From Mars to a firebird (and back again)

Mars, planet of war, seems to be hot at the moment.

We had the deep fried Mars bar story; that if a man consumes one of the delicacies it slows the blood flow to the brain within minutes, whereas with a lady, there is little effect (The Metro). 

Then there was the news that two old American B movies are to be shown in Inverness' Eden Court. One of them is titled Devil Girl from Mars and concerns a Martian lady who has come to Scotland to select new, male, breeding stock for the red planet.  

Space oddities : Scotland's influence on 50's US B movies

Whilst yesterday, in my very part time role as school parent helper, I went to the cinema with the Primary 7s to see a new BBC film titled, The Ten Pieces, which has been created, allegedly, to foster a love of classical music in youngsters. It was quite symbolic, I thought, and extremely loud.

A recent comment re children and education Crossing the line :

Are they taking humanity into nothingness?
A completely blank slate.

The movie is basically ten inter-connected short stories, each revolving around a famous classical music piece :

• John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)
• Britten: 'Storm' Interlude from 'Peter Grimes'
• Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King from 'Peer Gynt'
• Handel: Zadok the Priest
• Holst: Mars from 'The Planets'
• Anna Meredith: Connect It
• Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
• Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
• Stravinsky: The Firebird – suite (1911) (Finale)

That's not the order they appear in though, as the first was Holst's Mars from "The Planets". We were reminded very early on about the connection with war. Next was, In the Hall of the Mountain King, followed by, A Night on the Bare Mountain. It was  the end though that caught my attention, the second last "piece" being Anna Meredith's, Connect It. 

Now remember that the whole point of the movie is to allegedly foster a love of classical music. Scottish Anna is not a classical musician per se. Anna doesn't use instruments, but rather "uses sounds made up of our movements and our voices". Anna seems to able to collect sounds electronically and manufacture music that way, thus "we (humans) are the instruments". "It is like energy being passed on from one person to the other". And for the classic : " Handel, Mozart and Beethoven are all incredible composers but music is a living art form and I've discovered it's something we can all be part of".

At this point we cut to a warehouse. Numerous bodies lay on the floor, as if they were dead. Then they rose, as one, and performed Anna's, Connect. (BBC iPlayer)

The last piece was Stravinsky's, The Firebird. Here we saw a blazing bird which reminded me of the phoenix at the London Olympic closing ceremony, and at Glastonbury, where it rose from the Pyramid Stage as the Rolling Stones played Sympathy for the Devil. This firebird flew up to the Sun then, by magic, returned to the very start of the show, and thus the planet Mars. 

One wonders if it was allegorical.

cheers