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Movies and Cultural Literacy
Young people don’t need another excuse to watch movies, but I do think we need to acknowledge the role of films in a well-rounded education. What movies do kids have to see in order to fully participate in the national discourse, without which they would misinterpret phrases that are meaningful shorthand for those of us who have not been deprived of classic flicks? Here are a few of my ideas:
1.) Wizard of Oz: This movie has been mined for colorful analogies maybe more than any other. Recently I was nonplussed to find out from my daughters that many, perhaps most, earphones come with a microphone. For weeks I’d been wanting to alleviate the crick in my neck from doing hands-free the old way. My girls knew what I meant when I said, “You mean I had the ruby slippers all along??” And just last week a counselor I’ve been seeing brought up ruby slippers, yellow brick road, and strange characters on a journey. Opinion pieces bring us We’re not in Kansas anymore, The witch is dead, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, and so on. Wizard of Oz the movie should be required watching as soon as children outgrow the tendency to have nightmares over bizarre winged monkeys, malevolent forests, cackling witches, and a tornado carrying one far away from home and family.
2.) The Matrix: At least for the valuable red pill/blue pill scene.
3.) The Princess Bride: Valued as a source of funny quotes for years– “Inconceivable!” “Mostly dead”– lines from this movie more recently entered political discourse with Inigo Montoya in a meme saying, “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
Surprise your child next week by announcing “educational movie night,” popping some corn, and streaming Raiders of the Lost Ark. What would you add to the list of these cheap and entertaining learning experiences?
Published in Entertainment
Yeah, um . . .
From the WWII movie (c. 1943) “Action in the North Atlantic”. Two observers at the Murmansk harbor (both Americans) watching a Liberty Ship docking after a particularly harrowing north Atlantic crossing in which the ship was almost sunk several times by U-boats:
Observer #1 – “It’s a miracle!”
Observer #2 – “No, it’s American seamanship!”
And, of course:
Stonehenge
Where the Demons dwell
Where the Banshees live, and they do live well
“He chose…poorly.”
“Bad dates.”
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
Is that from When Harry met Sally?
Yes. (It is quite dated as it is homophobic.)
Yes. Thanks.
“These aren’t the droids we’re looking for”
“Snakes, why’d it have to be snakes?”
“I said no camels, that’s five camels, can’t you count?”
The whole world was homophobic back then.
Good catch, Randy!
I’ve never even seen the movie, though I’ve seen a clip of that scene. I was all prepared with the comment, “If it wasn’t, it should have been.”
I ain’t seen no reference to this movie, so I’ll put this out there from another favorite of Mine:
“These cans are defective.”
Also, I will leave it to you to look up Navin Johnson finding his special purpose. Enjoy.
You want culture? How about some dancin’ (and singin’)?
I can’t tell you how many times I have said, “I was born a poor black child” when asked to say something about myself.
You not read My quote above?
I missed it. Mea culpa.
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
I’d just explain that than making anyone suffer through the whole movie.
When my wife and I got our first VCR, one of the first movies we rented was Blood Simple, partially based on Siskel and Ebert’s glowing review. It pretty good, and the directors and producers made the most of their obviously limited budget. It both embraced and satirized the conventions of film noir. It has its flaws and is not a great film by any means, but it is a good initial outing. My wife and I actually went to the theater to see the next film they made; it was great: Hilarious, outlandish and with memorable characters and lines of dialogue from beginning to end. (It’s been mentioned several times in this thread.)
Ebert hated it.
I was aghast listening to Sneak Previews that week. Had he even seen the same film? What I though was outlandish and stylized, he thought was contrived. The great lines, which people quote to this day, he thought forced and unfunny.
Ebert was a talented, amusing writer, but for me he usually only batted about .500 in his film reviews. Many of the films he liked were tedious bores to me. What was more telling were the films he hated. Yes, a lot were bad movies. But often, I just thought “you don’t get it, do you?”
Here’s a partial list of films Roger Ebert was sour on that I liked. Again, none of these movies are all time greats, but they don’t deserve the ire dished out by Ebert:
Return To Oz
Mars Attacks
Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands
Last Action Hero
Labyrinth
How about these? Ebert didn’t like them either:
Gladiator
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Even as a kid, I was a history buff. My Father and two of my uncles were in the Navy during World War II, and I read everything I could about the Pacific conflict. I found most movies about the period thrilling, but a little ponderous. I was a teenager when I first saw Tora, Tora, Tora, and it was a revelation to me. I knew the history of Pearl Harbor, and that movie made me feel as if I was there. The Americans weren’t all heroic demigods and the Japanese weren’t vile monsters. The special effects were breathtaking and they used the real planes and other equipment of the period. (Well, except for the destroyer.) Since I first saw it and every viewing since, it brings unashamed tears to my eyes.
Ebert thought the move was “one of the deadest, dullest blockbusters ever made.”
So, frankly, Ebert’s opinion, pro or con, cuts no ice with me.
Oh, and the film that he hated, after loving its predecessor? Raising Arizona
The Original Magnificent Seven.
“Only Americans can rob banks in Texas.”
Network.
If only for this scene.
Trumpism explained.
“The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!” – The Jerk
“You think you hate it now, just wait ’til you drive it.” – National Lampoon’s Vacation
This one isn’t really quoted in casual conversation but I think is one of the greatest lines of all time. “Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most . . . human.” – Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan
I use “the new phone books are here!!” all the time, and no one gets it.
The “most human” line always hits me in the gut, and I end up bawling.
Yeah, William Shatner may deserve some of the mocking he has received over the years, but his performance in that scene was perfect.
From IMDB the most quoted movies of all time:
Rounding out the top 20 where Napoleon Dynamite, Shrek, Groundhog Day, Wizard of Oz, Monsters inc, and the original Willy Wonka.
No Monty Python? No Better Off Dead?
What’s their criteria?
When my children first had me watch The Princess Bride (about 15 years ago), they told me nothing about the movie before playing it. So, as the movie starts, I see a conventional mismatched boy and girl fall in love, except the whole conventional story is over in about 10 minutes! How can that be? What are they going to do for the next 80 minutes? I found it even funnier because I had no idea what was coming.
I looked at the link, and that is just one guy’s list of the movies he has quoted the most often. I read the comments on the post, (I know, I know, never read the comments) and their reaction was pretty much the same as mine: Sorry, dude, you blew it.
I’ve seen all of those movies, and for most of them I can think of no more than one or two memorable lines. Shrek? Really?