I was trying to remember a movie from the 70s.
A school teacher comes to a rural area. The children are made to drag their feet on
the ground. It emerges that if they don’t they will levitate. Teacher helps the
children explore their powers. It’s not a horror flick. It’s more of a feel good be
true to yourself story…
All my attempts at search strings that included “children” and “levitate” returned hits for horror films.
A co-worker, movie buff, knew immediately that it was the 1972 made for TV movie called The People.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_(film)
And so I learned that the movie in question was based on a story by Zenna Henderson and that she had more stories featuring The People:
Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (1961)
The People: No Different Flesh (1967)
Ingathering: The Complete People Stories (1995)
It is the title of the collected stories that resonates with a line from Henry David Thoreau “the thoughts of the indwellers travel far abroad”. There is telepathy in the stories and although Thoreau meant something a bit different by traveling thoughts, the ethos is similar to that of Henderson’s stories:
Now commences the long winter evening around the farmer’s hearth, when the thoughts of the indwellers travel far abroad, and men are by nature and necessity charitable and liberal to all creatures. [“A Winter Walk” 1843]
And so the heart rises and we levitate.
And so for day 2501
18.10.2013