What I have seen

I have been thinking about influences TV and movies have had on me in my life so far. For me, it has turned into a sort of chicken versus the egg argument.

I am a total movie nut and when I was younger I had a few movies that I watched pretty much all the time. Enough that I still remember all of the lines. I have discovered the link between all three of them and that is why I'm wondering if my personality caused me to gravitate towards the movies to begin with or if seeing one movie sort of opened my doors to watch the others. Honestly it is probably a bit of both. For me it has been pretty interesting to reflect.

So, here are the three movies that I have memorized:

Shag (1989)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

The Little Mermaid (1989)








The link is that in each movie the "unlikely girl" gets the guy in the end. Sixteen Candles and The Little Mermaid pretty much follow the same formula. The unknown girl gets her prince in the end. Sixteen Candles just happens to be a little bit more scandalous and a lot more funny. Shag is just a bit different in that a character named "Pudge" is the girl that is always the friend and never the girlfriend. But, of course, in the end we find out the guy she has liked the whole time has always liked her back, he was just afraid to say so.

So, here's the question. When I started watching these movies I was about 8 years old. Part of me believes that most of my personality had been determined at that point (atleast the core of it). I'm certainly not saying I am the same girl I was at 8 years old, but part of her still remains in me. That makes me think that I liked these movies because part of me was that girl. I don't remember feeling that way at 8 years old, but I can certainly relay tons of stories from my teen years when I was that girl. I just never got the guy in the end. Perhaps it was comforting for me at that age (being a self-conscious girl) to think that even though I feel overlooked in due time my prince would arrive.

I don't really know what to conclude here. When I told my boyfriend about these three movies he asked which guy he was, the prince, the prom king, or the friend. I replied that I
couldn't have the relationship that I have with him if I were living in a fantasy world. In all honesty, in my reality, he is all three. He is my prince charming and also my best friend. And for a while he was the unattainable guy (in my eyes). But when I stopped creating fantasies in my head about "us" and lived my life for me, we became best friends and developed a strong foundation that we now live on.

I think one feeds the other and vice versa. I think that I gravitated towards these types of romances because of my own personality, but the movies created a little world in my head at the same time. They kind of gave me a bit of confidence. Watching girls that I related to develop into confident women. But, eventually I had to realize that observation and doing are two entirely different events. I had to live in my own reality.

That doesn't mean I don't believe in fairy tales, so to speak.

What do you all think? Any types of movie/tv formulas you found yourself gravitating towards at a young age?

Let us know your stories!

--Lauren