"Remember My Favorite Things"

http://www.trilulilu.ro/brodsky/9eeb6b9aac6621

Interestingly enough, this became a discussion topic on the way to my soccer game last night. After I brought up my blog on the sound of music, the three girls in the back launched in to a chorus of "My Favourite Things." One interesting point brought up was the line "brown paper packages tied up with strings." Without any of my prodding, a girl said "That's so funny, they waited for a brown package tied up in string, and we wait for bunches of presents in colorful wrapping paper and giant bows." History right there, baby. The numerous things that Maria lists as some of her favorites, would never today appear on a favorites list of today. Standards have been changed.

Their Favorite things:

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things. "
."

Might now be more of a :

COD 4 on X-box and touch screens on iPods.

Fine guys at the gym and their super hot bods.

Cool new search engines like Twitters and Bings

These are a few of my favorite things.

Gold colored hair dye, and Twinkes with white cream

Text beeps and school bells and diamonds that do gleam

Wild party's that go 'till up the sun brings

These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in short dresses with no satin sashes

No-clump mascara that stays on eyelashes.

Hours on Facebook away from siblings

These are a few of my favorite things

*Please Note: These are certainly not MY favorite things. Just "society's."

Desire vs. Duty

What you want, and what you "have" to do. It becomes a competition, a battle of desire and duty.

In Austria during the 1930's, it was every Austrian man's duty to Heil Hitler. It was every Austrians duty to be German. And every Austrians duty to fight with the Nazis. But, this was not Captain Von Trapp's desire. The whole movie he found himself battleing society. The choice was already made in his mind, desire over duty. But convincing the conforming population of it was not so easy. He wanted to stay dear to Austria but eventually, the forcefulness of the population demanding duty drove him away.

In the Von Trapp household during the 1930's, it was every child's duty to be disciplined. It was every child's duty to abide by the rules. And every child's duty to respond to their whistles. But, this was not Leisle's, Fredrick's, Brigetta's, Kurt's, Louisa's, Marta's, or Gretal's desire. They all wanted to be children, laughing, and singing, and frolicking the fields in drapes. It was not until Maria showed up that they were able to deveate from duty and abide (couldn't think of a d word to put there) by desire. With Maria's extra push, the children were able to delve right in to the childhood playing that they had lost in the rules and discipline of their "duty" as the Captain's children.

"Bless my homeland forever"

http://vimeo.com/4143597

. . . and that was certainly the opinion of Captain Von Trapp at the time. Edelweiss, the truly breath taking rendition preformed as the debut of the Von Trapp family singers, is a simple song, a song with only eight lines. However, the meaning is unlimited. Just moments ago, while straightening my hair, I realized that in singing the line "Bless my homeland forever," Von Trapp himself was not blessing his homeland, but the edelweiss was. Now, I do not know if that makes me dumb (for not realizing that sooner) but I had always thought that Von Trapp himself was blessing his homeland forever. Certainly hadn't caught on to the fact the edelweiss was a flower. But days ago, when I realized so, the song made much more sense. I know have a greater insight of all of the hidden meaning. The edelweiss is a white, perennial. White and pure. Perennial meaning that it comes back every year. It will be strong and pure in Austria forever more. The Nazis can wipe out all of the Austrians, sure. But no matter what, the edelweiss will bless Von Trapp's homeland forever, they cannot be destroyed.

At the time of singing this song, Von Trapp did not yet know that he would be leaving his homeland to which he was so devoted. Or did he? Maybe Von Trapp was handing the responsibilities that he once felt on his shoulders over to the flowers, the ones that can never be destroyed or over taken by the mass conformers. He feels safe, leaving his country to be blessed by the flowers that come up every year, pure and nobel.

"So long" Psycho

Throughout the film, Captain Von Trapp changes a great deal on two levels. As a father he changes, and as an Austrian he changes.

