"Memory… I can smile at the old days. I remember, the time I knew what happiness was, let the memory live again.” (Cats, 1981, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer)
This month as summer looms and spring flirtation, (“Don’t start collecting things, give me my rose and my glove, sweetheart they’re suspecting things…) turns to summer weddings, (“from his airy the eagle with his legal eye…says suppose we set the date this week?”) I welcome you to the June 2018 Edition ~ Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
If Oklahoma! addresses the simple art of courtship, Seven Brides takes co’tin’ to a new level. A level which begins with fighting (masked nicely in athletic dancing), flirting, (“You’re the prettiest girl I ever acquainted.”), loneliness and separation, (“I'm a lonesome polecat. Lonesome, sad and blue'. Cause I ain't got no feminine polecat, vowin' to be true.”), and ultimately ends with a trip down the mountain to fetch their girls (Sobbin’ Women).
All this flirting, fighting a fetching is a great way to open this month’s reminiscence for all ages and many different stages~ Meeting, Dating and Marrying.
This film is a great way for your older generation clientele and intergenerational family members to tell their stories of courtship, dating, love found and the path to marriage.
Spend time discussing the similarities and differences in Millie’s path to romance and marriage vs. the path experienced by your clients/family members.
- Can you build a life with someone you have only known a day?
- If you are “goin co’tin” how long should it be?
- How long was yours?
- Other than love what factors informed your decision to marry?
- What do you remember most about your wedding day?
- Did you live with family during the early years of your marriage?
- How did that inform/affect your relationship?
- What are some of your fondest memories of your life together?
Millie’s path to a love relationship and strong marriage is not only the beginning of great reminiscences for your older generation clientele but a great character study for the younger generation.
Millie is young bright and self-sufficient. She does not need a man for support or validation. Although she marries Adam after the briefest of courtships, it takes the entire film, (turning over tables, Adam sleeping in a tree, teaching the brothers to be mannerly men, standing up for the girls and putting the brothers out of the house), for Adam to give her the respect and love she deserves.
Spend time discussing this relationship and the changes it experiences throughout the film.
- What circumstances change Adam’s perception of his wife?
- What influence does Millie have on the attitudes and behaviors of the brothers?
- How does that influence affect the brother’s relationship with the brides?
- What event prompts the Shotgun wedding?
As the shotgun wedding brings the story to a close, and thought-provoking questions give you, your students and intergenerational family members a reason to join in the viewing of this great film, remember classic movie musicals and the reminiscences they provoke have no generation or age limitations. It is through reminiscence that the generations connect!
ENJOY!
~~Lori
PS: Feel free share a comment here, at our FB page, or visit us at the Aphasia Access Virtual Conference on June 15th
Movies and Music and our sister site Meaningful Memory Maker come together at the Meaningful Memory Maker Virtual Booth to #makemeaningfulmemories with everyone!
See you there!
References: Yauch, L (11 June 2016). Ready for Summer {Blog Post}. Retrieved from www.moviesandmusic.biz
