Friday, December 05, 2003
perhaps it was mr krishnan's screening of the last part of the film version of the musical "the sound of music" one fine history lesson, channel 5's recent screening of it, as well as the casual chat i had with lwj about the musical at the kopitiam after our stayover at his house, which inspired me to suddenly want to watch "the sound of music" once more. i had watched it at least ten times in my life before ... and to give u an idea of how young i was when i first watched it, the one we have is on LDs -- those flattened metal donuts quite alike in appearance to our CDs, only much bigger ...
although this was the umpteenth time i was watching the film, the experience was still quite refreshing because this was the first time i was watching the entire film armed with the knowledge of the history behind the events in the film (one of very few useful things i gained from 'studying' for O levels). i realised i missed out a lot of historical elements that appeared in the film when i watched it that many times in primary school.
for example, the mention of the anschluss with austria that captain von trapp derided never had any meaning to me when i was younger ... those political figures in the film whose roles in the plot i did not fully understand when i was in primary school ... and even the song "edelweiss", as mr krishnan told us, was not only a love song, but also carried political meaning, such as in the episode where captain von trapp, when asked by maria and the children to sing them a song, chose to sing "edelweiss", highlighting his patriotism -- "bless my homeland forever" -- knowing full well that austria was on the brink of anschluss ... and when anschluss eventually came, captain von trapp's house was accused of being the only one in the neighbourhood that did not carry "the flag of the third reich since the anschluss" ... all the above never had much meaning to me when i was much younger ... i probably only understood captain von trapp's tearing up of that flag which carried the nazi logo.
so after 172 minutes of watching the film, and feeling quite lifted after that, i went to practise erhu for 3 hours straight till dinner ... those 3 hours really killed off whatever was left of my brittle confidence, i don't know why, but my playing seem to get worse and worse each day ... not as if my playing was ever good before, but i think it is getting from bad to worse really ...
although this was the umpteenth time i was watching the film, the experience was still quite refreshing because this was the first time i was watching the entire film armed with the knowledge of the history behind the events in the film (one of very few useful things i gained from 'studying' for O levels). i realised i missed out a lot of historical elements that appeared in the film when i watched it that many times in primary school.
for example, the mention of the anschluss with austria that captain von trapp derided never had any meaning to me when i was younger ... those political figures in the film whose roles in the plot i did not fully understand when i was in primary school ... and even the song "edelweiss", as mr krishnan told us, was not only a love song, but also carried political meaning, such as in the episode where captain von trapp, when asked by maria and the children to sing them a song, chose to sing "edelweiss", highlighting his patriotism -- "bless my homeland forever" -- knowing full well that austria was on the brink of anschluss ... and when anschluss eventually came, captain von trapp's house was accused of being the only one in the neighbourhood that did not carry "the flag of the third reich since the anschluss" ... all the above never had much meaning to me when i was much younger ... i probably only understood captain von trapp's tearing up of that flag which carried the nazi logo.
so after 172 minutes of watching the film, and feeling quite lifted after that, i went to practise erhu for 3 hours straight till dinner ... those 3 hours really killed off whatever was left of my brittle confidence, i don't know why, but my playing seem to get worse and worse each day ... not as if my playing was ever good before, but i think it is getting from bad to worse really ...
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