Monday, June 20, 2011

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Okay.

So.

 It has been a while since I've graced the blogging world with a sometimes inspirational, sometimes music related, always profanity-laced post, so today is as good as any. I could talk about life experiences that have occurred since my last post: started a job, work my ass off at said job, hated the job, found out I no longer completely needed the job, quit the job...baked a cake, etc. But why would I want to do a thing like that?

Today I want to talk about movies. Is it perhaps because it is a rainy day, which always either makes me want to listen to sad music, read a book, or watch an introspective film? Maybe. Is it because I haven't got to watch a movie in about 2 weeks because of my brief stint as a factory worker? Maybe. Is it because I have a $2.70 fine at my local library from returning movies back late? Mayb...eh, no, that just aggravates me.

For whatever reason, movies are on my mind. For this lovely and thus-far completely pointless blog post, I want to examine what we learn from movies. You know, the moral of the story. The point. The gist. You get the picture.

So, here we go.

(500) Days of Summer



First off, this movie comes first because I've been wanting to watch it all day. Plus it is amazing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is pretty much my dream man, and Zooey Deschanel almost exudes too much cuteness. Almost. Plus, the sound track is eargasmic.

Okay, I am done singing the praises of this movie and now we will proceed to the actual point of this post.

Point of story:

"The One" does exist, even though it might not be who you think it will be. There might be someone who "likes the same bizarro crap" that you do, but that doesn't mean they're perfect for you. Love can happen at the strangest of moments, like when you're going for a job interview and you meet the person who is competing with you for the job.

Matilda


Point of story:

There are many valleys that could be explored here: sometimes a book can be your best friend, the good guys really do win in the end, never leave your hair ribbon at a place where you've stolen something (you will get caught) but I think the most important morale of the story is that we may go through hard times in our lives, like living with a family who just doesn't "get" you, to being treated badly by someone who thinks you are stupid and beneath them. And during these times, it may seem like you are trapped, like you can't do anything about it. But the truth is, it'll get better. Look at Matilda, she grew up with an awful family who would rather watch mind-rotting television than spend time with their 6 1/2 year old daughter. And she went to school where the principal was the devil in knee-high socks. But she overcame it. She found a place where she belonged. We all belong somewhere. Sometimes it just takes a while to find it.

Trainspotting



Point of story:

Heroin. It will take you to the moon and back, it will take you to euphoria and keep going, it will make you feel as if nothing else in life is as important. It isn't a drug, it is a lifestyle. As Renton says, "I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?" The problem with this? It will mess you up so bad, you'll wake up wondering how the hell you ended up where you are, it will take you to the dirtiest places you've ever been, like "The Worst Toilet in Scotland", it will take away your money, and you'll still come back for more. And when you try to cut the ties between you and the almighty scag, you'll be hallucinating and feeling as if anything, even death, would be better than what you're going through. Moral of the story? HEROIN IS BAD. Easy enough, right?

Harold and Maude



Point of story:

Harold is 20. Maude is 79. They're in love. How the hell does that happen? Harold is a young man who lives a joyless existance. He's obsessed with death, and stages elaborate mock-suicides. Maude is a free-spirit who acts more like she is 7 rather than 79. Through her, Harold discovers joy and happiness for the first time. They fall madly in love. Even by today's standards, this is considered very odd by society, and it must've been even more socially unacceptable back when this movie came out in 1971. Although it may be hard to see how two people with little in common and with such startling age differences can fall in love, the fact is, love is love. And love is beautiful. I think the point of this movie is to show that any love is right, and when is comes to relationships, it is really only the business of the people involved.

Pretty in Pink


Point of story:

Andie is a poor girl. Blane is a rich boy. This is one of those "I like someone from the other side of the tracks" stories that can really even be related back to the classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Andie and Blane have feelings for each other, but their differences in social classes make their relationship doomed from the start. But by the end of the film, Andie and Blane realize that the feelings that they feel for each other are enough, and no matter what other people say or think, social classes do not matter.


My Girl



Point of story:

Vada and Thomas J are best friends, but Vada doesn't treat him the best and would rather fantasize about her teacher, Mr. Bixler. With an unbelieveably sad turn of events, Thomas J passes away and Vada has to live with the fact that someone who she had always spent time with and who loved her had been stolen away from her. The point of this story is that sometimes we don't know what we have until it's gone, so we need to appreciate what we have in front of us.

The Breakfast Club

Point of story:

The criminal. The basketcase. The athlete. The popular girl. The geek. What could these people possibly have in common? I mean, for Pete's sake, Bender's dad abuses him and Claire's dad buys her diamond earrings! Allison eats a Captain Crunch and Pixy Stix sandwich, while Brian's mother packed him a nice, wholesome lunch where "all the food groups are represented". And Andy and Claire are of the chosen ones at school while the rest are socially awkward and ostracised. BIG EFFING DEAL. You know what they- no, we all- have in common? We're human. We all have to go through shit in our lives. We all go through those days when we screw up on our final shop project (or Calc test, or anything) and we don't know if we can take the dissappointment on our parents' faces. And we all have our times when we act really, really weird. All humans are 99.9% alike. We're really aren't as different from each other as we seem. Just look past the stereotypes, and you may be surprised how similar the prom queen is with the emo girl who never talks. Look closer.

American Beauty





Point of story:

This is my favorite movie ever and I don't want to give away any of it's secrets, because I firmly believe that everyone should see it at least once, so all I will say is sometimes, things are not what they seem. You need to look beyond the surface to see the truth.

Saved! 



Point of story:

I think that the moral of this story can be summed up with one quote from it's main charater, Mary: "Why would God make us all so different if he wanted us to be the same?" I believe this is so true. Some people try to make it seem that you need to be a certain way to adhere to God's will. But I don't think God would make us the way we are if he wanted us to be someone else. I guess we could even relate this back to Gaga and say "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way." Be yourself. And don't let anyone tell you that being you is wrong.

Oh, movies. You teach us so much.

And to go along with this movie-themed post, here's a movie-themed playlist that I made:

http://8tracks.com/tjms/a-trip-to-the-cinema?mix_set_id=3228658
-tjms
20 June 2011
<3 !