#the wonders

[printempsdessens]

colors in alice rohrwacher cinematic universe

[allweknewisdead]

Film posters of La Chimera (2023), Lazzaro Felice (2018), Le Meraviglie (2014), Corpo Celeste (2011) - Alice Rohrwacher

[hockey-and-timbits]

You know, Horace was right about you, Guy; you are the smart one. Lenny is the fool, Jimmy is the… talent, and Faye is… well, now, Faye is special, isn’t she? And you are the smart one. That’s what I think, anyway.

—Mr. White, That Thing You Do!

[justalittlesolarpunk]

hi! i have been experiencing The Horrors lately (just general hopelessness about the state of the world and especially in regards to climate change) and i am just wondering - do you have any advice for incorporating climate action into one’s everyday life? i need to do something about this but the problem feels so big that i feel like i can’t, like i am drowning in it and i need to learn to swim

Hi my love, sorry it took me a while to respond, I’ve been quite tired!

So first off, the Horrors are reasonable, it’s a very sensible human response to the state of things around you and shows you have empathy and that you care. I say this because it’s all too easy to shame yourself for despair, but it’s natural that we fall into it sometimes.

In terms of doing climate action a little every day, there’s so much you can get your teeth into. For starters, there are personal choices, like giving up flying or meat and dairy if you can. Sure, these don’t add up to much, but they can really change how you feel and working with a smaller burden of guilt can be life-changing. Similarly making choices like switching your electricity and heating and getting an electric car (or even better, taking the train, bus, tram, your feet or a bus) can help you get into a more positive mindset as you feel like you are ‘doing your part’. Check if you have any savings or pensions invested in fossil fuels and switch them over. Even buying from zero waste shops can help shift your mood, even if it’s too small to shift the whole economy.

Once you’ve got all these little changes out of the way, it’s time to think systemic. Most places will have a local activist group you can join, which usually only involves a commitment to weekly meetings - can you attend XR, A22, Greenpeace or Friends of The Earth gatherings in your neighbourhood? These will usually allow you to start attending protests and keying into wider campaign networks.

Something else you can do is bring the subject up with people in your life, to contribute to a wider cultural shift where climate conversations are normalised, and you can agitate for changes at your job or university/school that will bring the institution’s emissions down.

Try to consume a more balanced media diet, seeking out what is going right in the world as well as what is going wrong. Sites like Positive News and the Good News Network are helpful for this. Supernova is a purely positive social media app if you’re looking for a more uplifting scrolling experience.

But much more important is to get outside and to make real-life community. If there’s a conservation or gardening volunteer group in your area I’d highly recommend getting involved with it - nothing has helped me as much as getting my hands in the dirt, doing meaningful work to grow food to feed my neighbours. A lot of our climate anxiety stems from fear that we won’t be able to feed ourselves or that natural beauty will vanish, so connecting with crops or landscapes is a great way to soothe some of that. Building relationships with neighbours or affinity groups (such as LGBT, POC or disabled organisations) can help you feel part of a more resilient network of people who can help each other out in a crisis. Plus if you get to plant trees regularly I guarantee that will help you feel like you’re contributing.

Solarpunk content is great for improving your outlook too - whether it’s optimistic sci-fi, utopian cityscapes or anarchist politics, it all uplifts you and reminds you of what’s possible. Check out people’s stories of what they’re doing to make the world a little better to remind yourself you’re not in it alone.

If you can afford to, a regular donation to groups working to reforest, re-wet peatland, re-seed mangroves or combat soil erosion is a pretty tangible way to fight the climate crisis. Be sure to do all the obvious stuff like voting and engaging with other political pathways too.

A fun weekend’s activity could be seedbombing with friends or building a bee house - there’s lots you can do that’s crafty or creative that also helps your local environment, even if it’s just growing food or pollinator friendly plants on your windowsill or letting your lawn rewild itself. Taking an attitude of grateful, affectionate kinship with all the plants and animals around you will aid in building a sense of connection with the ecosystem and reminding you that you’re part of a grand, resilient web of life.

Put together the emergency kit I detail in an earlier post, so you feel prepared for facing extreme weather and taking part in mutual aid. Teach yourself to forage or at the very least recognise the common plants in your area. This counteracts species blindness and makes you more considerate of the non-human.

You could even consider altering your career path, if you’re an adult, and re-training to work in the climate movement, though this will not be accessible for everyone. If you’re a younger person you could look into pursuing an educational path that will allow you to join the green sector.

If you can get some, therapy with an eco-informed professional can be hugely beneficial for channeling your very reasonable feelings of terror into meaningful action that benefits you and the planet, though admittedly there’s only so much individualised therapy can do for such a huge problem - perhaps there’s a support group you can go to?

