A Metamorphosis of Imagination
This piece was originally published in the August-November 2019 issue of our journal, Vol. 5, Issue 2: Together.
The baby carrier weighs heavy on my forearm as I knock on the door of the Pflasterers’ century-old home. It’s Valentine’s Day, and it just so happened that the family had some free time to sit down with me to discuss their most recent creative endeavor, Mariposa Pictures.
In a few short hours, we’ll switch places as the five of them trek over to my home to watch our baby while my husband and I go out for our first official date night in our five months as new parents. Mom Elyzabeth answers the door and after goo-gooing over the baby asks if it’s okay for them to use our TV tonight to watch a movie, specifically the recent film First Man based on the life of Neil Armstrong. I tell her of course and quietly think how fitting it all is.
I’ve known the Pflasterer family for about three years, but they’ve been at my church since I moved to Jackson in 2011. The first time I had a conversation with Elyzabeth, it was around a crowded card table at a freezer meal event, and before I knew it we were giggling like sorority sisters. She’s a sharp contrast from her quiet husband, Ryan, who I often wave at from my car as he strolls the neighborhood, assumably praying quietly between brainstorms for his latest freelance graphic design project, playscape concept, or kid-directed film, which is what I’m here to talk about today.
As we gather in the living room, I note the furniture updates; Elyzabeth’s mom runs an antique shop, and they’re hopeful to sell their house soon so they can find a better space for their unique lifestyle. Most of Ryan’s days are spent in the basement, hunched over an iMac and a dozen old-fashioned and carefully chosen art supplies, while Elyzabeth homeschools the three kids upstairs. It’s still hard for me to believe that Addy turns sixteen this year and that thirteen-year-old Ava and fifth-grader Ridley are close behind. It may not seem surprising that these siblings enjoy making movies together at their age, but what you wouldn’t know is that their filmmaking journey began over ten years ago.
The family members talk over each other as I ask where it all began; with years spent in Missouri, Middle Tennessee, and Jackson, it’s hard to put a pin on Mariposa Pictures’ conception. Addy began doodling as an infant, making up stories with her family and cousin, Isaac, since she can remember, and after the Pflasterers befriended the Rutledge family in Murfreesboro in 2003, siblings Carter, Andrew, and Aubrey started joining in on the fun ten years later. While each of the kids has his or her own forté in the filmmaking process, they also all functions as actors to fill the roles of the stories they create.
Addy and Isaac were just four and seven years old when they made their first movie, The Prince and His Darling, and Ridley wasn’t even a year old when Addy began filming Lilly and the Flight in 2008. Little did they know that the latter would take ten years to complete, and last August the team celebrated with friends, family, and the Pflasterers’ grandma’s famous lemon cookies at theCO. I think all of us in the room teared up a little as we watched the kids age throughout the scenes, a sweet pairing with the short film’s theming around the four seasons. And if the masterpiece wasn’t enough, we were also gifted with the viewing of another original short, Escape to Forevertron, as well as a fun behind-the-scenes video.
That night something sparked in me, and as I drove away, pregnant stomach pressed up against my steering wheel, I thought about all the hope I had for the growing girl in my belly. In a time when imagination seems lost on our children and digital experiences feel mind-numbing, it was encouraging to watch such a beautiful collaboration between make-believe and tactile, cut-out cardboard and Macintosh software, whimsical siblings and supportive parents.
But how did it all come together, I ask, rocking my now kicking baby girl. The Pflasterers go into the details of their makeshift but intentional process, from conception and screenplays to costumes and music. The quality of their films has matured alongside the children, with Ridley teaching himself iMovie, Adobe After Effects, HitFilm; Ava advancing from hand-drawn concept art to new possibilities with a iPad; and Carter investing in professional film equipment and a green screen. And without the help of their Kickstarter fundraiser, none of this would have been possible.
While the kids are the masterminds behind Mariposa, Ryan and Elyzabeth’s investment has been what’s brought these ideas to life. As self-employed creatives themselves, they’re familiar with Kickstarter as they’ve used it multiple times getting their own printmaking business, Inkwell’s Press, off the ground. The Pflasterers believe in the power of collaboration, and you can see that in every aspect of both their work and their children’s. From ordering custom wings for Lilly & the Flight to working with local musician Rob Griffith on the soundtrack for their upcoming sci-fi movie, The Traveler, this family’s not cutting corners when it comes to seeing their vision through to the end. And Ryan, of course, designs all the art for the films and sells prints and journals through Inkwell’s Press to support the projects.
My baby’s getting fussy as Ryan and Elyzabeth show me around the basement, and Addy runs upstairs to get dressed for her acrobatics class. (She hopes to be a stunt double one day.) In all my years of knowing them, I’ve never actually seen the place where all this creativity happens, and it makes me wish I could explain to our community just what a talent we have in our own backyard. I’ll hope that an Our Jackson Home article will suffice.
Three months later, Elyzabeth and I are texting, planning another lunch at Dumplin’s so we can catch up and she can squeeze my baby’s growing cheeks. Currently they’re in Utah filming The Traveler, a trip funded by their second Kickstarter. Isaac graduated high school last week, and as a gift, my husband ordered him a custom flat-bill hat embroidered with Ryan’s artwork for the film. I imagine him wearing it as they hike in Goblin Valley State Park, scoping out the best backdrop before snapping the clapperboard and pressing “Record.”
I wonder if ten-year-old Ike could envision this moment when he first thought up the characters and directed his cousins in a play of pretend in the backyard. It makes me look at the children on the playground at my daughter’s daycare a little differently, wondering what worlds they are creating in their minds and if their doodles will be carelessly tossed or, like Addy’s, one day used as the logo for a film company. Elyzabeth and I have joked about how we imagine this group of kids as adults at prestigious film festivals, but I think deep down we really believe it. After all, they’re becoming adults right before our very eyes, a metamorphosis of imagination, and instead of that deterring their creativity, it’s fanning the flames.
To learn more about Mariposa Pictures, watch their past films, and support their upcoming projects, visit their website.
Originally from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Katie Howerton moved to Jackson in 2011 to study Graphic Design and Drawing at Union University. She discovered Our Jackson Home in January 2015 and used it as a guinea pig for her senior design project, creating the first issue of Our Jackson Home: The Magazine. After graduating she was given leadership over Our Jackson Home at theCO, where she now runs the blog, designs the magazine, and coordinates events. She lives with her husband Jordan and daughter November in Midtown and loves her community at City Fellowship Baptist Church.
Photography by Carter Rutledge.
