The King’s Speech and The Witch
Last night, we went to see The King’s Speech which is up for a number of awards. Everyone I know who has seen it has highly recommended the movie. One friend said “Better than I expected.” Another said, “Oh, I loved that movie.”
Puzzling.
It was a nice movie. Perfectly acted by perfect actors. And I don’t know if it was the bad popcorn at Canal Place but in the end I was not as thrilled with the movie as say The Queen, which like The King’s Speech, was based on historical moments in the British monarchy, but was so profoundly portrayed by Helen Mirren that the movie had a way of quietly sneaking up on you in that British sort of way, where understatement is glaring and peculiarity of character puts the stamp on the eccentric.
In the afternoon, I had been at the costume shop on Magazine having stopped in quickly to see if I could find something that approximated a lion tamer’s hat for Tin to wear for Mardi Gras. Five of us are going as animals and we wanted Tin to be our keeper. But instead, he will wear his Indian outfit and be our little prince who keeps exotic animals such as zebra, lion, monkey, tiger, etc. When I found a unicorn outfit that would fit him perfectly, I thought well, it’s warm, it’s one piece, and it’s easy and I called the zebra and she said, “No, no, no. It’s a better story if he is different. As a unicorn, he becomes one of us.”
It made me think this morning as the rosy dawn was appearing behind the houses across the bayou about the witch of Mojacar. There is a witch that sits by the entrance to the city and she casts a spell on the people who travel there either favorably or unfavorably. This came up yesterday, when T and I were talking about a person who had had an unfavorable experience in New Orleans. And I mentioned a friend of our nanny’s who was robbed not once, but twice, and decided to leave New Orleans.
I thought perhaps there is a witch that sits at the entrance to the I-10, who decides who gets to experience New Orleans favorably and who gets to experience it unfavorably. And so that it is not so much up to us if we will enjoy, if we will get, if we will stay in New Orleans as it is the spell that is cast on us from the moment we arrive.