* I watch Interstellar on my birthday every year - I love the soundtrack and the plot (but laugh at all the scenes with Michael Caine in, annoyingly). It tells me about deep time.
* As a kid, I watched Beaches with Bette Midler endlessly and would cry if I watched it again, I know. It inspired me to move to New York, along with Chorus Line which was not very infant appropriate - had a song about STDs! Movies have so much unconscious power.
* Two films that inspired me to write: Dead Poets' Society and Back to the Future. I can't underestimate how much the silver screen 'set' me and my aspirations as a young human
Well, not to sound super cliché, but I do love watching LOTR around the holidays since the movies had originally come out during that time of year back during my college days in Abilene :) And now with Rings of Power we get to see the story unfold with our kids (even though the Second Age orcs are pretty terrifying!).
I never really thought about it like seeing myself in the film or how it spoke to me during that time of life… but it’s true. I am also reminded how I came to love the movies through a close friend at the time that I am not so close with anymore, and that part makes me sad.
Just thinking about this... this reminds me of the tradition of Christmas movies and specials that you regularly rewatch. For me, it's things like The Shawshank Redemption or some of the Star Wars/Star Trek movies that I would return to and rewatch - Shawshank in particular is just so well done that I like to revisit it.
It's funny that you mention the switch from a monochrome palette to Technicolor in the Wizard of Oz, I'm actually posting something tomorrow where I reflect on my memories of watching black and white TV when I was a kid (we didn't get color until I was a teen) - it's not an experience that's easily duplicated these days. I hated it at the time but now I think B&W is a cool experience and was quite appropriate for some of the stuff I used to watch as a kid.
Aw man, this post made me cry! You getting teared up and realizing that you *are* Dorothy, then the Monson quote—I love him. And then the Didion, which is a quote I think about all the time as I write. As an essayist, the goal is always to access those previous selves, to bring them into the work, to show tenderness to them even in their naïveté because that’s how we help our readers access their own feelings and connect.
Just about every time I go away I look forward to coming home. It probably should not have been such a pivotal part of the movie but it is memorable. I watched that movie every year with my 3 sisters having hot cocoa and popcorn.
This essay has come into my top 25 essays of all time. For me it is a college course in introspective analysis, documentary criticism, art criticism, autobiography, and perhaps mostly, honesty as the creative's ultimate weapon. Nothing about it manipulates the reader. It does however invite the reader into their own analytical introspections and to apply those introspections to the moments of their day. Perhaps this is the first essay in the new and hopefully coming out soon "Essays and Insights of Austin Kleon, the writer who draws." Wow! Thank you!
The wizard of Oz was often on in the UK on Christmas Day, after the Queen's speech. It's inextricably wound up in my memories of home and family, and I'm trying hard not to cry right now as I write this. As an ex-pat, living in America far from home and family, and in a week when we lost the Queen, it's a double dose of longing and nostalgia. As a young adult I struck out for new lands, being young I didn't understand what I was leaving behind, and now with children and grandchildren on this side of the pond, it is much too complicated to ever go home again. And it is still home despite the fact I've been here stateside much longer now. As a child I didn't get why you'd go back to Kansas, but as an adult I certainly do.
As to being authorized, that's a whole other can of worms, I've got some degrees that say I'm an artist, but, ah, do we ever believe it?
And finally my go to movie is called Mindwalk, made in 1990. My husband won't watch it because, as he points out, nothing happens, but the ideas get my brain churning every time!
It's more of a recent movie but one of my new favorites is "Set It Up" (on Netflix/ other streaming sites I imagine.) It has sort of a silly premise, two employees trying to get their workaholic bosses together , but I dunno, it has some really funny/poignant moments that always stick with me and re-inspire one of my dreams of writing a script one day.
