Across the Universe (Helen Higgins Would Have Approved)
My mom would have loved this movie. Without a doubt. She was a huge Beatles fan who loved not only the music that they made, but also the message they communicated through it. Maybe James Taylor came a close second (much to my chagrin), but the Beatles were definitely her favorite. I’ve been hearing good things about Across the Universe for a while now, but I didn’t get a chance to see it until last night. It made me feel emotions which I’ve been avoiding since she passed away three and a half years ago. It’s ironic that the film shares the title with her favorite song, the song which her favorite local band, The Pocono Duo, learned just for her (and still will play in her honor).
This film is not a movie in any traditional sense. I don’t even think it’s appropriate to call it a musical. Across the Universe is an emotional journey through the 1960s, set to bright visuals and beautiful music. Appropriately, the themes found in the movie are individuality, rebellion, and love–principles that my mother based her life upon. She thought very highly of her youth and hated the commercialization of it that happened in the late 80s and early 90s. Some time in the early 90s, I forget when, she had gone to East Stroudsburg University’s Spring Fest, a collection of live bands and campus organizations having a big ol’ party on the quad. She and my father would go every year to hear live music. Well, nearby were some of the nouveaux-hippies that sprung up around the time I was leaving high school. Adopting the style and the music of the 1960s, with no regard to the context, these kids were chatting away, talking about how great the sixties were–great music and cool clothes–until my mom had had enough. She told the kids, in no uncertain terms, that the 1960s were not all peace and love and good drugs. She talked about her friends who were sent off to a war they couldn’t even vote for. She talked about redneck cops beating hippies to death just for smoking dope. When she was done telling these kids the ugly part of the 1960s, she stopped, looked at them and said, “You girls know why you’ll never be real hippies? You’re wearing fucking underwear!” That’s just the kind of woman she was.
Helen Higgins was always an individual. She never let herself get bound by stereotypes. Yeah, she was a hippy, but she supported the soldiers and loved the U.S. Flag. She also encouraged her children to do so as well. Chris and I owe a lot of our personalities to that woman. She never would have been pleased if we became just another cookie cutter child doing what was expected of them by society. The only road she wanted us going down was the one our hearts sent us down. She’d tell you if she liked it or not (No NCO in the Army has come close to the ass chewing I got when I dropped out of Penn State in 1994), but if it was your decision and you stood by it, she’d stand by you.
Helen Higgins was always a rebel. By rebel, I mean the scourge of bosses everywhere. When she was working as a legal secretary, her battles with one of the partners were legendary. Two stories stand out. The first conversation went like this:
Helen: Hey, Marc, guess what day today is?
Marc: I don’t know, Helen, what day is today?
Helen: Bastille Day. Better lock your door.
The second went as so:
Helen: Hey, Marc, guess what day today is?
Marc: I don’t know, Helen, what day is today? (Some people never learn)
Helen: The Ides of March.
Marc: Very funny, Helen.
(Marc walks down the hall)
Helen: I did not come to PRAISE Marc Wolfe…
This isn’t to say she had serious authority issues. She just had trouble working for people she couldn’t respect. When we lived in Korea, she was a secretary for a squadron of fighter pilots. It was her favorite job ever. She told me she could have filed about three sexual harassment complaints a day, but she wouldn’t have traded it for the world. They were smart, dedicated to the mission, and had the backs of their employees. One of the pilots told her that in the event the balloon went up (a legitimate concern in 1984 Korea), to get the both of us down to the tarmac and he’d get us to Japan before anything could happen to us.
Finally, Helen Higgins was a creature of love. She wore her heart on her sleeve and certainly paid the price for it at times. I could always tell the exact moment the tears would flow in a particularly sentimental part of a movie. That’s one of the things that made watching Across the Universe (oh yeah, I was talking about that movie, wasn’t I?) so difficult. I could totally see this movie through my mother’s reactions. And at the end of the film, when Jude sings the final song of the movie, I could totally see the waterworks flowing. I know, because they were starting to flow with me.
Yeah, the movie. I almost forgot about it. The journeys of Jude, Lucy, and Max take us through the wild and turbulent times of the 1960s. The music fits perfectly, the visuals are stunning, and the feeling behind the film is one of hope and optimism. And love. I can’t say that if you watch Across the Universe, you’ll totally get who my mother was. For those of us who knew here, though, you can certainly watch this movie and know full well that Helen Higgins would have approved.
now you have me crying.