(no subject)

[jfb]

I finally got around to seeing Spellbound, and it's a shame there are Americans who won't. It hit a lot of the tracks my thoughts often run in: Winners and losers, insiders and outsiders, work vs. faith vs. luck, emigration, immigration, and diversity. Like a good liberal arts student, I see pretty much everything as political, but I don't think I'm wrong to do so here--watch the background for American flags and other symbols, think about the way the film is structured and what the kids and especially the parents have to say. Of course, politics is far from the only thing it's about--it's mostly about a bunch of very hard-working and mostly likable kids.

Fun fact: In the marathon rhyming session that produced the lyrics for "Snowblinded", one of the many words and almost-words that got rejected was "spellbinded."