Yes, this is one of my favorite posts of yours Austin, and it brought all the feelings! The Wizard of Oz is a key story in my INNER IMAGINARIUM, as Sharon Blackie calls it: "We are each haunted by different images; we each resonate with different myths or fairy tales, and with different archetypal characters within them. And each of us identifies with different archetypal characters and patterns at different times in our own lives." (more here: https://sharonblackie.net/constructing-your-inner-imaginarium-2/). I don't generally re-watch movies or shows but I've watched season 1 of "Russian Doll" on Netflix three times. It reminds me of Dorothy's journey (and Alice's in Wonderland... another all time fave). Lots to dig in here!
A little pause. Just read all of the comments. From childhood, I have memories of an early Dean Stockwell (as a kid) Boy with the Green Hair. Another was a Danny Kaye where he sings this funny ditty "The pellet with the poison in in the vessel with the pestle and the vessel of the castle is the brew that is true." Am quite amazed that I remember it after roughly 70 years. When my mother died in 2008 a friend suggested I get Netflix. I went on a binge of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn movies. Another old favorite is Bell, Book, and Candle. In the late 70s and early 80s I went to see a lot to French and Italian films. Also some into the 90s. There were great to see in the theater, but not all were popular enough to make it to DVDs. One I watch repeatedly is Man on a Train.
About Oz. As a kid, the monkeys terrified me. As an adult, I wondered why no one called Glinda on basically being a bitch with her "You could have gone home any time."
Two movies I never tire of are MOONSTRUCK and AUNTIE MAME and most likely for the same reason, as a reminder to take risks when you need to and even when you don't know you need to. Auntie Mame is flamboyant, outrageous, and wild, but at her core, she tolerates no prejudice, malevolence or disrespect for others, no small task for anyone human especially someone viewed as a party animal by those who cannot see more. Loretta in Moonstruck is comfortable, life is easy, nothing untoward or difficult, and that may be the most dangerous place to be. She takes the plunge for passion and comes alive! We should all be so lucky. The essence of hope that is at the core of The Wizard of Oz is what makes it endearing and enduring for me. I see both sides of pro/con of the final scene, that "home" is a soft place to land and "Oz" is a wonderland to dream of; how we can combine the two, ah, that's the stuff of novels and more movies!
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I’m an artist too so that tracks. If you’d like to see some of my work, I’m on instagram at FreestylebyIsken. Thanks!!
I’m not a movie ‘rewatcher’ really. Movies create a lot of emotions that I don’t want to revisit. I do watch two movies every year though. One is A Christmas Story and the other is Elf. Now I’m thinking about the ‘why?’. If I’m perfectly honest, it’s because I am a child and always will be a child. I move around in this adult body and work and care for what’s ‘important’ in my life but I’m still that little girl whose most favorite time of year is Christmas 🎄. It’s funny though, I only watch these at Christmas. Something else to wonder about😊.
Here’s a tension though; the Joan Didion quote is one of my favorites from any book I’ve read. She put into words what I’ve been wrestling with for many years. Those are not childish thoughts. So I guess I’m both child and adult. Go figure 🤷♀️
Sep 13, 2022·edited Sep 13, 2022Liked by Austin Kleon
Jaws was my favorite movie as a child, and still is my favorite movie in middle age. I re-watch it every summer, and this year I re-read "The Jaws Log" for the first time since I lost my paperback copy years ago. My eleven year old son watched it with me this year, and the second the ending credits rolled, he said "great movie! A++"
Living in New England and growing up in a beach community, Jaws reminds me so much of home.
* I watch Interstellar on my birthday every year - I love the soundtrack and the plot (but laugh at all the scenes with Michael Caine in, annoyingly). It tells me about deep time.
* As a kid, I watched Beaches with Bette Midler endlessly and would cry if I watched it again, I know. It inspired me to move to New York, along with Chorus Line which was not very infant appropriate - had a song about STDs! Movies have so much unconscious power.
* Two films that inspired me to write: Dead Poets' Society and Back to the Future. I can't underestimate how much the silver screen 'set' me and my aspirations as a young human
Loved this post, Austin x Julia
Austin, thanks for this. I love it when I get convergence of message from different sources. Part of this morning's reading was a poem by Noël Coward.
