middle child.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: How fitting, right?
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_00: For Alice in Wonderland that she's the middle child.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_00: She asked him for a story to tell her a story, and he kind of made it up on the spot, and he used a lot of the imagery that was around him to kind of make up the story.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's a kid, she's like, I think she was like 10 or maybe nine or eight or something at the time, and he's like pulling a bunch of elements from like his environment.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think, like, for example, like the dodo bird and Alice in Wonderland is based off of him because of his last name, like Dodson Dodo, and he had like a stammer as a kid, and he still did sometimes, like when he got nervous, and there was like a bunch of other characters that he put into um the story.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing, too, like just as a small little background of Lewis Carroll, they said that he used to love he had a bunch of sisters, and he was the youngest, I think, of like a shit ton of kids, like I think in the in the 12 or a lot of kids.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_00: His parents had a lot of kids, and he was the youngest of them, and he loved making um coming up with stories and entertaining his family, kind of like telling stories.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's like all eyes on him.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: He used to love like bringing a smile or um bringing joy to people in that way.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, like, one of his defining factors is he he loved kind of creating sense out of nonsense, so very much so his style of Alice in Wonderland, just kind of things that didn't make sense or things that were silly, creating poetry or or recitations, or just stories out of that.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, this story he made it up for this little girl who's asking for a story, and she loved it so so so much.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_00: She kept badgering him to write it down for her, and so he finally wrote it down and and made like a gift for her, like for Christmas.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he wrote a manuscript of the story, he had like one of his friends illustrate the book for him because you know this is like the 1800s, they don't really have technology the kinds of technology that we do now.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, he had his friend illustrate it and he gave it to her as a present.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, I think a lot of adults, when they kind of picked up on the story, they realized, like, oh, this story's actually really good, and they kind of pushed him to publish it.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't he didn't want like it to be public like that, because you know, Victorians are private and all of that.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so they they kind of pestered him into publishing the story, and he did, and it kind of picked up steam from there, and then he he like borrowed the manuscript, and he officially had it um illustrated by a professional, and then it became and the rest is history, right?
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, a lot of people like especially think about like the Victorian times, they specifically they loved this story because of the cleverness, honestly, the cleverness of the nonsense, and just like how silly it is, and I think obviously in the society of the Victorians, everything was kind of controlled, everything was timed, it was very much so about order, knowing what your place is, and being uh, what's the word?
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_00: Being hmm, being responsible and being a well-mannered, ordered member of society.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was all very much so uptight, everybody knew their place, everybody knew what they could say, what they could not say, etc.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_00: The very strict rules of society, and so I think it was kind of like a breath of fresh air for people to embrace the nonsensical and to kind of let their hair down and embrace honestly their inner child and the nonsensical experience of children of making sense of this world because when you come into this world, you're in your raw essence, your raw energy.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_00: In the world, the adults are very much so ordered, and and like they've honed in their actions, their behavior, etc.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as a kid, that can seem very like weird and odd to us or to them in their natural and their raw nature, and so just kind of poking fun at that and the cleverness of like the vocabulary that he uses and that he comes up with and that he makes up.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_00: And in this, you can probably hear me still flipping through this magazine.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just referencing it to like jog my memory.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_00: But they were saying how, um, in this magazine, they were saying how his book, his story, really inspired later um child-oriented, but also for everybody's stories that came down the line, such as uh The Wizard of Oz, which very much so takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, such as Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, like a kid who never like he never wants to grow up, he wants to live in like a nonsensical world where he can always be a kid, etc.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's another one.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they were talking about Narnia, um, you know, going into a different world, and like like kids grappling with the nonsensical as well as the the darker realities of life and how those converge together and come to harmonize, etc.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: So all those stories that we now know and take for granted really took their inspiration.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis care, like obviously, he's you know not the only one in history to have ever done it, but he really kind of invigorated and inspired this movement of embracing the nonsensical of the real, I mean, yeah, the nonsensical of the world, and kind of leaning into that and creating embracing the inner child and creating art from that.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_00: And another aspect of this magazine that I found really fascinating is the story of the real Alice, actually.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_00: This this little girl, like the one who asked him to create the story, who it's based on the really kind of unconventional life that she lived.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_00: She was very much so, very much so like the Alice that especially like Tim Burton's Alice, like very much so independent.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_00: She lived a life kind of focused on pursuing the arts and making her own way in the world, and just kind of being like a trailblazer and not sticking too strictly to the rules of society, rules that she perhaps indefinitely did not agree with or did not resonate with, etc.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like she was an amazing human being herself.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_00: Her real name is Alice Lyddle, I think that's how you say it, or Liddell.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, um, yeah, Alice Liddell, it's L-I-D-D-E-L-L.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she really had like a fascinating story.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_00: I bet people have like made movies or created books about her story, but she has actually a really fascinating story that would be perfect for like to be explained.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Explored through like film and TV shows, probably film.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: But she had like a kind of a small or who knows?
