Why the little purple alien in ‘Home’ is me

I’ve always known I was weird.

An entire table of public school kids crowded around me in driving school, peppering me with questions. I was one of two homeschooled kids in the classroom. Elsie, the other girl, and I later became friends.

We both felt like outsiders, but I told my mom later that I felt “like a green alien who just dropped in from Mars” around those kids.

I’m not normal. I grew up in a box.

Some days I’m halfway convinced that I’m not actually human, just an imposter, like the zombie dude in Warm Bodies.

When I first went to college, I stood out, because I was extra happy and cheerful all the time, like this:

Like how Oh is always smiling.

I would meet someone for the first time and be like FRIENDS FOREVER.

No. No, I am not your best friend Kyle.

And I invited people over ALL the time. They were understandably annoyed.

Because sometimes the galaxy receives one too many email invitations.

The friends I made quickly learned that Eleanor is random. Very random.

And they were like:

We took cross-country roadtrips and discussed philosophy late into the night.

And the outside world contained many surprises.

Like new tunes. Synchopated music was not allowed in my Christian fundamentalist cult, because Satan.

“In order to develop their spiritual and aesthetic discernment, BJU encourages students to listen to classical and light classical and traditional sacred music.” – The 2012 Bob Jones University student handbook. 

No rock, rap, jazz, or country.

Our little purple hero Oh tells his new friend Tip: “The Boov have only one song! It is called motionless and obedient.”

Sound familiar?

And then this happened.

Look out, little Oh.

Captain Smeck will not approve of this.

“Because of the sensual nature of many of its forms, dancing is not permitted.”– 2014 BJU student handbook

He might even shush you with his shusher.

There was a lot of culture to catch up on…  Eleanor : pop culture references :: Oh : jokes

And while the “nonbelievers” I met might look scary like the Boov’s enemy, the Gorg…

…inside, they were more like this.

They didn’t want to persecute me. They were afraid I would hurt them.

“Gorg was here because Gorg was tracking the rock. It is entire next generation. All of them. Apparently that Gorg is last Gorg. That is why rock was so important. Without it, he was a lonely. And would someday be extinctly. Which made Gorg cranky and irrational and physically violent. He was just like humans girl. He was sad-mad.”

This is why I love Dreamworks’ new film. It’s a story for people who used to live in a box.

And did I mention the dubstep on the soundtrack is pretty great, too?

GIF sources: Tumblr