"Nothing Is Lost"
Deep in our sub-conscious, we are told
Lie all our memories, lie all the notes
Of all the music we have ever heard
And all the phrases those we loved have spoken,
Sorrows and losses time has since consoled,
Family jokes, out-moded anecdotes
Each sentimental souvenir and token
Everything seen, experienced, each word
Addressed to us in infancy, before
Before we could even know or understand
The implications of our wonderland.
There they all are, the legendary lies
The birthday treats, the sights, the sounds, the tears
Forgotten debris of forgotten years
Waiting to be recalled, waiting to rise
Before our world dissolves before our eyes
Waiting for some small, intimate reminder,
A word, a tune, a known familiar scent
An echo from the past when, innocent
We looked upon the present with delight
And doubted not the future would be kinder
And never knew the loneliness of night.
Well, not to sound super cliché, but I do love watching LOTR around the holidays since the movies had originally come out during that time of year back during my college days in Abilene :) And now with Rings of Power we get to see the story unfold with our kids (even though the Second Age orcs are pretty terrifying!).
I never really thought about it like seeing myself in the film or how it spoke to me during that time of life… but it’s true. I am also reminded how I came to love the movies through a close friend at the time that I am not so close with anymore, and that part makes me sad.
Great post as always Austin :)
Just thinking about this... this reminds me of the tradition of Christmas movies and specials that you regularly rewatch. For me, it's things like The Shawshank Redemption or some of the Star Wars/Star Trek movies that I would return to and rewatch - Shawshank in particular is just so well done that I like to revisit it.
It's funny that you mention the switch from a monochrome palette to Technicolor in the Wizard of Oz, I'm actually posting something tomorrow where I reflect on my memories of watching black and white TV when I was a kid (we didn't get color until I was a teen) - it's not an experience that's easily duplicated these days. I hated it at the time but now I think B&W is a cool experience and was quite appropriate for some of the stuff I used to watch as a kid.
Aw man, this post made me cry! You getting teared up and realizing that you *are* Dorothy, then the Monson quote—I love him. And then the Didion, which is a quote I think about all the time as I write. As an essayist, the goal is always to access those previous selves, to bring them into the work, to show tenderness to them even in their naïveté because that’s how we help our readers access their own feelings and connect.
This post did that for me. <3
Just about every time I go away I look forward to coming home. It probably should not have been such a pivotal part of the movie but it is memorable. I watched that movie every year with my 3 sisters having hot cocoa and popcorn.
This essay has come into my top 25 essays of all time. For me it is a college course in introspective analysis, documentary criticism, art criticism, autobiography, and perhaps mostly, honesty as the creative's ultimate weapon. Nothing about it manipulates the reader. It does however invite the reader into their own analytical introspections and to apply those introspections to the moments of their day. Perhaps this is the first essay in the new and hopefully coming out soon "Essays and Insights of Austin Kleon, the writer who draws." Wow! Thank you!
The wizard of Oz was often on in the UK on Christmas Day, after the Queen's speech. It's inextricably wound up in my memories of home and family, and I'm trying hard not to cry right now as I write this. As an ex-pat, living in America far from home and family, and in a week when we lost the Queen, it's a double dose of longing and nostalgia. As a young adult I struck out for new lands, being young I didn't understand what I was leaving behind, and now with children and grandchildren on this side of the pond, it is much too complicated to ever go home again. And it is still home despite the fact I've been here stateside much longer now. As a child I didn't get why you'd go back to Kansas, but as an adult I certainly do.
As to being authorized, that's a whole other can of worms, I've got some degrees that say I'm an artist, but, ah, do we ever believe it?
And finally my go to movie is called Mindwalk, made in 1990. My husband won't watch it because, as he points out, nothing happens, but the ideas get my brain churning every time!
Wow, that was a start to my day.