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, only the two people in the story know, but she had kind of a a little run-in, a little um romance with one of the sons of Queen Victoria, the the youngest son.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_00: His name, what was the name?
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_00: What I don't know why I want to say leopard.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: Leopold.
• 1:06:27
  unknown: That's the name.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: Leopold.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he's the youngest son, um, the youngest child of Queen Victoria.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they fell in love, but obviously the Queen, which you know, she was she was like known for being the she was the main arbiter of like the strict rules and expectations of Victorian society.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the age takes her name because she was the queen of the age, and because of the ideals that she represented, her and her family, etc., about being responsible and being um sober and all of that.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, she obviously disapproved of the math, she forbade it, and eventually, like he moved away and he married a noble lady, etc.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I just think that's so dreamy, and like, wow, that would make such a great story about you know, like the real Alice.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_00: She really did live and tailored her life to having an uncon unconventional life.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: She had a passionate love story, etc.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_00: And she eventually married, and yeah, but her life continued, like, she continued to really pursue the whims of her inner child and blaze her own way, and just like I find that to be so inspiring.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I ever since reading this magazine, I officially like realized and like claim that I really am like Alice, and I'm sure some of you guys can relate.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, my life, my story is that of Alice, just kind of from a very young age being propelled into the real world, and trying to make sense of that through the eyes, through the psychology of a child, and my own interpretations of that, and the twists and turns that my life has taken, the crazy, almost unbelievable elements that I've run up against, the experiences that I've had, the ways that I've had to be brave, and like especially Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, like she had to, she really struggled with kind of reconciling with herself that she was destined to slay the Jabberwocky, and how scared she was of that, and how she really doubted herself.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love how I so I read this before I re-watched the movie, but it was just talking about how Alice, like the book, it really kind of plays with themes, like it's like one of those kind of like animated shows where you can see, like, yes, it's for kids, but obviously the creators are adults themselves, and so you can see how they put adult themes into the movie that only adults will be to understand.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, re-watching it and reading this with my adult eyes, it was basically saying that it grapples with themes of times where Alice feels small in terms of like her confidence, what she can accomplish, doubting herself, etc., and as well as her feeling grand when it comes to her bravery and her tenacity and blazing her own trail, etc., and how that's represented through the you know, the vial of I'm not sure what it's called, but the vial of the the drink that says drink me and then she grows, and then the cake that says eat me and she shrinks, which are supposed to be symbols or or modes of symbolism for those feelings in herself.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I was watching for that in the movie, and how a lot of the times when she she has the drink and she's really small for like a good chunk of the movie, she's doubting her, she's doubting like the the prophecy, quote unquote.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: She's doubting her ability, she very much so is adamant about like I'm not the Alice from the story, like I'm not meant, I don't want to have to slay any monster, she's just very much so doubt her own confidence, and she's she's small, like she's shrinking in a lot of ways, and then she has to confront things that are much bigger than herself, like literally and figuratively at times, and then when she finds her courage, that's when she grows, and she has to be in the court of the queen of hearts, which is so threatening, and she has to be brave.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_00: She has to you can see, like, it's so funny because in the movie, you can see when she is bigger, it seems like she has an attitude, she um really doesn't take shit from people, like the mouse.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_00: When the mouse is talking to her and kind of yelling at her, she's like, Hush, she's like, I'm the one who's gonna go get the vorpes, she just has a lot of tenacity, and I love how that's represented by her actual size, she's much bigger, and so I don't know.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_00: I just found that in the name of artistry, right?
