Movies
As kind of a take-off of this post by John Rogers and because I was recently discussing this topic with my wife, here are my picks of the 10 movies I would show someone to try and explain what america is. In fact here is the quote:
The challenge is:
Explain America to someone from somewhere else by giving them 10 movies to watch.
The idea is not to give them a history lesson, so you don’t have to start with The New World and end with Jarhead.
What you’re trying to do is give them a sense of who we are — your take on our dreams, our attitudes, our idioms, what we think we are, what we are afraid we are, what we really might be.
So here are my 10 movies explaining what America is (no particular order of importance):
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)- The ultimate underdog/fighting the man story full of Christ imagery and gentleman rogue charm. Also my favorite movie of all time. And in my opinion you could probably make this entire list from Paul Newman movies.
- Brown Sugar (2002)- A love story based on growing up as hip-hop grew up and maturing the way hip-hop needs to. This hits on all the themes that a true American child of the 80s dealt with.
- Silverado (1985)- My favorite western of all times. Touches on redemption, racism and love. The good guys win just like they should. Brian Dennehy, as the corrupt sheriff also delivers the best western line of all time, “We’re gonna give you a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging. “
- The Breakfast Club (1985)-An alternate title could have been “High School in America”. Maybe it has changed a bunch in the last 2 decades. But that was us, all of us. I’m willing to bet it still is.
- Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)- I know, it’s not really a movie, movie, but it changed the way lots of us viewed the world. So it’s in my list. Now shut the f*** up.
- The Thin Man (1934)- Also one of my tops of all time. Just great detectiving by a ne’er-do-well who always does well.
- The Big Red One (1980)- World War II. The last war we actually won. And if Lee Marvin can’t make you understand Americans, then go back where you came from, comrade.
- Shrek (2001)- Funny, funny, funny. And in my top movies of all time, too.
- Ruckus (1981)- Because it is my list and I like Dirk Benedict and Linda Blair. So get off my a$$.
- Halloween II (1981)- Scared the crap outta me. And Jamie Lee Curtis is hot. Still, but then whew! When that dude got into the car and died and his head hit the horn and it started blaring and ohmygodshe’sonthedamnfloorboardsohgodgetouttatherehe’scoming!!!
That’s my ten movies. Lot of stuff woefully under-represented, very heavy on the stuff from the 1980s. But hey, it’s my list and that is what you get.
Tag, you’re it. What’s your 10?
January 23rd, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Hmmm….I’ll admit that most of my choices are heavily on the Black culture scheme – but I’m Black, so bear with me..
Imitation of Life — Early illustration of how some Black people of the time (1920s) would deny their own mother if they could ‘pass’ as white.
Roots — It was my first exposure to what I knew, but hadn’t yet visualized and therefore hadn’t quite grasped. My mother didn’t let me watch it until long after it first came out.
Grease — Laugh if you will, but I love that movie! I love that Danny finally gave up the ‘cool’ pretense to get the girl he liked.
Cool Hand Luke — that was a classic, and Paul Newman is FINE.
Breakfast Club — child of the 80s classic. Illustrated all the typical different personalities of the American teen spectrum
School Daze — Illustrated the classes that Black People impose on ourselves, even if subconsciously.
Malcolm X — Great adaptation of the autobiography! And Denzel’s best performance!
Annie — loved it! Still know all the songs! Again, not all that deep, but a cute look.
Remember the Titans — (c’mon, you knew I had to get more than one Denzel movie on here). I like the outcome. It was truthful also. So many people gloss over the fact that the movie focuses on a time in the early 70s, yet Virginia was just integrating it’s schools. So were many southern states, even though the law had been passed several years earlier.
sigh…there’s so many I didn’t name…
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:25 pm
I was going to put a Spike Lee movie in instead of Ruckus, but dang I loved that movie.
BTW Chaun, I only count nine, you got another pick.
January 27th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Oh. One more pick – I just saw it a few nights ago…
The Notebook – The poor guy gets the rich girl. They live happily ever after and he loves her even when she falls into dementia. Yeah, it’s probably a global concept, rather than limited to Americans, but I like the pick.