It's more of a recent movie but one of my new favorites is "Set It Up" (on Netflix/ other streaming sites I imagine.) It has sort of a silly premise, two employees trying to get their workaholic bosses together , but I dunno, it has some really funny/poignant moments that always stick with me and re-inspire one of my dreams of writing a script one day.
10 Movies I Watch to Watch Myself:
ANNIE HALL (1977)
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985)
MOONSTRUCK (1987)
WHAT'S UP, DOC? (1972)
CABARET (1972)
BALL OF FIRE (1941)
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
Yes, this is one of my favorite posts of yours Austin, and it brought all the feelings! The Wizard of Oz is a key story in my INNER IMAGINARIUM, as Sharon Blackie calls it: "We are each haunted by different images; we each resonate with different myths or fairy tales, and with different archetypal characters within them. And each of us identifies with different archetypal characters and patterns at different times in our own lives." (more here: https://sharonblackie.net/constructing-your-inner-imaginarium-2/). I don't generally re-watch movies or shows but I've watched season 1 of "Russian Doll" on Netflix three times. It reminds me of Dorothy's journey (and Alice's in Wonderland... another all time fave). Lots to dig in here!
A little pause. Just read all of the comments. From childhood, I have memories of an early Dean Stockwell (as a kid) Boy with the Green Hair. Another was a Danny Kaye where he sings this funny ditty "The pellet with the poison in in the vessel with the pestle and the vessel of the castle is the brew that is true." Am quite amazed that I remember it after roughly 70 years. When my mother died in 2008 a friend suggested I get Netflix. I went on a binge of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn movies. Another old favorite is Bell, Book, and Candle. In the late 70s and early 80s I went to see a lot to French and Italian films. Also some into the 90s. There were great to see in the theater, but not all were popular enough to make it to DVDs. One I watch repeatedly is Man on a Train.
About Oz. As a kid, the monkeys terrified me. As an adult, I wondered why no one called Glinda on basically being a bitch with her "You could have gone home any time."
Two movies I never tire of are MOONSTRUCK and AUNTIE MAME and most likely for the same reason, as a reminder to take risks when you need to and even when you don't know you need to. Auntie Mame is flamboyant, outrageous, and wild, but at her core, she tolerates no prejudice, malevolence or disrespect for others, no small task for anyone human especially someone viewed as a party animal by those who cannot see more. Loretta in Moonstruck is comfortable, life is easy, nothing untoward or difficult, and that may be the most dangerous place to be. She takes the plunge for passion and comes alive! We should all be so lucky. The essence of hope that is at the core of The Wizard of Oz is what makes it endearing and enduring for me. I see both sides of pro/con of the final scene, that "home" is a soft place to land and "Oz" is a wonderland to dream of; how we can combine the two, ah, that's the stuff of novels and more movies!
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I’m an artist too so that tracks. If you’d like to see some of my work, I’m on instagram at FreestylebyIsken. Thanks!!
I’m not a movie ‘rewatcher’ really. Movies create a lot of emotions that I don’t want to revisit. I do watch two movies every year though. One is A Christmas Story and the other is Elf. Now I’m thinking about the ‘why?’. If I’m perfectly honest, it’s because I am a child and always will be a child. I move around in this adult body and work and care for what’s ‘important’ in my life but I’m still that little girl whose most favorite time of year is Christmas 🎄. It’s funny though, I only watch these at Christmas. Something else to wonder about😊.
Here’s a tension though; the Joan Didion quote is one of my favorites from any book I’ve read. She put into words what I’ve been wrestling with for many years. Those are not childish thoughts. So I guess I’m both child and adult. Go figure 🤷♀️
Jaws was my favorite movie as a child, and still is my favorite movie in middle age. I re-watch it every summer, and this year I re-read "The Jaws Log" for the first time since I lost my paperback copy years ago. My eleven year old son watched it with me this year, and the second the ending credits rolled, he said "great movie! A++"
Living in New England and growing up in a beach community, Jaws reminds me so much of home.