Each year around this time I watch Pleasantville.
There is something about the reassessment of my life that I do each Yom Kippur that draws me to this film. The annual watching was last weekend.
I first saw it right after I’d decided to get a divorce. I cried at the pure pleasure of the gift given to the mom – a life not predestined by what had come before. Once she embraced a world filled with color, she couldn’t be kept in her black-and-white box any more. I empathized with her because I too had felt stuck and was suddenly free.
For Toby Maguire’s character, living in the idealized 1950s town did not solve all his problems in and of itself. It proved to be a life-changing experience for him since he learned to let go and live without expectations of how things “should” be. That is a lesson I am still learning.
All of this came to the front of my mind again when I saw yet another meme on the internet. (I’ve really got to quit paying so much attention to these!)
Most of the shows I watch have too many people dying or turning into zombies. If I could extend the premise to movies, Love Actually comes to mind, but I’ve already lived my version of it.
As strange as it might sound, and un-Tammy-like, I think I would enjoy living for a month in Brooklyn 99.
I so want to be friends with Amy Santiago. We are soul mates; twins separated at birth. She would truly get me. We are both rule followers, teacher’s pets, and thrive on external validation. Either that or we would be too much alike and would hate each other. Either way, that is my choice.
Do you find yourself re-watching any movies on a regular basis? or What show would you like to live in?
Grown Up, Now What? 