Skip to main content

Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

I like to keep my readers (how pretentious does that sound?!) on their toes so I thought I'd write about a movie that changed my life and isn't a horror movie. Auntie Mame.

Everything about this movie continues to charm me years after first watching it. The idea that life has so much to offer and everyone should explore every possible option is, and pardon my soft side here, completely inspiring. The character of Auntie Mame, with her fearless enthusiasm for exploring and tackling new adventures, gave me a place to set the bar for myself. I consider myself lucky to have grow up in a household where trying new things, exploring new cultures and places, and continually learning new things was highly encouraged.

My life was anything but boring growing up and I remember watching Auntie Mame thinking how terribly boring "normal life" seemed and how my biggest fear was growing up and into such a mundane existence. I feel drawn to the life Auntie Mame creates for her nephew and I feel drawn to her; her world is the summary of what I loved most about my childhood and she is the embodiment of the person I want to be. Eccentric. Fun. Kind. Witty. Self-sufficient. Self-assured. Passionate. Determined. Strong. Adventurous.

What's more, this movie is funny. And while I constantly maintain that I have no sense of humor, this style of late 50's / early 60's comedy always makes me smile. I can't help myself; Rosalind Russell's comic timing is perfect. Her ability to banter is stellar and unlike noir films, where the leading lady is restricted to witty exchanges with the leading man, Rosalind fires retorts back at each and every character she encounters. I adore her interactions with the painfully Southern Sally Cato (Brook Byron).

Sally: "...I'm just gonna hold my breath until dawn tomorrow."
Mame : "You do that, honey."

But I don't just love her for being Auntie Mame - I love her for being a superb actress. I love her for making her way to stardom, not for her looks, but for her talent. (It's actually rumored that she wasn't considered 'pretty' by Hollywood.) I love her for being strong (she walked out on Universal Studios when they treated her poorly and took a job with MGM.)

So now that I've written way more about myself then I ever imagined admitting to the world at large, I think it's wrap up time.

There are a handful of movies in this world that I actually feel shaped me as a person, Auntie Mame is definitely one of those. If you haven't seen it, you're feeling like a healthy laugh, and you have a couple hours to kill - it's on Netflix. Enjoy.

Comments

  1. Ms MelanieApril 8, 2012 at 4:57 PM

    This one makes me smile -- I had the enormous privilege of seeing this on the Broadway stage with Angela Lansbury playing the lead, but I'm guessing you might already know that. Well written and, yes, behind the facade lies this person described above :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuttal: 17 Disturbing Horror Movies You Will Never Watch Again

When I'm not watching movies, I'm reading about movies. I stumble across all kinds of articles, blog posts, book excerpts, etc. in my quest to absorb as much movie knowledge as possible. Now, I'm snotty and loud-mouthed and opinionated but I'd never begrudge another human their opinion. Seriously. You're absolutely welcome to have any opinion about any thing you want. However, I must warn you, if I think your opinion is stupid, I'm absolutely going to say so. I've recently stumbled on an article completely  brimming with so many idiotic opinions that I'm actually compelled to craft a response. Here's the gist of the original article: there are some horror movies out there that are so disturbing , you'll only ever want to watch them once. I've have taken her original list and refuted her claims without pulling her entire article over. You can read the original article here . Let's start at the beginning, with her opening statement
Post a Comment
Read more

Escape From Tomorrow

I love creative people who are willing to take risks with their art. I appreciate the refusal to do things by the rules. I'm also terribly impatient with mediocrity. Enter  Escape From Tomorrow . Created by a team of rogue filmmakers, the movie was shot in the video mode of high-end still cameras. Actors shared scripts and shooting locations across their smartphones. Shot on location at Disney World, the parks were completely unaware this was all going on right under their mouse ears. I wanted to love Escape From Tomorrow. More than that, I wanted to be completely taken with its ingenuity and creativity and - oh yes - its originality. And there is really a simple brilliance to their covert plan; all families are roaming around the parks, taking videos and chatting on their phones. Just blend the fuck in, act like you belong, and you won't get caught. Too bad the movie can be summed up as: ambitious but Rubbish. As you can imagine (or possibly know), there was a ton of con
1 comment
Read more

What Is Genre And Why Should I Care?

There are terms that always seem to come up when talking about films: director, actor, plot, theme, score, etc. These terms are all self-explanatory; no one ever asks, ‘what’s a director?’ However, there are other terms that are equally common but less clear: genre, sub-genre, auteur, oeuvre, etc. These terms are more abstract then ‘director’ or ‘actor.’ It is entirely likely that someone will ask, ‘what is genre, anyway?’ This question specifically is what I will be answering with this paper. The answer to the question ‘what is genre,’ is multi-layered: genre is a means of classification. Genre is a means of communication. Genre is a means of understanding films. Genre is a means of relating to films. To one person all movies rated “PG” are a genre – possibly one also known as “children’s movies” – while to another all movies with similar topics treated in similar ways are a genre: i.e. movies dealing with frontier life depicted in a nostalgic manner are a genre often kn
Post a Comment
Read more