This is probably my favorite movie of all time. It RULES.
But why?
Tall Guy, Weird Clothes, First You See Him, Then You Don't
I first watched this movie when I was twelve. Or maybe eleven. And the reason I watched it was because my fifteen-year-old cousin, or was he sixteen, said that he liked it. Like. He used the word "like". And based on that shimmering review, I decided to memorize the entire movie.
I taped the film off of HBO. And I watched that bootleg copy so often that when I watch the film on my DVD copy, I am always thrown by first two minutes of dialogue. This is because I missed them when I was fumbling to get a tape in the VCR. But undeterred by those missing lines, I watched that movie over, and over and over again. I have seen this flick easily one hundred times. This is not an exaggeration.
This Is Gonna Take Crackerjack Timing, Wang
What is it about repetition that is so appealing to kids? It must be the feeling of imprinting things on a brand new brain. I can remember doing the same thing when I was a teenager; playing albums over and over memorizing the lyrics.
The only time I have done something similar in my adult life is watching episodes of The Office again and again, but I feel short of full on Teletubbies-style repeats. I guess it doesn't feel as good cutting memories into an older established brain.
May The Wings Of Liberty Never Lose A Feather
Now I know that I enjoy new albums and movies as much as I did when I was younger. But I guess I enjoy them in a different way. I can never have a formative experience with media again. And I wonder if I had chosen different films and albums to memorize, would I like different things now? Would the building change if the foundational slab was different?
I guess the question is whether I liked Big Trouble so I watched it a lot, or did I like Big Trouble BECAUSE I watched it a lot? I like to think that my cousin's recommendation only led me to the water, but I decided to keep drinking. But I was a kid eager to be cool. Maybe I just powered trough the viewings, eventually contracting some strange form of Stockholm's Syndrome. And now that I've brainwashed myself, I can never trust my memories. Maybe I hated this film all along.
You Know What Ol' Jack Burton Always Says At A Time Like This?
And because of the unnoticeable changes to my brain I would eventually take the driving rhythm and short duration of the soundtrack to find worth in punk music. This of course changed my disposition to larger, popular culture, turning me, essentially, into a curmudgeon at seventeen. This of course allowed me to develop a personality that constantly critiques the smallest cultural phenomenon and attempt to magnify them into larger truths. Perhaps in blog form.
Great. Now I have to burn this movie.
Until Next I Blog,
James
No comments:
Post a Comment