When Maria arrives at the Von Trapp house, Captain runs a tight ship. Since the death of his wife, and his children's mother, everything has been discipline, discipline, discipline. I was taken aback by captain Von Trapps line to the Baroness, " You have brought the only source of meaning in to my life." Out loud my reaction was "What about your kids you dummy?!" Mr. Kannan quickly jumped in with an explanation. As a reflection of the times, Captain Von Trapp saw his children as responsibilities. However, when Maria comes, bringing a strong headed opinion, and the sound of music with her, things begin to change. The Captain comes back from his visit to the Baroness, to be greeted by a "new family." A family of happy singing, tree-climbing, children dressed in drapes. Though at first he refuses to allow the new changes to be, when he hears the singing, his mind is quickly changed. I believe that as he sings Eidleweiss with his children, Captain Von Trapp becomes the man he once was. He leaves the ideas of a strict society of responsibilities, to be a little bit more free-minded, like Maria.

As an Austrian with strong political beliefs, Captain Von Trapp also changes. A large issue presented in The Sound of Music is that of the Nazi party. A Germany lead by Hitler was looking to take over all of Europe. Captain Von Trapp was one of the few who wanted to be Austrian while he was supposed to be German. Even friends attending his party, made hushed comments on the obvious display of the Austrian flag. In the end, Captain Von Trapp realizes that he can't beat Hitler. The nation had conformed, and left as a lonely non-conformist, he had no chance. Instead of conforming, which would obviously be the easy way out, he left. Von Trapp left Austria, the country that he loved, with the one thing that he could love forever, his family.

Terrible Honesty

Maria gets caught up in everything wonderful, the sky that is so blue, the grass that is so green, the fragrance of the mountains. She wants to live a life in the Abbey, a life that is not 100% hers. She has learned what she needs to know. She knows what she is supposed to be doing, that is finding what is the will of God. But she has trouble doing so without getting lost, without expressing herself . . . honestly. When asked what honesty is, Maria responds "terrible." This idea of conforming with the society in Austria during the 30's was big. Maria was responsible for doing only as she was told. As a young women, she was expected to do what she was told, and only what she was told. This idea in society morphed her mind to believe that all the "different" things that she felt were terrible and wrong. She worked to be "normal" and that was not right. (Though as the movie progresses, she quickly loses that need to conform.)

"A Whole New World"

Oh right . . . wrong movie. However, Maria does find herself in a whole new world. Ever scince the children's mother passed away, Captain Von Trapp runs his house as he does his ship, the first rule is discipline. And with her she brings to the Von Trapp ship her own "rare and wonderful new world of indigestion." The playful Maria was not expecting the "psycho discipline ship" that she found in the Von Trapp household. However, not one of the Von Trapp's is ready for what they receive with Maria. Though the Captain runs a tight ship, Maria is not the tad bit opposed to speaking her voice. She finds herself in a new world, but acts only as herself. My greatest admiration of frau lign Maria is her inability to be phased by the opinions and reactions of others. Everything is run by the man, the captain, but Maria is not afraid of him. She speaks up neumerous times with witty remarks that catch the Captain off guard. "Whistles are for dogs and cats and other animals but not for children and certainly not for me." The captain nor the children have experienced someone quite like her and while the children grow fond of her, the Captain grows unhappy. Dun, dun, dun. Good luck Maria! "

" The Sound of Music is a musical with music"

"It's a musical with music." says Wikipedia. Google, "the Sound of Music," and what do you find? The basic stuff; most of which relates strictly to the film - setting, characters, plot, the simple synopsis, directing, casting and production the information that you would find on any movie. There are ratings (most of which are quite high) and profiles of the cast and crew. A few sites however pop up, giving the story of the real VonnTrap family and information about Austria. Of course advertisments pop up as well. Buy the book! Buy the Movie! Buy the soundtrack! I did not even know there was a book! Closing sentence, The Sound of Music has established a presence on the web (one much greater then that of me on moodle). There would certainly be no need to use "Bing!" or whatever the new site with the clever commercials is, the Google is just fine.