Of Halloween, the strange and the unusual

"I, myself, am strange and unusual."

And that was something I identified in myself at a very early age: when I was just a kid, and I watched the movie Beetlejuice for the first time, and I completely fell in love with it! I started dressing as Lidia, and I actually cut my hair like her, a memory that haunts me to this day because it was hideous (I didn't know back then that they have "people" to make her look beautiful; and I didn't have "people"). The movie is great: it is funny, colorful, fast-paced, full of action; Tim Burton at his best!

But that was in the late 80's, early 90's. Movies back then were much, much different than they are today. 


However, I boldly decided to use this movie in a lesson about Halloween. And to use it with teens, nonetheless!
I took my chances of my lesson becoming a complete disaster, because I am aware that kids today have a completely different way of seeing things, especially movie special effects. 

But the reason I used this movie was personal: a movie where the dead are "normal people", and the living are "weird people". A movie where they don't like each other and in the end, find out that they aren't much different, so they decide to stick together?

This is exactly the message I have been trying to teach, especially when it comes to teenagers! 

So I started off by bringing up the subject of ghosts: if they believed in ghosts; how they imagined ghosts look like; if they could talk to ghosts, what they would ask. Luckily, I got the answers I expected: ghosts aren't real but if they were, they would look gross and weird. 

Perfect! I could then move on to my next discussion: what exactly is weird? So I showed them pictures of the characters in the movie, and they had to say if they were either ghosts or humans.

Guess what? They got all of them wrong! Except, of course, for Beetlejuice. And why is that? Because they already had in their minds that the normal, or what their society accepts as ordinary, is ok. And anything out of it is not ok.

Teenagers are like this: they want to be accepted by their peers, teachers, parents, relatives, crushes. Anything out of the ordinary can be frightening for them. Yet, they are at an age of self-discovery, and standing out of the crowd. And logically, to stand out they need to be different from anyone else! This has got to be hard on them at this time and age, when everything is exposed faster than the speed of light! Maybe I wouldn't be able to handle it. Maybe even you, dear reader, wouldn't stand being a teen today.

Because of that, the main objective of my lesson was to dissect this subject: self-acceptance. We discussed what it really means to be different, how to handle bullying when you embrace your difference, and how to accept the different. We discussed, we had fun, they were more comfortable in their own skins, I was more comfortable in my own skin. It was an enlightening lesson.

And what I loved most: before I said a word, when they started watching the movie, the first time they saw the Deeds' girls, my students said I looked like them. 

Oh, such a compliment to me! For years I tried to accomplish that! 

And Halloween, a time where everyone tries to be someone else, happens to be a great time for the "strange and unusual" to "come out of their closets".

What worried me most about this lesson was the movie itself, as it is old and the special effects back then were very limited, even more so if you compare to today, when you can watch movies in 3D-IMax-super-duper-über-high definition, how could I make teens like 
the special effects of an 80's-made movie?

Now comes the best part: they loved it, and they were amazed at the effects! (I know, I was surprised, too!) But in this case, I believe Tim Burton is magical: he really grasps how to amaze people at all ages with simplicity (before he met technology, that is). And the result is the same: a great movie, with a great message.

And you, are you strange and unusual? Or not? 
No matter what you consider yourself, the important is to be yourself!

Happy Halloween!

My idea: halloween and self-acceptance