I am reading The Fellowship of the Ring to Smallsteps at night and just finished the chapter "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm" in which at the end Gandalf is pulled by the Balrog into the chasm to his (at this point) demise. I have read these books several times over the years but the last time must have been over twenty five years ago, before the release of the first movie hit the cinemas, as I wanted to get reacquainted with it. However, something came to mind when reading the book last night, because it was wrong.
You shall not pass!
That was the line I remembered. But the book had it as "You cannot pass". And then I remembered that when the first movie came out (I saw it at the cinemas at the premiere because my sister worked there at the time), I noted the same change. There were of course many changes in the movie compared to the book in order to keep the flow going and reduce complication with too many characters, but that line stood out, as it is such an important part of the story. But since then, I have seen the movie a few times and well, the memory replacement process kicked in and forced my memory to remember the changed line instead of the correct line.
Close enough is good enough?
My friend who was here the other day is reading a book on Einstein he is enjoying, but that came up because while we were talking we were discussing creativity and the ability to imagine. Imagination is vital for humanity, but it is being reduced through our cultural changes, namely, the way we consume. A famous paraphrased Einstein quote is,
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
It isn't the story that makes them intelligent, it is the process of forced imagination they are pushed into, where they have to create worlds, animals and characters that do not exist, and cannot exist. It forces a child to imagine the impossible, which develops multiple parts of their brain function to practice and enhance their imaginative capabilities. Imagining the impossible is high-level problem solving and when done through the lens of a fairy tale, it doesn't feel like work at all.
When Gandalf was pulled down by the Balrog, Smallsteps' eyes welled.
When our brain imagines something, it can't help but treat it as real, even when logic tries to overrule it. And through books we are not only able to imagine the visuals, but also the emotions we might experience when something like loss happens. Smallsteps felt the loss of Gandalf at that point, not because of what she had heard, but because it impacted on the world she had created, that was unique to her, and where she had attached herself to the characters.
But most kids these days, don't read, they watch. Watching is completely different to reading, even if the story is identical, because it provides all the sights and sounds and direction, without having to create anything. When watching, the majority of value in the fairy tale is lost, but we do not even realise it because, we are not personally invested. When we watch a movie we are a fly on the wall, a voyeur. When we read a book and imagine the story, we are the creator.
Einstein said, fair tales.
Because they aren't real. Yes, there are plenty of lessons that can be learned from them, but the "unrealness" is what forces us to practice our imagination and push it to the limits. Do this enough and it becomes easy to innovate, to problem solve, and be creative across many disciplines. Einstein's ability at math wasn't driven only by the numbers, it was because he was able to "put himself" into his theories, imagine himself travelling on a particle (or wave) of light. He could visualise the theory, and then close the gaps to better understanding.
But, when we watch not only do our creative processes get crushed, but our memories get changed. I can no longer see the characters I created for LotR when I was a kid, all I see are the actors from the movies. My own world has been hijacked without me putting up a fight. And this was made salient again last night, as to how while we think we remember, we think we can do, we don't actually no what has been replaced, what we have lost, until we are reminded of it.
By then, it might be too late.
And we cannot pass.
Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]
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