A fresh, young interpretation of the magical movie moments that define us all, those moments that give us pause and make us wonder why we didn't write it ourselves.
While Love Actually is filled with possibly some of the cutest romantic comedy scenes I've come across, this is by far my favorite and no one says a thing. I don't know if it's realistic, but hey that's what movies are for, right?
I don't really have any profound thoughts here, other than the fact that sometimes not saying anything can be more powerful than babbling. I mean, it's so easy to forget what to say or maybe you say something you don't mean. Things get lost in translation all the time. But body language, looks, stares, whatever, sometimes tells us more than what words can. It's like the motto "actions speak louder than words."
Anyways, if you've seen Love Actually, what's your favorite scene? It's hard to pick one, though I suppose if you detest the movie, as many do, you could easily tell me the faults in the one I chose.
Maria: I can't seem to stop singing wherever I am. And what's worse, I can't seem to stop saying things - anything and everything I think and feel. Mother Abbess: Some people would call that honesty. Maria: Oh, but it's terrible, Reverend Mother.
For the next few posts I'm going to attempt to travel through the decades, beginning with 1950s cinema. I felt it appropriate to begin with The Ten Commandments (1956) because many people watch this movie during Holy Week or the day before Easter, when it is on network TV. I've watched it almost every year at that time. Here's the trailer, just in case you've forgotten one of the greatest (and longest) films of all time:
Moses: What change is there in me? Egyptian or Hebrew I am still Moses. These are the same hands, the same arms, the same face that were mine a moment ago.
[Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up] Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE. Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
***
So, confession. I had never seen The Princess Bride until this past weekend when one of my friends said that she felt like watching it. Having not watched a movie in forever, meaning approximately since spring break, I decided to give it a go, since she claimed it to be one of her favorite movies. "You'll love it, Mady, I promise," she told me in so many words.
Settling down onto her comfy couch, I grabbed some candy, set up a word document to attempt to do a little homework while watching (and I actually did write a few paragraphs of a journal entry), and we began. If anything, I enjoyed being able to sit on someone else's couch, which by the way, is way more comfortable than my futon. Surprisingly, however, I actually found myself laughing at the movie. In a good way.
I knew that I wanted to use something from this movie in my blog, partly because when I originally conceived this blog, I had wanted to watch some movies I hadn't seen before, giving me a "fresh" perspective. However, I found that I don't have a lot of free time, at least at the end of the semester. Thus, I was really excited when I sat down to watch The Princess Bride.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I didn't find a profound moment in the movie. I mostly thought that much of what the characters said was silly or satirical, but I suppose that's the point of the movie. It reminded me of Monty Python (which I really don't like...sorry Monty Python fans!) mixed with something that I just still can't put my finger on.
Anyways, I chose these lines from the movie because I just about rolled off the couch in laughter at the words. INCONCEIVABLE. I mean, come on, we all have that friend that has the one-word catch phrase. That guy who constantly says one word in retort to everything everyone says. Maybe it's as obnoxious as "presh" or "perf." The shortening of words is a popular trend these days. Or maybe you know people who respond with "ridiculous" to everything that couldn't possibly be positive. Either way, I'm sure you know your "inconceivable" person.
On a serious note, this selection got me thinking about the overuse of words. Sometimes when we use the same words, I wonder if they somehow evaporate their meanings. It's kind of like using "love" or "hate," two words that we hear so much. Sometimes I think if we use them too much, they don't mean anything anymore. This goes for other words, but I know we're all a little guilty of saying "I love this" and "I love that" all the time. Love seems like a word that's lost it's weight.
Today in my literature class, we had the inevitable "what is literature" debate. Though I am quite liberal on my definition of literature, mostly because I think scholars are much too elitist for their own good, I wondered what other people thought about literature and how many people truly believed that the canon should only be made up of terribly complex works that seem inaccessible to many people.
