Thursday, January 20, 2011

Get Out of My Head!

Does the makeup make me look fat?
Allow me to paint a scene. Not a scene from a film, mind you, but a scene from your everyday life. You're strolling along, sharing a wee bit of banter with a fellow accomplice. The two of you discuss the normal things... the weather, work, how many nuclear warheads would it take to kill one Baldwin. Just idle chit chat, really. When, all of a sudden, a particular film pops into your mind. This is no rare moment, as we all know. Yet, this time it's different. The film at hand is not a magnanimous, oft debated, or even a film you really like. It just appeared there. Every moment, face, and fallacy traverse your mind.

The question of why begins to take hold. Why that blasted film? Why can't I think of a single other one but it to reference? The worst part - it's not the first time this has happened for that film! The devil of a tale has popped up more times than it ever had merits to do so. When you're trying to think of a classic, it's there. When the name of your all time favorite actor rests on the tip of your tongue, the flashing face of that annoying character dances across your mind. In the most basic of principles, this movie is the definitive exemplification of rubbish. Of course that doesn't stop your mind from remembering more than you wish it would.

Since Mad Hatter's post on how his memory with relation to film works, I've began taking an interest in how my own, and others, seem to work. For myself, I can tell you right now it makes not one iota of sense. You ask me to remember the most basic and glaring aspect of a film, and I can stare as blankly at you as if you had just asked me to define the Higgs-Boson. But I can tell you more about the film Bio-Dome than any human being has any right to know. And, yes, I'll feel absolutely awful about it afterward. The very fact that I remember the film at all is a continuing focal point during moments of self-pity.

It's a rare, and rather odd, thing for me to honestly remember every little component of a film. I still struggle to remember the names of all the characters from movies I've seen a dozen times. Which has lead me to the conclusion that what we remember about a film isn't based solely on how affectionate we are towards it. Associativity and relative nature to an event in one's life that holds some resonating feeling, has just as great an impact as anything else. Were you going through a breakup when you watched that dreadfully awful sappy breakup film you can't forget? I wonder why. Even if it represents an aspect of your life you're not all that fond of, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. The movie has become a part of your history, which paved the way towards your present. For better or worse

Then again, that still doesn't explain Bio-Dome... I suppose the only explanation there lies in the fact that some films are so dreadful they borrow into your brain. Would it be unfair to request science create a special definition defining these films as 'parasites?'

6 better thoughts:

Ryan McNeil said...

This begs the question - how badly was your girl crushing your heart while BIO-DOME was playing on the TV?

Liam Underwood said...

Oh... I actually quite like Bio-Dome :(

Castor said...

It's like me watching Saving Private Ryan 50 times and a friend asking me what Tom Hanks says to Matt Damon at the end and I can't remember for the life of me what the exact quote is.

"Earn this"

Simon said...

Dude. Bio-Dome. I'm sorry.

Univarn said...

@Mad Luckily she didn't exist then. Nor now. Wait a second, I see a pattern emerging.

@Liam You may be among the few. Glad you do though. someone has too :P

@Castor In fairness the first time I saw the film I could have sworn he said "Ernest" - which of course led to the grave disappointment in a lacking Jim Varney appearance.

@Simon It's OK, I'll survive... somehow.

Fletch said...

Be honest - you watched Bio-Dome 77 times when you were 14, and that's why it's burrowed so deeply into your head.

And I see what you did there...planting a Baldwin name in there early in the hopes that you'd make someone think of Stephen and then your evil movie. That's sinister, man...

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