The Uses of Enchantment

Much has been said of "the meaning" of fairy tales, as if fairy stories are supposed to act as morality plays used to instruct children on correct etiquette or social mores.

But their meaning is never so banal!

ongoing🧵 Beauty & the Beast is not a story about encouraging girls to get into reading, just as The Little Mermaid is not about "bodily acceptance."

Rather, these stories impart eternal truths about men, women, love & marriage that children can understand and take much comfort in

Many enjoy horror movies because the genre imparts eternal truths, but presented with a veneer of subversion (i.e. gore, violence, sex).

But narrative itself, even when made by progressives, will always be "conservative."

Consider the following deeply conservative movies 🧵 Alien

Amid technical innovation & potential prosperity, the western world is being invaded by outsiders (let in by corporate stooges) who want nothing more than to tear down everything we’ve built

When we married, we talked of how we would read books with our future children. We were so poor--we started with nothing. But every month we'd go to the book store and purchase a beautiful children's book. We made a whole shelf of them.

https://twitter.com/MattOswaltVA/status/1541191070104428544

A childless couple in our ward fostered two beautiful children. They were to be adopted. My wife & I took care of them in the nursery. The children called these people mommy and daddy. And then, one day, they were gone. Taken back. I will never forget the wife crying as she spoke

(Reposting this thread for posterity since it was one of the ones lost in the Great Blackout🤠)

Indiana Jones, or the Redemption of a Jack Morm*n
“It’s time to ask yourself–what do you believe in?” Did you know that Indiana Jones, the quintessential embodiment of 20th century masculinity and one of the most recognizable characters in cinematic history, is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? It’s true.