To get the point, this isn't a blog about books after all, these ideas were mulling around in my brain when I came across this blog post: Steven Soderbergh's Movie List. Soderbergh is a major Hollywood movie director. An Oscar winner. Many times we forget that movie directors are kind of important people in the film industry. This guy directed Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven, and Traffic, to name a few.
Soderbergh
Essentially, Soderbergh wrote down every piece of media he consumed in a year. If you take a look, his movie list is quite extensive and pretty all-encompassing. Looking at his list, I got to thinking: what constitutes a film? What's the consensus on the film vs. movie debate?
It seems to me that the literature debate stems from those who believe that works of literature have a social/political function: they're meant to change the world in some way. Seems palatable, right? If you're writing, why not evoke social upheaval, right? The other side of the coin involves those that snub the social context and want literary works to be somehow a technically complex exhibit of the human experience. And then there are some who believe both to be true.
Does the same go with movies? Are there standards that the industry has? Standards other than dollars and cents? I mean, this respected director watched Academy Award nominated films like The Social Network and Inception, but also watched Salt and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. There aren't really any romantic comedies, so maybe that was a snub there, or maybe Soderbergh just doesn't like chick flicks since he doesn't make them and he's a guy.
I feel as though The Social Network was a movie that really depicts our time, my generation and how social networking is changing the way we operate. It's not changing the world; it's just a reflection of it, so I suppose you could label it as complex. It seems to me that the films doing work in the world are documentaries, but maybe I'm not reading into the films I watch enough.
This could be the case, since right now I'm using movies as an escape, turning off my analysis-minded brain and just relaxing.
I'm sure there are movie snobs, just as there are music and literature snobs. I've met some before. But I'm still wondering what constitutes a film? The person who made it? The venue it's shown in?
Dear readers, do you have any thoughts on this?
P.S. If you didn't read the actual post I'm responding to, you should at least jump over and check out his list of movies. It's pretty extensive and it's got some good ones that I've seen this past year as well. The Fighter, Inception, The Social Network, In Cold Blood, Se7en. Check it out!
Before you all jump down my throats and tell me that this is a terrible movie not worthy of my analysis, I'm going to give a little disclaimer: I've actually never seen the movie. Nope. I've heard about it. So why, might you ask, did I pick this random, potentially terrible movie to the be topic of my next blog? Chalk out of ideas, not having been able to watch any movies lately, I asked my roommate what her favorite movie was. She said she didn't have one (safe answer!), but that she loved Stick It!. So this one's for her. And actually, this monologue isn't half-bad. For a Disney/tween movie.
Note: I'm only using the first 30 seconds or so.
Haley Graham: There are things you wish for before big moments. I wish my friends were here. I wish my parents were different. I wish there was someone who got what was happening, and could just look at me and tell me we weren't crazy, that we weren't being stupid. Someone to say "I'm proud of you, and I got your back... no matter what."
Now this isn't a golden movie moment by any means; it's not going down on the 100 top movie quotes of all time. However, I think there's something here we can relate to.
We've all been through those big moments, or at least moments we think are big. You know, like graduation, the championship game, a recital, a spelling bee, something completely personal. A moment when time slows down and all that matters is that you're there and it's happening, then it's gone.
When it's gone, you're kind of sad. Or in a state of disbelief, as if what happened was so surreal that you're pinching yourself. Maybe a combination of the two. Either way, it's over and it's a memory.
Have you ever noticed how weird it is when something completely random pops into your mind before these moments? It's like when we're so focused, when we know something big is about to happen, something we maybe didn't realize before comes to us.
I know that I've had my share of "big moments." I'd say the biggest moment so far in my life was giving the commencement speech at my high school graduation. This was a big deal, especially since I had beaten out one of my high school "rivals" in the audition process. I wasn't nervous when I walked onto the stage and took my seat in front of 3000 people. Actually, the room, a gymnasium, was kind of warm and there was a low murmur of fans and whispers.
I remember being so excited to have this one big moment that I'd remember forever. I hoped that someone would remember something I said. I hoped that I would make my grandma tear up when I mentioned a quotation that she always had posted at her house. But what I thought about most was how I wished every teacher, every coach and every friend that had ever believed in me could be there to hear my thanks to them. I wished that they could all be there, nodding in recognition that they were partially the reason I was standing at that podium.
