Film · Prime Video · 2001

Spirited Away

Keep it for an older child. Greed is the danger. Remembering who people are is the rescue.

Chihiro does not win by being chosen. She wins by showing up to a hard, humiliating job and by not forgetting her parents when forgetting would be easier. The bathhouse is a brilliant picture of an economy that eats. No-Face is what a loneliness becomes when it is fed every thing it points at. Yubaba steals names because a person without a name will work forever. The film is pagan, crowded, and more morally serious than most films that advertise a lesson.

Not for the very small. Right for a child who is ready to hear that appetite can change a face, and that work and memory can change it back.

The eight

Industry
9/10
She earns the rescue by labor.
Household
8/10
She will not forget her parents.
Piety
5/10
A spirit world. Take it as a fable and keep your own prayers.
Courage
8/10
She stays in the bathhouse.
Republic
6/10
A whole economy of exploitation.
Temperance
8/10
Gluttony is the monster.
Truth
9/10
Names are the truth that frees.
Stewardship
9/10
It hands on memory as a duty.

Live historicallySay the true name of someone the house has started to treat as a use.

Film · 20th Century · 1965

The Sound of Music

A house, a vow, and a border they will not hand their children across.

The hills are what people remember, and they are the invitation. The film earns its keep after the wedding, when a father will not give his house to a government that wants the boys in uniform. A vow and a border, in that order.

Sing if you want. Do not leave before they climb. The question to ask on the way out is which order this house would not follow, and which children the answer is for.

The eight

Industry
6/10
The captain's house is run like a ship until someone has to actually raise the children.
Household
9/10
A marriage in earnest, and seven children who are the stake of the last reel.
Piety
8/10
The abbey is a real place with a real rule. She is not mocking it when she leaves.
Courage
8/10
They walk out rather than wear the armband. The songs were the easy part.
Republic
8/10
A country asks for their sons. They refuse. That is the civic act.
Temperance
7/10
The music is joy, and it is not the master. When the regime arrives, they stop performing.
Truth
8/10
The captain will not lie about what the flag means. The engagement that was convenient is broken in daylight.
Stewardship
8/10
The children are gotten over the mountains. That is the inheritance.

Live historicallyTell your children the name of one order this house will not follow.