I had a quiet afternoon with nothing pressing to do, and so I watched a movie I hadn't seen in a long, long time... The King and I. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it. If you've never seen it, definitely watch it! As I turned the TV off after the movie, with a few emotional lumps in my throat, I got to thinking about the whole lovely thing. Why did it hit me in such an emotional way? I'd seen the movie before. I knew the story. So what caused this stirring of emotions in me?
Some of the scenes were exhilarating, to be sure. ("Shall We Dance?") The characters were a nice blend of stuffy English and demanding Thai king ("Something Wonderful.") If you analyzed the whole thing ... characters, plot, dialog... it was pleasant and entertaining, but enough to draw strongly on the emotions?
Then I got it. It was the music! It was the swelling of violins in just the right places, and the power of the words of the songs. The music was the magic of the movie.
So now I'm asking myself, how do I replicate that in a children's book? How do I put that emotional magic into a read-aloud story without actual music?
Says the king, "It's a puzzlement."
Some of the scenes were exhilarating, to be sure. ("Shall We Dance?") The characters were a nice blend of stuffy English and demanding Thai king ("Something Wonderful.") If you analyzed the whole thing ... characters, plot, dialog... it was pleasant and entertaining, but enough to draw strongly on the emotions?
Then I got it. It was the music! It was the swelling of violins in just the right places, and the power of the words of the songs. The music was the magic of the movie.
So now I'm asking myself, how do I replicate that in a children's book? How do I put that emotional magic into a read-aloud story without actual music?
Says the king, "It's a puzzlement."
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Something Wonderful
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