Paradise Falls

You know you're an English major when you go see Up and you think about its relationship to John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. And I kind of love it.

Although I'm glad that Ellie and Carl were a little better off than Adam and Eve. At least Ellie and Carl had a beautiful life together before catastrophe hit. Adam and Eve had a few good years before getting kicked out of the Garden and into the real world. But I do like the points this article makes about dealing with grief, growing up and facing the world--and, in the case of Carl, what 'growing up' means when you're an old man.

Mostly the article focuses on Paradise Lost, but I also like the references to Paradise Regained, and how Carl is able to gain a new life (resurrection-esque) because of his adventures. It's a pretty long article, but a fun read for fans of English lit and Pixar.

Come on, I know there are more than two of us out there.

A favorite moment (and a spoiler!!!):

"Tell me this doesn’t remind you of the (rather shocking) zeppelin-related death of Up antagonist Charles Muntz:

“Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.
As when Earth’s son, Antaeus (to compare
Small things with greatest), in Irassa strove
With Jove’s Alcides, and, oft foiled, still rose,
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,
Throttled at length in the air expired and fell,
So, after many a foil, the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall;
And, as that Theban monster that proposed
Her riddle, and him who solved it not devoured,
That once found out and solved, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian steep,
So, strook with dread and anguish, fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,”

- John Milton, Paradise Regained, Book IV

Okay. Maybe that last one was a stretch."

A stretch? Maybe. But I like it!