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I find that really titillating in the name of Lewis Carroll and his nonsensical words.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that word is like a real world, but it just sounds like it should not be a word to me, titillating, it's so funny.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I found it really titillating to be interacting with those elements and and reminding myself that like to catch on to the symbolism of like oh, she has an attitude now because she's feeling a lot bigger, she's feeling a lot brave, and it's reflected in her size and etc.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, and I love obviously, I love a happy ending, and I love being reminded that you know, as a young girl, as someone who can who can who gets confronted with just such intimidating life themes, like it is possible to go through the journey and learn and grow and eventually get to a place where you are brave enough and and you have cultivated your your courage and how that pushes you and pushes her to face her demons and to face her reality and slay her jabbocky, whatever that is.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that's symbolism of life, right?
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Especially from a child's perspective, because especially a coming of age story, I think a lot of people can relate to this.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's very much so intimidating, like to look at the real world and to know that you're inexperienced, that perhaps you're out of not perhaps, definitely, out of your element, and that you have to confront themes that seem to be so much bigger than yourself, and you doubt yourself, and you're like, Oh my god, how the hell am I gonna get past this?
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm so small, I don't have any experience, I don't understand this.
• 1:12:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is so intimidating, and then just allowing life and the journey to unfold and take you to where it's supposed to take you.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think this also touches on just divine themes as well, being exactly where you are supposed to be, having an a divine source that is looking out for you.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love the themes of kind of prophecy, it's called the compend, I think a compendium.
• 1:13:21
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, It's a calendar, and Absalom was like, it's a compendium, it's like the scroll that kind of tells of of the future and the past, etc.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love the themes of of prophecy in it, which I think are themes of the divine, which is like it's the this is predestined, like you are meant to go on this journey.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_00: There is whether you run away from it or not, like life will take you to those themes, whether you want it or not.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to decide how you're gonna get there because you're gonna get there anyways.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gonna overtake you or are you gonna face it and triumph over it?
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And lucky, luckily for us, Alice triumphs and she thrives, and she finds her footing and her bravery, and she slays her Jabbawocky, and she's able to go back and like literally at in the movie, she's getting proposed to and she runs away.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_00: She literally, like, I was like, Oh my god, that scene, dude, when she's under the gazebo, and what's the name?
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hamish is asking for her hand, and she like doesn't know what to say, and all these people are watching her and looking at her for her to answer, and like and feel the pressure, and then she just sees the rabbit out of the corner of her eye, and she's just like, just give me a second, and I'm just like, Oh my god, literally, that theme of just all these crazy things crescendoing into one, and like the pressures mounting, and just the urge to run away and get your mind right and follow your instinct and what you feel like takes priority.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I felt so proud of her.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, exactly, like it's a priority.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's literally a rabbit and a waistcoat with a watch telling me I'm gonna be late, like all this this life seemingly important themes can wait.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is what is a priority for me.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I just found it like as such a moment of choosing to follow her inner child, and obviously, like this can be a dangerous theme because you know, there's like that's not always called for.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_00: There are times when you have to face reality and be an adult, but obviously, time and place, and in that time, it was right, it was the right choice for her to choose to follow her inner child and get her mind right and figure out who she is first before she decides whether she's gonna spend the rest of her life with someone.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I love how at the end, like at the beginning, she runs away, and then in the movie, like it throughout her journey in Wonderland, she's running away, she's shrinking away, she's saying, I'm not Alice, like I just want to go home, even though she ran a quote unquote ran away from home.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: She keeps running away, and then she finds her courage, and at the end of that, she finds her courage to return to her own world and turn Hamish down and tell her family that she's gonna be okay and blaze her own trail of exploration, and who knows?