And finally, make sure you take some time every day, preferably an hour if you can spare it, but certainly at least fifteen minutes, to do something you really love, that brings you genuine joy, and has nothing to do with the climate crisis. You can’t pour from an empty cup and you can’t put out fires if you’re burnt out. Rest, regeneration and self-care are prerequisites for sustainable movement building and you deserve to have moments of unalloyed happiness. You are categorically NOT in this alone, you are part of a huge, ever-growing moment full of people who are working towards the same goal even though most of you will never meet. And so while we need you now more than ever, there’s also enough of us that you can take a few minutes to feel better and it won’t cost us the fight. As an older activist said to me recently, even when we sleep our comrades across the world are waking up ready to face the day’s struggle.

Ultimately, a lot of these are just things that have worked for me, and they won’t all be accessible or appropriate to you. Some of them are more about changing your viewpoint than radically altering the status quo around the climate. But I know I fight better when I feel optimistic and well in myself, so these are my suggestions. I hope some of them help, and I want to commend your strength and bravery in reaching out for advice and connection, because that’s how we keep fighting, and that’s how we win.

The Horrors are real, but so are the Wonders. And one of those Wonders is you.

[toppermostpoppermost]

Lenny being Lenny (1/?)

THAT THING YOU DO! (1996) dir. Tom Hanks

[eliaswoodt]

What if the world hates cursed people alongside magic users?

Like, originally, people were accepting of them and only feared magic users but as the fear grew into hatred and became more and more extreme, people started to fear and hate cursed people as well? Still, they are more tolerated then magic users, but they aren’t exactly accepted anymore in a lot of magic-phobic places. Cursed people aren’t executed or chased out as often—or really at all—as magic users are, but they face a lot of hostility. The Wonders from the Jury are no exception to this treatment, but they are respected! They have respect, but only because of their job.

As long as the Wonders are useful, they have respect.

[of-fear-and-love]

That Thing You Do! (1996)

[myimaginaryradio]

That Thing You Do - The Wonders - 1996

This one goes out to the one and only @beka-dreamer

[that-gay-jedi]

Pros of music being capable of giving you The Delicious Brainwaves:

> Dopamine, serotonin. Perhaps even oxytocin if you're lucky

> Relatively cheap or free

> Can listen while you do other things (but watch out)

> If you are lucky there may be songs about your current hyperfixations or perhaps even a concept album

> Does not significantly alter your body's energy use; will not require additional nutrition, nor cause health issues nor a sugar crash, etc

> Maybe you will even learn something cool like there will be a song about an animal you've never seen or a rapper will make a cultural reference you have to look up

> You can speed up or slow down your heartbeat with certain musical patterns

> Studies say it's good for coping with physical pain

Cons of music being capable of giving you The Delicious Brainwaves:

> "I'll just replay this song one more time"

> Listening to the same one song on repeat like 95789910712359002439627 times until sound has lost all meaning, and so has Time itself

> You can no longer feel your headphones on your ears nor can you distinguish between a sound you heard and all of the possible sounds you did not hear because they weren't playing/happening at that moment

> You forget who you are, where you are, and what the fuck you were doing

> Your consciousness wanders the inside of your own skull, which is now inhabited only by vultures and the occasional tumbleweed

> The ghost of your evaporated brain would give you the middle finger if it could

> Later when you find your way out of the desert and return to your body and re-manifest your brain etc, you still really really fucking love that song but now the thought of ever listening to it again fills you with an eloquent Sisyphean dread

> oops

> You may pick a new song to listen to, but Watch Out

[theprofessorofdesire]

[rosemarytales]

saw one (1) orange tree and some dark clouds and released a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding for months

[pacingmusings]

Seen (again) in 2023:

The Wonders (Alice Rohrwacher), 2014

[fizhingtrawl]

Please give me your thoughts I'm normal about the Wonders (absolute lie)

I’m sooo (shaking violently) normal

Pumps parents specifically— well, they are never there. Always away from home, working, away on a trip- pump never sees them.

I however immediately went “let’s tie this into the cult”. And so,

His parents are afraid to come home. Even for the sake of their children. Pumps family is the Pandora’s box of cultists. Besides his parents and grandfather, the only ones to resist involvement.

But that makes them all the more targeted. Pump was not cared about until he made a ‘connection’ with eyes.. and his parents stay away for their own safety, for pumps father was heavily targeted as a child.

The wonders are very needed. Skid is resistent- An heir to the cult. But if they ever needed him.. they would need his friend, aswell. Who just happens to be the perfect candidate for becoming a vessel for Eyes.

for as long as Mr. Wonder can remember, his mother and father were not around unless they.. needed him for something special. He did not want this for his child or future wonders. And so he staged an accident.. his father would be oh so proud

If it wasn’t him and mr.wonders mother whom were the targets of this accident.

He thought his family would be safe from then on. But he was so.. so wrong.

Roberts parents tie into this also but that should get its own post if warranted

[chamomile-tea-reblogs]

slug! slug! slug! slug! slug! slug! slug! slug!