going up? June 2, 2009

WARNING: SPOILER!

I must say, this newest gem from Pixar is their most mature piece of art yet.  UP captured the very soul of endearment and captivated me from its bittersweet beginning to sweeter end.  The exposition: Carl and Ellie Frederickson’s sixty-odd-year marriage unfolded in five wordless minutes, showing rather than telling us how they gracefully aged together.  They really had a full life, those two, and loved each other dearly. After seeing this, it was easy to understand why Carl became such a curmudgeon after the death of his wife.

On he lived in his own stubborn, unyielding ways, clinging fiercely to his house as it was when Ellie still lived there. It was sad, certainly: I wanted to wonder why he never moved on, but knew in my heart of hearts that she was his whole life and to leave the house was to give that up. So instead of allowing his circumstances to nudge him along into assisted living, he escaped, flying the house like the colossal dirigible he had seen in the newsreels as a boy.

I don’t feel like giving away the ENTIRE plot, but what I would like to expound upon is the central binding thread of the story: Ellie’s “adventure book”.  When it is first introduced, it’s obviously a child’s scrapbook–complete with an empty section labeled “things I’m going to do”–and once the children grow up, you think that’s the end of it. But after Carl and Ellie discover they cannot have children (the first of many misty-eyed moments that evening), out it comes again as a reminder that adventure is still awaiting them.  Away it goes once more, having served its purpose as a good-humored kick in the pants.  Until Ellie dies.  Just before passing, she hands the book to Carl, who sees himself a dismal failure for never fulfilling her dream to visit Paradise Falls. Years pass before he opens it again–this time, it is just as he is setting out on his journey in the floating house. But it is too painful for him to look past that one page.  He just knows he will find further affirmation of his shortcomings. It isn’t until the end of the movie that he mans up enough to view the rest of the book. But instead of whatever he expects to see, these last pages are full of photos of he and Ellie on their greatest adventure to date: their marriage.

What a beautiful scene! As far as I can tell, never having been married myself, life with that special someone is definitely a memorable journey. It’s chock-full of dangers, worries, excitement, joy, sorrow–heck, the whole gamut of emotions and experiences! And through it all, Carl remained wholly devoted to Ellie (it smacks strongly of “husbands, love your wives,” does it not?). This afternoon in my and Beloved’s first pre-marital counseling session, the Pastor walked us through the differences between a covenant and a contract. The latter is simply a legal statement of what is expected from each party; and as easily as they are made, they can be broken if even one point is breached. There is nothing more than that. Covenants, however, are not made to be so neatly broken–they may provide ramifications for transgressions, but the covenant itself remains. I think the quote in the Pastor’s notes sums it up nicely:

A Contract is an agreement made in suspicion between parties who do not trust each other and therefore place limits on their responsibilities. A Covenant is an agreement made in trust between parties who love each other and therefore place no limits on their responsibility.

The covenants made between a husband and wife should reflect those made between God and man; and what a breathtaking picture of love that is! Although this movie (no, I haven’t forgotten about my original train of thought) doesn’t delve that deeply into the nature of Carl and Ellie’s relationship, I do believe they shared these kind of covenants made in love for one another. Their lives were all the fuller for it–so the involuntary desire to similarly grow old with my Beloved did not take me by surprise. Indeed, I cannot wait for our life together to begin: “Adventure is Out There!”