Day 7: Favorite movies

This thirty days feels like it's going by so slow for some reason. We're only on Day 6?!

*Update: despite the previous comment and the URL for this particular post, this blog was actually Day 7.

I'm excited about today's blog, favorite movies, because I finally decided that I have one! It only took me 21 years to decide...

 Some might say that The Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite, and from ages four to, like, 15, it was, and still is in my top ten, purely out of nostalgia. I grew up watching that movie every day for years. YEARS! And I can still watch it, quote it, sing along with it. I love it.

So then, for a while, my favorite movie was Spirited Away. I loved the details and the art of the film, and the story is really imaginative, even though you have to watch it four times to get it all.

And then I saw this piece of beauty, Howl's Moving Castle. In Miyazaki tradition, the film is rich in details, very fantastic story, and, of course, super confusing plot. It's another movie you have to watch a few times, and almost make up your own story to put the pieces together. I feel like the reason I didn't understand some of it was because the story is originally Japanese, and their culture has their own myths and beliefs. I think if a Japanese person were to watch this film, they'd understand perfectly. Not to mention, a lot is lost in translation, literally, because they have to alter a lot of words to make the English dub fit with the film. I was still loath to call this movie my favorite, however, because as much as I loved it, it didn't cry out to me and tell me that this was my movie.

Thank God for Netflix. It's buggy, it doesn't work a lot of the time, and you can rarely actually find something you wanted to watch, but sometimes there's this shining gem in the darkness that calls out and begs for you to watch it. Ladies and Germs, I give you, my favorite movie:

This move makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me hate, and makes me fall in love. It also has a magical feel to it that leaves me begging this world to reveal it's mysticism. (You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...) This movie is loosely based on the Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Plot Summary (SPOILERS, mah bad...)

Tanner Cohen's character, Timothy, is a gay student in an all boys academy. He's mercilessly picked on by his classmates, with only two advocates in the school, Mrs. Tebbit and Johnathan, the latter being Timothy's crush. Timothy can't see that Johnathan isn't actually a bully, however, and avoids him like the rest of his classmates. Timothy has two other friends, Frankie and Max. Frankie is an artsy type: plays guitar, writes songs, makes her own clothes; and Max is your typical guy-friend: supportive to Timothy, tries to be compassionate about the bullying. Max and Frankie are secretly in love, but won't tell each other. Mrs. Tebbit approaches Timothy after class one day with an invitation to be in the senior play: her own recreation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He grudgingly accepts, and she gives him a script that is different than those of the rest of the class. This special book gives Timothy a spell that gives him Puck's flower. He uses it on his crush, of course, then on his tormenters, making them fall in love with each other. Remember, this is an all boy's school. Hilarity ensues, until those not under the spell begin accusing Mrs. Tebbit of causing all the change of heart, going so far as to blame Shakespeare ("Shakespeare was queer too!"). She finally tells Timothy that he needs to reverse the spell on the night of the play, and return the townspeople to their former loves. He does so, realizing that Johnathan will no longer love him. After the play however, we see Timothy sitting at a vanity in the dressing room removing his makeup, when Johnathan comes from behind him and kisses him. Even though he'd been under the spell, he still had feelings for Timothy, and now was free to express them, for his classmates and townsfolk are no longer the bigoted asses they once were.

Sigh. This is the movie I wish could be my life. I love it so much. At the very end, Mrs. Tibbit is seen collecting the flower and says to the camera, "Who's next?"

I'm next,
Ash