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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
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I wondered if the book title may have been made-up. But I am glad the Trachtenberg system was real and that they found a way to work it into conversation in the movie... helpful resource. Special-K had great product placement; They could have created a generic cereal for the movie (like creating a generic math book). LOL, now after watching "gifted" movie, I will always think twice when someone says they've made me a "special breakfast!" 
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 266
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 266 |
I enjoyed the emotional connections to the characters, the humor and interactions, but I can't seem to let go of the extremity of the foster solution and the cat. It really made no sense; they totally could've reached a better solution earlier. But then it wouldn't have had the big movie drama plot.
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Joined: Apr 2013
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Right! I think we all agree I understood that the court wanted the child to be on neutral turf... away from both Grandmother Evelyn and Uncle Frank, and their dispute which was growing ever more bitter... hence the bad compromise... but then sneaky Evelyn moved right in at the foster home and brought private tutors! How neutral was that?!!  It wasn't, and probably violated the terms of the court agreement... which eventually made it easier for Frank to re-negotiate a more appropriate solution for Mary's placement and educational opportunities. Keeping in mind that Mary loved her cat and wanted to keep him with her... good thing Evelyn was so allergic to cats that the foster family decided to give monocular Fred to the humane society; What Evelyn undoubtedly saw as a "win" turned out to be her downfall... good thing Bonnie noticed a monocular cat up for adoption and contacted Frank... good thing Frank checked it out without hesitating... good thing Frank asked the humane society to explain the circumstances under which the cat was given up (to help verify if it was indeed Fred)... good thing that when Frank learned the cat was given up due to allergies he correctly figured Evelyn might have been at the foster home, where her allergies were triggered by Fred... Frank practically wore a superhero cape in the scene that followed... and so did friend/neighbor/landlady Roberta!
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Joined: Feb 2015
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Right! I think we all agree Yeah, that was just far too contrived and perfect; so perfect, it made it pretty obvious they really could've worked out a compromise earlier. I can pick apart a few other things, too. Like, how did she make it to her age with a parent figure as smart as him, with a flexible work schedule, and not have made friends along the way? Not one kid from story time at the library? No outside activities at all? If he wanted her to be "a kid," why wasn't she in t-ball, dance, gymnastics, art class, etc at 4, 5, 6? You can even do Girl Scouts at 5 in K, even as a homeschooler, yet she's 7, now in 1st, and a Brownie, not a Daisy?
Not to mention, the ending, with the manuscript, why didn't he just pull that thing out right away? He didn't have trouble 'buying her off' after she deceived him.
Honestly, I thought the movie would be more about the girl, when it was more about the uncle and the mom and the bitter pill of ambition being above all else. But it still made me tear up a bit while watching.
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Joined: Apr 2013
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Like, how did she make it to her age with a parent figure as smart as him, with a flexible work schedule, and not have made friends along the way? Not one kid from story time at the library? No outside activities at all? If he wanted her to be "a kid," why wasn't she in t-ball, dance, gymnastics, art class, etc at 4, 5, 6? Funny, I never had those thoughts...! The lack of same-age friends was simply a given. In my observation and experience, gifted kiddos can be in many activities, enjoy the company of the kids there, be well-received and accepted... and yet not have a friendship bloom and develop that is sustained outside of the activity. These gifted kiddos can simply have other things on their minds... ideas and interests that most age-mates cannot relate to. Actress Octavia Spencer describes this well, I think, in several segments of an interview here... "wise beyond her years... see the world very differently from most people... live in their minds... shell..." Not to mention, the ending, with the manuscript, why didn't he just pull that thing out right away? He didn't have trouble 'buying her off' after she deceived him. What I saw in this... ...was that Frank delayed in pulling out the manuscript because he was trying to honor Diane's wishes to not allow her work to be published until after her mother's death.
I think Frank saw that Evelyn would ruin Mary's life (as I believe Evelyn ruined Diane's life) unless Evelyn's own aims were satisfied. Evelyn's stop-at-nothing desperation to be related to eminence was revealed by Evelyn moving into the foster family's guest house and hiring tutors. Diane's manuscript would surely satisfy Evelyn's aims, and thereby release Mary from a life dedicated to fulfilling her grandmother's dreams.
If Frank could not help both Diane and Mary escape Evelyn's grasp, then at this point "betraying" Diane (by allowing Evelyn to see Diane's work published) was surely of less negative consequence than betraying Mary (by allowing Evelyn to run Mary's young life, as she had run Diane's life). Honestly, I thought the movie would be more about... the girl, when it was more about the uncle and the mom and the bitter pill of ambition being above all else. I actually enjoyed this treatment of the topic "gifted", and thought it gave the movie a broader appeal... Rather than depict Mary in tight detail, as a documentary might, or a portrait painting... to me, the treatment of the gifted child was more like an impressionist painting (which focuses less on painstaking detail and more on the effect of the surrounding light on the object).
This seemed to mirror conversations on these forums... once it is known that a child is gifted (to whatever degree), we labor for years to create understanding and support among family, friends, schools, etc.
To what degree is a gifted child's life scripted? Where is the line drawn between support of developing one's potential... and pushing or hot-housing toward eminence (to the exclusion of other interests and relationships)?
The movie also allowed a viewer to imagine different scenarios...
- what if Frank and Mary's life had gone on without Evelyn showing up?
- what if Evelyn had taken over?
... before seeing the best of all worlds unfolding:
- Frank being open to experimenting a bit with Mary's education, while keeping up her interest and involvement with typical kid things.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Watching Hidden Figures a couple months ago... Thanks for mentioning this movie, Hidden Figures. It is an excellent movie with a star-studded cast, now out on Blu-ray. I highly recommend it. The main protagonist, Katherine Johnson, is now 98 years old. No doubt she is a gifted individual. When she was 15, Katherine began college. NASA links: 1. Who is Katherine Johnson (Jan 18, 2017) 2. Katherine Johnson Biography (Dec 1, 2016) 3. Mathematician Katherine Johnson at Work (Feb 25, 2016) 4. Former NASA Langley Mathematician to be Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom (Nov 17, 2015) 5. Katherine Johnson: A Lifetime of STEM (Nov 6, 2013) The NASA website also features brief biographies of the movie's other two central characters: - Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer, who was also in the movie "gifted"), - Mary Jackson who graduated with highest honors from high school.
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Joined: Jul 2017
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I was wondering who wrote those solutions in the yellow paper found by the grandmother near the end of the movie?
I am inclined to think that it was Diane who wrote those solutions, but the drawings and the "YES" made me think otherwise.
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