The literary forefathers of 'Up'

 

What do Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World," J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan," L. Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz" and Johanna Spyri's "Heidi" have in common? They're all progenitors -- grandparents? -- of the new movie "Up." As Jerry Griswold writes in our pages:

The title of the new Disney/Pixar movie "Up," as well as its signature image of a house floating beneath thousands of tethered balloons, reminds us how frequently the theme of Lightness appears in children's literature. From Mary Poppins to Peter Pan, from Tarzan swinging on vines to Harry Potter scooting on his broomstick, children's stories seem to feature the quick, the lithe and the aerial. Maybe that's not surprising. While adults seem earthbound, youngsters zoom by on skateboards or jump from heights as caped incarnations of Superman.

The mature, in fact, seem to suffer from the debilitating effects of kryptonite; they are victims of Heaviness. While children "play all day long" in J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan," presumably their parents go to work or attend meetings. Indeed, the tragic moment in "Peter Pan" occurs near the end when the ever-youthful Peter comes to invite Wendy on another adventure and is shocked to find a gray-haired lady in the shadows; she can no longer fly, Wendy sadly explains, because "I am old."

His essay includes a heap of literary predecessors to "Up," many of which deal with youth and the kryptonite of adulthood.

Lightness has been so deeply threaded through children's literature that it must have been picked up by those writing for adults. But the only book I can think of that explicitly deals with it is Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."  What are some others?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Image: Disney / Pixar

Comments

[redbean]

George Macdonald's novella "The Light Princess". A princess is cursed at birth with an unnatural lightness of body such that she literally floats away unless anchored to something, and an unnatural lightness of heart, such that she can't appreciate (makes light of) emotion or love. Only until a prince nearly dies for her does she "recover her gravity", both in spirit and body.

[Helen Yoo]

omg. i really want to watch up movie at the grove
its really awesome it looks like its funny!!!!!!!

[adam]

Up - It was OK.
It is NOT a kids movie!
My 6 year old wantd to leave the theatre twice!
Why does soemeone always die in Disney movies....It doesn't make the movie any better!

We should stop going to these so calld kids movies until the really are geared toward kids.

[Mary Parks]

"Up" is a great kids movie. My 4 year old watched every minute of this, his first theatre movie! Life is full of these lessons and Up has a great message about the entirety of people's wisdom. Great for grandparents and caregivers of all ages!

[elizabeth]

did not like the Movie at all, defenitely not a kids movie. My daughther wanted to leave the movie theatre, she was so bored. not worth spending 12 bucks a ticket... sorry.

[JuniperTodd]

My wife and I, along with our two boys (ages 7 and 9), really enjoyed UP. All of the scenes about the man and his wife though really hit home with me and my wife . Very poignant.

[Enlightened adult]

Wake up people. It's not a kids movie and that's a GOOD thing. Where is it written that because it's animation, it has to be for kids? Thank God for Pixar and their ability to tell a good story and render it in the fascinating medium of animation.

My wife and I also thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it's use of 3D was great...very visual without being over the top. By far the best movie this year, handily beating all of the comedic schlock and by the numbers dramatic rote so far served up.

[Linda D.]

Jane Mendelsohn's novella, "I Was Amelia Earhart." Flying and, finally, choosing to be grounded. The term Mendelsohn employs for "lightness" is "the in-between."

[Cat]

Flying - the possibility of it, the mystery of it, the acrobatics of it - is definitely at the heart of Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. That's the only adult work I can think of off the top of my head. There seem to be a lot more that are interested in heaviness and descent (subterannean realms, drowning) than in lightness and ascent.

In the animation world, Hayao Miyazaki's lovely films almost all involve an element of flight - sometimes available only for the children (My Neighbour Totoro) and sometimes for all the chararacters (Nausicaa, Laputa, Kiki, Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle). Princess Mononoke was an exception, though - although one could argue that movie was targeted more towards adults - and Spirited Away only had the one scene near the end.