What Stories We Wrought

A rather interesting movie is out. Entitled "This Is This End", it is a film in the apocalypse vein that has the novel distinction of having its actors play themselves. One of the directors is Seth Rogen, who acts in the film with a variety of fellow actors who have collaborated many times, but always in character. The conceit of the film is what intrigues, although perhaps it would be interesting anyway. It would be a simpler decision to see it then. I'm conflicted, but it has more potential as is, I think.

The film reminded me of something from grade school. There was a peculiarly dark genre of creative writing that thrived in perhaps third grade. The plot, such as it was, went as follows: it was established that the writer and all of the classmates they were friends with were in some scenario, and then they would all die in some fashion or another. It was just "Here we all are, and here we all are dying." It was a dark genre, as I said.

I never wrote one of these myself that I can recall, although I believe I was envious of others for the popularity of their works. It seems to me that the intent was not malicious. It was somehow a rather silly thing to kill one's classmates off in a work of fiction. Maybe it was then that we were coming to terms with the idea of death, and that was our first foray. The teacher, in my memory, was no more than perturbed. Certainly no severe actions were taken on the basis of these stories, except that they were discouraged at a certain point and stopped being written.

Today I can imagine the authors being severely punished by educators fearful of real violence or at least of litigation. Perhaps, if I were a parent or an educator myself in today's world, I would be as concerned by anyone to read what we little children were doing then. Perhaps such expressions have more meaning now than they did then, or they also did then and factors like time and my then-immature perception of events soften things in my mind. Anyway, it was a funny memory to me.