Paradise Lost

The scent of flowers. That is what I remember about my first moments in Hawaii. I remember the beautiful sunny days where a passing shower cleared up almost as soon as it showed up. I remember standing under that famous Banyan tree in Lahaina taking pictures. There was history around every corner. As a vacation destination it truly was paradise.

This fellow has a nice video on the Maui I knew.

That was then, this is now.

Lahaina will not be the last casualty of climate change.

It is a very sad day. But I know that the spirit of the people of Hawaii will not be broken.

"Barbenheimer"

A number of weeks ago a friend talked me into seeing The Little Mermaid. Not my usual movie genre. But it was surprisingly good. Anyway, during the previews of coming movies Barbie popped up. At the time I looked at the trailer and thought, who on earth would want to see that? If looked totally without substance. And, well, totally pink! Fast forward to the opening weekend of what was labeled “Barbenheimer”, the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer in the same weekend. Barbie totally demolished Oppenheimer at the box office, garnering almost twice the box office take. Don’t get me wrong, Oppenheimer had a very good take for opening weekend at $80.5 million. But Barbie garnered $155 million.

I thought, what the heck? Have we fallen so low that a fluffy, pink movie would out perform the story of what was a world altering history of the father of the atom bomb? I went to see Oppenheimer on opening weekend. It was more than just the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in creating the atom bomb. It was also the story of the attempt to ruin him by one vengeful man. It was the story of the cutthroat world of government. The three hour length wasn’t a drawback. It went by very quick, because it was a very good film.

But in the meantime I was hearing from people who had seen Barbie and loved it. Adults, not kids, because contrary to my first thought it really isn’t a children’s movie. So, I talked a friend into going to see it this weekend. It is a clever fantasy that hits at gender roles into which not just women, but men, have been pigeonholed. It’s message of the unfair advantage some people may have due to their gender in its different worlds, Barbie Land and the real world, should resonant with everyone, not just women. It’s message of how people should be able to be who they are without being judged as worthy or not reminds me of the America I believe in. While it is pink it is certainly not fluffy.

Now we have people who are complaining that it is too “woke”. Really? This seems to be a catch all term used by some people who feel threatened by the empowerment of certain segments of our society. As of this writing Barbie has grossed $1 billion, and I realized I misjudged what America was saying with its movie vote.

Both of these films have powerful messages. They just say them in different ways.