Movies and the Dreamer

They say it takes three months to change a habit. Well, I have a habit of forgetfulness where movies are concerned. I’m talking about the fact that, if someone takes me by surprise and says, “Seen any good movies lately?” I am likely to draw a blank. I often don’t remember having seen a movie; I watch it again and halfway through realize it looks familiar. Something happens when I watch movies. I sink into them and surrender to them. A bad movie is one that won’t let me forget I’m sitting in a theater watching a movie.

There are scenes in some movies that are so startling and vivid that they print the movie on my memory. It was probably the raining frogs that did it in “Magnolia.” The impossibility of such an event. Only recently did I read the scientific explanation for the phenomenon of raining frogs (or crickets or lizards). And only now does it occur to me that the device was a metaphor underlining the movie’s message. The impossible can happen; people can be healed of the deepest wounds. Some movies I remember because they are connected to external events, like playing hooky to go to “The Trouble With Harry.” The ones in between are like dreams. They retreat to my unconscious.

The thing is, I believe in the value of surrendering to a narrative, whether it is a movie, fiction in print, the story someone tells me about him or herself, or various forms of non-fiction. How can I judge the validity or truth of a narrative until I have let it wash through me?

Let’s say I have three months to think about this, April 12^th to July 12^th. The theology and movies course will meet on the Saturdays of June. It will intensify my exploration. Here’s the question. What parts of my habit of forgetfulness aren’t a good thing? It’s bothered me since my children were teenagers that movies present fundamental life options to people who may not have the maturity or integrity to weigh them wisely. Where do I belong in this picture? How ought I to respond in such situations?

Last weekend Paco and I watched “The Shipping News” (2001). He remembered seeing it, but I didn’t. It opens with a scene in which the central character, Quoyle, is shown as a child. His father tosses him into a lake to teach him how to swim and cruelly taunts him as he sputters and chokes in the water. He reacts by sinking placidly beneath the surface, where life is so hard. His body morphs into his adult self, who is played by Kevin Spacey. Quoyle floats in the water without moving his limbs and looks at the viewer with a soft smile on his face. This is who I have been, I, the moviegoer.