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I don't think many of the comments I read on the web about the Julia/Julie controversy slice through clean. They usually swing off-tangent as highly biased praise or near-defamatory critique, depending on whether it is about their favorite or not. I usually choose to fault circumstances rather than persons. And in my opinion, the words "protocol" (as applied to our actions) and "ADD/ADHA" (which I distinctly heard in the movie), together, cut to the marrow. When the need for protocol meets up with ADHA, there is certainly going to be a problem. These are my insights after seeing the movie. Ms Julia Child is a public icon, a star in her own right, an institution. She personified feminine goal-setting and achievement, points which scored zero stars for Ms Powell who was intensely aware of her being a habitual "half-way-through." The movie suggests the cause to be ADHA, a neurosis associated with attention deficiency, hyperactivity and possibly emotional fits. Julie's first cubicle scene is not just humorous local color. Distracted, fidgety and emotional is the picture we get of her, barely listening to client after client and finally settling on one whose complaints meant enough to make her teary-eyed. This shows just this peculiarity of hers. She couldn't focus on things with her mind unless her heart helped out. But when she did focus, it was with all her heart. On the other hand, it would probably have seemed to Ms Child, as it would have to most celebrities, that her life and fame were being involved by Julie in an unprofessional, inelegant and unflattering setting. The more so because the Julie/Julia project was really a log meant to monitor and self-comment on Julie's personal progress rather than a practical methodology for bringing out the excellence of the Julia Child recipes. To someone unaware of Julie's real intentions, the project would have seemed like a clumsy caricature on the art of cooking. No wonder Ms Child thought the business "rude"; her initial impression is summed up by "She isn't even a cook!" And all this without her explicit approval. And we do need the permission of people, famous or not, to use them or anything they own for purposes other than plain citation, and even then, some people like to know "content and context" before they endorse. Given her condition, Ms Powell could not be motivated to accomplishment by strangers and hence couldn't have just picked up and cooked from any cook book. She chose Ms Child, the patron saint of French cooking in America and a virtual member of every American household, as the angel to help her focus and resist her neurosis, by "completing something" within a schedule. The need for protocol is mentally imposed and her heart was unaware of it. She instead gave in to literary outbursts of familiar fondness and admiration which to the nervous is an expression of supreme good will...sadly, Ms Child felt differently. Underlying this tension between the two, the basic goodness in both persons prevented anything more harmful than media gossip from making the scene. The fact that Ms Child didn't pursue deeper into her rights regarding her publicity in Ms Powell's literary efforts(which she might have done...and then this entire controversy: book, movie and all would never have been), just goes to show that she had understood the situation. Might she not have read up on Ms Powell and fallen into a maternal silence when she discovered that besides not being a cook, Ms Powell was working to overcome a handicap? Ms Powell, on the other hand, never lost faith in her "angel" and interpreting Ms Child's disdain as simple disinterestedness, reveals that she is a child at heart, neither giving nor taking malice, believing everything to be obtainable or excusable by loving fondness. Needless to say, the acting is finely nuanced, with such a fineness that I didn't realize what I had just seen until later, after research and reflection. As for the intrigues which have grown around this topic, including my own premature opinions, I found them generally reactive, tangential but stimulating! Strange how we are moved by circumstances. Julie Powell's handicap leads us to focus on a life and career which peaked a generation ago. Perhaps life is telling us to slow down and look back a bit. Maybe it's time for someone to make a movie on Julia Child alone and what she has to tell this generation? Conclusion: The famous blog isn't really about cooking at all, strictly speaking it isn't even just about blogging your experiences either. It is a brave young girl's effort to overcome her handicap, an effort that has been rewarded but not fully so. Here's to the eventual complete transformation of handicap to talent. Bonne Chance!!
Article Source: http://www.mandcnews.com
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