So I was understandably angry when I saw the trailer for The Giver. I saw way too much romance for my liking - the whole point in the book was that Fiona was unable to reciprocate what Jonas felt - and I thought that there was too much drama and suspense. Basically, my impression was that they turned the book into a Hollywood thriller. I believed the director and all involved had tarnished a book with a truly beautiful meaning, and I swore to never see it as an act of solidarity with the original story.
Notice the past tense.
I saw it today. My curiosity overpowered my head and I gave in. I wasn't disgusted, like I thought I would be, but I wasn't particularly impressed with it either. They did a good job of portraying the most important parts of the book, while leaving out and/or changing other aspects. I understand why directors must cut and change certain parts (after all, a movie is based on a book; they never claimed to be a carbon copy), but the changes bothered me still like they always will. The movie for the most part held my attention, but very loosely. Then they brought out the piano. And they played the piano.
Ah, music. Unfiltered, classical music. I remember you.
I can only describe the melody they played as bittersweetly enchanting. The fact that it was played on a grand piano and not a simple upright only enhanced the experience. I couldn't find the actual soundtrack, but some lovely people on Youtube have transcribed it to the best of their ability.
There was another version that sounded closer to the one in the movie, but the girl's playing technique was cringeworthy. I shall stop myself here before launching into a lecture (Also, she was using an electric keyboard, where you can hear that the keys are plastic) (STOP).
It reminded me of when I used to play the piano - proper, extended sonatas and etudes. Not the mainstream transcribed pop songs I became enamored with my senior year of high school, when I quit my piano lessons but still wanted to play in my free time. However, I will say that I never really found a career path as a musician appealing. I became quickly frustrated with a piece if I couldn't learn it swiftly enough, so (and I say this with the least amount of arrogance possible) it was a good thing I was a skilled sight-reader. But once I got the hang of a song, I would've gladly played it for an hour. And when I say "got the hang," I don't mean learned it so I could play it through with minimal errors. I mean that piece is memorized down to the last note quality. You could tell which were my favorite songs because I could play them, full speed, usually using all 7 octaves, with my eyes closed. I'd have played it so often before my hands could jump two octaves at a time between notes and still hit the right key(s) without looking. I never had to think. I just did. At those moments, I was both the performer and the audience. It's difficult to explain.
Those times were few and far between, but there was always a heavy rush of emotion and freedom and pride and happiness every time I learned a piece to that level. It was like adrenaline, a positive feedback loop where the faster I played, the better I felt, and that goaded me on to hit the keys with even more ferocity. In those moments, I was actually proud of who I was and what I could do. I rarely feel so much passion, positive or negative, that it's a physical sense in your chest, but sometimes, playing the piano gave me that sense. And if I ever felt bad, and if I was alone in the house, I could sit down at the piano and just let it all out. I may not be able to do some things, but at least I can do this.
Watching that scene in The Giver reminded me of my past piano days. As of right now, roughly 72% of my life has been dedicated to learning the piano. I can't just throw that away. I became extremely nostalgic watching the actors, and if I were home in California, the moment I'd've gotten home I would have sat down and played. But there's no piano here. Not even an electric keyboard.
I understand withdrawal now. It really does feel like a cavity in your heart. I've been listening to so much rock and screamo and EDM that I haven't even noticed the absence of classical music in my life. I've forgotten music can still sound good without auto tune. Hell, it can still sound good without lyrics. It can sound good with just one solo instrument. Nothing to hide behind.
I guess I was biased from that point forward, because whatever I felt at that piano scene in The Giver spilled over to the rest of the movie. I no longer see it as a Hollywood blockbuster, filmed for the sole purpose of making money. All the flashes of memory Jonas sees - people dancing, praying, laughing, and clearly feeling the presence of being alive - I don't know why, but it really got to me. I suppose it might be because I enjoy EDM too, and raves are about letting go and sharing adrenaline between the people around you and feeling the joy of simply being alive.* That heavy bass beat? It LITERALLY shakes your inner core if you're around speakers big enough. It grabs you and tells you to wake up. It's this joy that I refer to specially when watching The Giver. It's just a sense of freedom to live as you see fit, without guidelines and obligations and oppressiveness all the time, and it's the wonder as you experience so many other people living as they see fit. Because, obviously, they're going to be doing it a lot differently than you.
But even under that, there's a uniformity to the rush of memories Jonas experiences- a quick flash of a child blowing out candles, another flash and a man is leaping off a cliff into the ocean. Despite surface differences, there's almost always a common underlying theme the humans of Earth can all relate to. Refer Humans of New York (HONY).
*I've chosen to take the positive view, because I'm a fan of EDM. I know many people look down on raves as huge, messy party scenes where people get too crazy, and as places where drug use runs rampant. I would ask you though, if you think this, to please not generalize too much. I was one of the shyest and cleanest kids in high school (still am), and yet I'd like nothing more than to attend a rave with a couple of Kandi kid friends. Maybe even a camping festival, like Electric Forest. You don't need drugs to have a good time at raves.
So I guess the moral of the story is to reserve judgement. In my "technically" logic, this is blatantly impossible because there will always be a first impression of something when you meet someone or do something new. The gathering of data at first glance is inescapable. But technicalities aside, what people mean is acting on those observations. I saw the trailer for The Giver, hated it, and nearly missed out on a great movie. Though, as I've said, I may be biased because of the whole piano scene.
I really do miss piano. I never thought I would. It was always something forced on me by my Asian mother (really, what Asian hasn't played the piano at some point? It's their (our?) stereotypical instrument, like ping pong for sports. Calm down. I know there are exemptions to the stereotype). I was one of those kids who were pulled out of (elementary) school to practice for competitions. But now the closest I can get to playing is typing on a computer. If my parents can leave me alone in the house for a little bit when I get back home, that'd be great. I can relearn some of my old favorites.
This hiatus has gone on for too long.
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If you have Snapchat, you may have noticed that they're covering TomorrowWorld, a hugely popular EDM festival. I'm pretty much crying at the injustice of not being able to attend. It doesn't help that I missed Beyond Wonderland too, back in San Francisco this last weekend, because my college started so early. I have a friend who, because of the University of California late start system, was able to attend, and he inadvertently taunted me with pictures and videos the whole night. Don't know whether to love or hate him for that.
But I digress.
In the Snapchat Story, someone had recorded an 8-second video of a song, and I RECOGNIZED IT. I listen to a lot of electro stuff when running, and one of those songs is a remix of "Rude" by Magic!. They played it at TomorrowWorld, and I recognized it. Do you know how hard that is? I like EDM, but I fully admit a lot of the songs all sound the same. But they played one of my favorite songs. I'm in agony.
Rude (Zedd Remix), by Magic!
The part that appears in the Story is around the 1:28 mark.
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