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the theme of an imagery of at the end, Absalom, like he turns into a butterfly, and his last word to her is like, Well, I don't remember the last word exactly, but basically something along the lines of like, Finally, you're the Alice, like finally you've arrived.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he was saying, like, it's time for me to transform.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just love the theme and the imagery of it all, and then at the end, when she transforms and she's going on her new journey, Absalom is now reincarnated as a butterfly, and he like it's so beautiful, it's so beautiful and cheesy and amazing, and just this is why I love what I love.
• 1:16:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I love the art, the way they confront, they force you to confront these life themes and to flirt with them and to ponder on them, and just I don't know.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just needed that reminder.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's always a great reminder, especially like I just I think it's such a point of harmony to kind of flirt with the themes of reality, the themes of this, the harsh realities of this world, as well as the dreamy of your inner child, and like those seem like contradictory themes, but they attract and they harmonize in some miraculous manner, and yeah, I loved going down that rabbit hole, literally.
• 1:17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love Alice, I am Alice, and Alice is me.
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously, story of my life, and I wonder if you guys relate to that as well.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder how many of you feel like Alice's story is your own story about just being thrown down this rabbit hole of responsibility and real-world themes as a very young person who doesn't know what the hell they're doing, like it's only my third day out here.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I think it's so beautiful.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you guys, let me look at my notes.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like again, I'm back at the place where I feel like I have so much more to say, but again, that always means that I had a really good yap session.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, those are the movies that I've been watching since the start of this autumn season, and especially now that we're in spooky season, to romanticize where we are right now, to romanticize Halloween and the season that we're in.
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as I'm recording this, it's the 27th of October, and so Halloween is literally a couple days away, so I am definitely all throughout the rest of autumn, which officially ends December 22nd, and that's when winter starts.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_00: I will be watching my movies that push me into romanticizing this season, but specifically for spooky season and for Halloween, I will be continuing my journey of engaging with these film TV shows, etc., to help me tap into the season.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have on my list, I have the Harry Potter movies, which believe it or not, you guys, I haven't act I haven't finished them.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I've only watched the first four movies, I think four or five.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I have three, no, two or three to go because I think there's seven in total, or maybe it's eight, I'm not sure.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I have those on my list.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have I actually have never watched the movie Obsession that came out this year.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna watch that.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, I need to watch Hocus Pocus again, um, a bunch of other things.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I will perhaps keep you updated.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll make another episode like this um somewhere down the line as we're ending the autumn season, or just to kind of share with you guys how I've been romanticizing this season through film and through TV shows, etc.
• 1:20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you guys really enjoyed this salon session.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know I really, really did.
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've really been enjoying, I've been loving, loving, loving, loving, tapping into my inner child like this and just harmonizing the themes of the yin, the yang, the light and the dark, the child in me, as well as the adult that I am, and etc.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I really really enjoyed this salon session, and like I said, I really hope you did as well.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you guys are romanticizing your this season, or at least that this episode or the salon session has inspired you to romanticize the season through the arts, through film, etc.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And let me know.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe comment some suggestions of movies that you think I should be watching or TV shows, or maybe just sharing the shows or movies that are kind of like a tradition for you to watch around this time or that you're interacting with to romanticize this season.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious, let me know.
• 1:21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but until then, you guys, this has been a great salon session.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I will catch you in the next one, and until then, I love you guys.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_00: See ya.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.