I’d say, for the better part of a year, every Sunday morning I’d rent The Never-Ending Story. I could probably recite it word for word between the ages of 7 and 8. I know other people who also were obsessed with certain movies as children. I’m talking about watching it every week, or even every day.
“You’ve seen this so many times!”
“But I liiikkeee it!”
Holly loved Aristocats, and Look Who’s Talking. Jenn loved Labyrinth. Gary loved Flight of the Navigator. So on and so forth…
I feel like as an adult, if I see an amazing movie, it doesn’t have the same affect on me. Maybe because children are more impressionable, movies have a deeper and more profound affect on their lives, and I’d say even shape who they are.
I went out for dinner on Saturday night with some friends, and for some reason The Never Ending Story came up. (Actually, it came up because my friend Melinda’s dog looks just like Falcor) And from there, we started talking more about movies we liked as children. My friend Steph told me she never saw Goonies as a kid, and therefore didn’t get the big deal when she watched it as a teenager. I remember when I saw Jurassic Park, I wanted to become a paleontologist. As did every other six year old who saw it.
Maybe because we’re all old and jaded (22 and jaded…), but it seems as though as we get older, it’s harder for a movie to really captivate us, and to become a big part of our lives. Sure, I see lots of great movies these days, but I don’t feel an emotional connection to them, or have any feelings of wonderment about them. Even the movies that kids love, like Pirates of the Caribbean, I saw it, I liked it…eh
Am I being too harsh a critic here? Am I the only one who doesn’t feel that strongly about movies these days?
What was your favorite movie as a kid? Do you think, if you saw it now you’d feel the same about it?
movies little Christina watched over and over and over and over.
-Grease
-Cinderella
-Dirty Dancing (the perfect movie for every little girl…just look at the title.)
-The Sandlot
do my backstreet boys and new kids on the block tapes count cause I watched them MULTIPLE times a day
I would have to agree with you to a certain point about the movies that shaped our lives. As a child I watched the hell out of Terminator 2: Judgement Day it took years for me to realize there was a first one. I loved the three stooges and watched them repeatedly, and was also a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The movies were amazing.
Nowadays I would have to agree that movies do not shape our lives as much as they once did, however that doesn’t mean they do not leave an impact. Movies that have impacted me as I had gotten older would be JFK, Life is Beautiful, Leon the Professional, and maybe even Reign Over Me.
I think movies still impact us but in a much deeper sense than they used to. As adults we are more readily able to connect to something in a film instead of as a kid seeing Jurassic Park and wanting to be a paleontologist. Maybe one just has to look towards themselves to see how a film can be impactful.
The impression the movie ET had on me is most profound. It’s traumatic dent on my personality still makes me apprehensive of cornfields (this fear has doubled in intensity since the release of “Signs,” by the way), Reeses Pieces, red hoodies, and coniferous forests even 20 years after my first viewing.
However, “Love Actually” moved me even though I just saw it within the past few years. It’s kind of my go-to movie, I really do watch it a lot. Not so much, as say the 4-year-old version of myself would, but quite often for an adult none the less.
haha I’m well aware of your ET phobia. I had no idea it was also tied to Reeses Pieces, red hoodies and coniferous (good word!) forrests.
Maybe you should talk to someone about it.