Laura: New (old) Movie: Rosemary’s Baby
I watched this 1968 film years ago…not exactly sure when but the surprising thing to me is that I carried a memory about the film that was not equal to my current reaction to it. I always thought it was an interesting movie but now I have to add that it really affected me in unexpected ways – part of the reason I like to revisit films of the past. This movie is usually categorized as a thriller/horror movie. But the surprising part is that it’s not a horror movie in making you jump, or keeping you on the edge of your seat, etc. It just builds a different kind of horror – more emotional than scary. I imagine that many of you have also seen this movie years ago and if you choose to tune in again, I don’t want to give away any spoilers. But the reveal isn’t a huge surprise – just a sad confirmation that trusting people is a huge risk. As Roger Ebert said in his 4-star review, “how the story turns out, and who (or what) Rosemary’s baby really is, hardly matters.” This movie, this time, left me with a slight punch to the gut.
LEARNING CENTER
RING AROUND THE ROSIE
Remember the children’s game “Ring around the Rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down”? We got to thinking about where those lyrics come from and learned that there was a difference between the urban legend for it and the probable origin.
Urban legend has it that the “rosies” describe the rash from Black Death which occurred in the 14th century or from the Great Plague of London in 1665; “posies” refers to herbs carried to mask the smell of decay; “ashes” represents sneezing; and “we all fall down” means death. That would make for some children’s game! But as the rhyme wasn’t recorded in print till almost 80 years later, the thought now is that its true origin comes from 19th-century religious dancing bans by strict Protestant religious groups. Adolescents and children bypassed these rules by creating “play-parties,” which involved singing and moving in a circle or performing actions like curtsying and stooping without traditional instrumental dance steps. Not sure if kids today still play this in a circle but they do know about it as Barbara’s granddaughter uses the rhyme to determine which of her princess dolls’ story she will listen to at bedtime.
So ROSE lives on!