There have been other moments of lesser caliber, but just as memorable. Softball games that I actually got to play in, research presentations, certain award ceremonies, band concerts. Moments that I wished my friends could have been there, supporting me. My family usually was, but sometimes they weren't.
As I look to the future, I think of all the big moments to come that will be for me and me only. My friends and family won't always be there when something big is about to happen in my life. So I suppose that's it: our lives are in fact our own, and sometimes we just have to remember the good times for ourselves. Though it'd be lovely to have someone there after every step of the way patting our backs and telling us "great job," things just don't work out that way. We have to be there for ourselves, proud of what we've done or what's happened to us.
I guess that's just growing up and claiming our lives for our own.
Okay, so this is a movie blog, but who says that TV shows can't have good monologues? They totally can. Grey's Anatomy has excellent monologues, usually in the form of voiceovers. Today, however, I decided to actually pick a scene from Grey's that I find memorable. It was tough...but I think this one is wonderful. Hopefully it's a bit lighter that some of the previous posts...it is from a doctor's TV show after all.
If you've never watched the show...sorry for your loss. However, if you just know that the two characters in the video have been on and off since season 1 and that you're watching the end of season 6, you'll be perfectly fine. It's very much like a soap opera, except not really.
Grey's Anatomy is and has been one of my favorite TV shows. It's been a long haul so far: 7 seasons of love twists, medical emergencies and stressful situations. I rooted for Meredith and Derek from the beginning; there was just something about them that made sense, despite their obvious flaws and obstacles in the way of their being together.
Seriously, this couple has been through it all: psycho mother/sisters, ex-wives, cheating, lying, drinking, bomb threats, diseases, and stressful job environments. The odds were stacked against them from the beginning; he was her married boss (unbeknownst to her) and she was an intern working 80 hours weeks while taking care of a medically deteriorating mother. Talk about characterization!
I'll spare you the juicy details, although if you're interested, I can enlighten you or suggest the best/most dramatic episodes, because I really wanted to pause and examine this scene more closely.
On the top most layer, this scene is what Grey's Anatomy fans have been waiting for FOREVER. Literally. We finally get there and it's so freaking cute; how could it not be?
For those of you that just vomited in your mouth, I promise that there's more here than romance. Sure, McDreamy is all perfectly moussed and gelled, talking of his big-shot surgeries he's done. But, he levels with Meredith, saying that her dark and twisty-ness is a strength. In case you forgot, Meredith continuously refers to herself and her past as "dark and twisty," which essentially means she's "messed up."
This scene reminded me how our pasts are a part of us, making us stronger. Sure, it seems cliche, and maybe it is, but some cliches are completely true. What's happened is always there, reminding us of what lies ahead. For Meredith, it's her mother, the now-dead famous female surgeon. It's her father, who dumped her for a new family. It's her kid sister, who now works with her. And it's her friends, one of whom is sick in this season. She somehow takes all of this and turns it into something to propel her forwards.
Of course she's fallen backwards many times, like everyone else. She's had her nights of inappropriate sexual conduct and excessive drinking. But she's never given up. Despite everything up against her, and it's been a lot, she's pushed forward and gotten through it. And I think that's what Derek loves most about her: that she can pick up the pieces and move on.
Perhaps this is what I too love about Meredith Grey: her humanity. Some people can't stand her. She's not particularly funny compared to other characters and she's not the most mysterious either. We know almost everything about her. With that, we know her flaws, her weaknesses, her insecurities. She's very real, besides the fact that she somehow has beautiful men pining for her.
Either way, the point is that we can't look completely backwards. We can't look completely forwards either. We'd never look to the here and now. We also can't dwell on our flaws and trying to decide if they're normal or not. Perhaps by accepting them, we become a stronger human being, like we know ourselves better. It's part of who we are whether we like it or not.
