Subtitle: The Principle of Making Possible What Is Impossible
Firstly, I start with a quick apologize: The previous week has been busier than I thought. I blame it on the fact that everyone at school craves for holidays, having time for oneself and that very much takes away motivation, inspiration and energy. Fortunately, the last tests will be over by Wednesday. I try to do as much as possible at this weekend, and after Christmas. (For those who haven't find out yet: This also goes for Alice, my mod account.)
Secondly, I have to admit how much I love what topics we discuss in lessons this year. Perhaps I’m turning into a nerd, but I’m not uncomfortable with it. Something has changed during summer of this year (Summer of ’09 instead of ‘69, lol) and my communication skill and self-confidence have developed significantly. Naturally I don’t feel perfect, but much better.
Anyway, my favorite subject is Psychology/Philosophy. You just have to love it when we discuss such fancy exciting topics as development psychology, education and traumas. We’re going to continue with criminality, astrology and psychic illnesses next semester, so there are still many things I look forward to. Two days ago we watched a film about a theatre production from a French troupe called ‘Royale de Luxe’. They travel around and perform their pieces in different cities – literally in the streets of the cities! In Berlin, they carried out a huge project – what we saw was a one hour documentation about it. Two giants had been constructed, a little female one and a big male one. The director, who is an amazingly dedicated person with a very strong personality, made up a story about the two living together when Berlin was still a huge swampland. The big one built a boat for the girl to travel over the water with, but shortly after there was an earthquake when monsters of the water and monsters of the earth fought a battle, destroyed the area and a high and robust wall of stones and earth divided it into two parts. For many millennia the two giants weren’t able to meet each other, but then the big one (the girl’s uncle) dove deeply down, found a sleeping geyser, woke it up and brought it to where the wall was situated. The geyser destroyed it, and as a consequence the two giants could reunite happily.
The actual piece involved both giants (the little one 9 meters, the big one about 15 meters high, IIRC) walking through the streets of Berlin, accompanied by huge crowds of intrigued residents, of course, the little one having a shower, being welcomed by the mayor, playing with some kids sitting on her wooden arms etc. Her uncle was sitting in the river and had to be heaved out with a crane – weighing a few tons (don’t remember the exact number), thus the crane had to weigh about 100 tons to raise him from a distance of 40 meters because they weren’t allowed to put it on the bridge.
However, the show included different aspects than the technical one. The crew member who intrigued me most – apart from the director – was the guy who moved the little giant’s eyes. How is he able to make them look so alive, as if they would see right through your body and into your heart? The mouth was movable too, but both giants’ bodies still hung on a lot of ropes and required a lot of people to move them through the streets. Still there was more. Their story seemed to come out of a fairytale book, fantastic and real at the same time because they were walking through the streets and people could watch them telling their story without any additional explanations. Sometimes it looked as if the girl was smiling, and when they reunited, her uncle seemed to cry. How can it be possible to discover human emotions on a wooden face? It was sheer magic, man.
Now it reminds me of Pinocchio, the wooden doll who wanted to be human. I think I have a better image of how he was able to come alive under his creator’s hands after experiencing the giants’ story.
All of us are trying to accomplish the same goal with their writing, I suppose. We’re happy if we manage to invent a new fairytale, something that belongs to us and can be shared with others because it makes them feel better about themselves and with their lives. May all of those people, who want to create life in the readers’ heads, have success! And may we never lose our ability to dream and see stories where others are unable to see anything at all.