Secret selfs..

[joegoda]

All my beloved ones, and those that think they are, but they really are...
After some discourse with one of the most intelligent and intuitive folks I know (even is she doesn't believe she is), I have come to a conclusion..

Most of us don't know who we really and truely are. Over the next few days, weeks, months, I may drop edited versions of our discussion here, because my ego dictates that they are JUST THAT GOOD.

I leave the writing of books to Tapestry, my good friend, as he will forever surpass my poor talent.

I have one question on this day to pose to all of you. There is one movie, just one, that encompasses our secret self. Who we really patterened or tried to pattern ourselves after. A movie that so influenced our lives that we had no choice but to modify our thoughts and beliefs to adopt some if not all of the ideals presented by it. This assumes that we have all seen a movie at one time in our lives, an assumption that I could be wrong about. Something tells me that I'm not wrong.

The question is, and this is a serious question.

What movie was it?

I don't ask what was the influence or what changed in your life. This matters to YOU, and not to me. The influences helped create the totality of YOU, a thing I appreciate as a whole, rather than a part.

Strictly voluntary, compleatly your choice. I do it so that those that want to know me may, if it is their wont, to rent it if they can find it, and see my secret self, so that they may better understand me.

Recognise that this is a movie that sometimes I can't remember. It is a movie that sometimes seems to be replaced by some other film that had an effect. It is a move that ,when all is said and done, had the greatest effect on my psyche, on who I really am, or who I really dream I am. For after all, aren't we just dreams we dreampt while we slept somewhere else? Aren't we all just shadows of the things we wished we were?

My movie is:
A Thousand Clowns, starring Jason Robards.

If you watch it, it is up to you to find and decide for yourself, who and what changed my life. Sometimes I fall very short, and it's a hard climb back, but each climb is very gratifiying in itself.

Bless you all on this magical season!

CjB
House of the Singing Waters

Comments

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

Just ONE huh.. I can think of books plural that affected me that way.. but one movie.. First one that pops in my mind.. Toys with Robin Williams and I'm not even sure why.

I can see that..

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

toys! What good is life if we live it without recognition of play? For sure toys, Leland!

Re: I can see that..

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

"It's whimsical Leland"

[chibi-jeni.livejournal.com]

I saw the movie Alex & Emma in the theaters. It was a beautiful movie and Kate Hudson reminds me of an actress that would be in classic Hollywood back in the 1920's or 1930's. She plays a variety of characters throughout the film. And that reminds me of myself in the fact that I have so many different personalities and moods that I indulge upon.

Doesn't hurt that she's a transcriptionist who wins the heart of a really hot writer...

And My Fair Lady...yeah. That movie/musical showed me that I could change myself to mix with different settings but still be able to keep my orneryness wherever I go!

I can see this

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Hmm... All it takes is the ability to recognise what is inherent in what you want to change to. However, the core stays the same. What aided you in developing your core?

[mspolliard.livejournal.com]

Shawshank Redemption. Hands down.

"Remember, Red, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

"That's the beauty of music. They can't take that away from you."

"I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."

"Geology is the study of pressure and time. Thats all it takes really... pressure... and time... That, and big goddamn poster."

"Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lies within. "

"Get busy living, or get busy dying. That's goddamn right. For the second time in my life I'm guilty of committing a crime: Parole Violation. 'Course I doubt they'll toss up any road blocks for that, not for an old crook like me. I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I imagine it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey, whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border... I hope to see my friend and shake his hand... I hope the pacific is a blue as it has been in my dreams... I hope... "


And I'm sure there's more... much more... but those are the parts that come to mind when I think of parts of it that influence my life. Notice I said 'influence' in the present, not past, tense.
=)

I can see this

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Interesting that you would pick something that influences you as you are NOW, rather than what modified you to be what you had to be to allow the modification of the Now you. I too, feel that Forrest should not have won the award.

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

There's any number of movies I could name, but the first one that comes to mind is "The Great Imposter," a 1961 movie starring Tony Curtis. It's the story of a young man who goes through life impersonating other people. Whenever he met somebody he admired, he would assume their identity and get a similar job doing what they did. The problem was, he was so good at the jobs he stepped into that fame would catch up with him, and he'd have to move on before he got caught. He became so good at forging his new identities that he could have made a fortune as a criminal, but instead he used his talents to help people. While impersonating a doctor, for instance, he performed several successful surgeries (all the time racing back and forth to his office to read the medical textbooks and find out what to do next). The movie made a big impression on me early in life.

That movie taught me that the person people see on the outside can be completely different than who the person is deep inside. People may not always be what they seem. It also showed me that everyone has the power to become whomever they want to be... or whomever other people need them to be.

I can see this

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

You, my friend are a duplexity. One of the things I cherish about you.

[ladyh.livejournal.com]

hmmmm....I think there's be movies for different times in my life...like chapters...almost..

Starting with Ol' Yeller and the Yearling..., lots of 'Beach Blanket Bingo" and Elvis in my Teens(I was so deep in my teens LOL).......oh, One Flew over the Coo-Coo's Nest in my Twenties, for sure :-)...ET in my Thirties, or A Star is Born...two sides to the same coin as it were...
there were many in my 40's...almost too many to name, though I'm not sure it was a movie that influced me that decade...but let me think...Terminator, don't ask why...it had to do with 'the storm coming' at the end...Titanic for my romantic side, Don Jaun DeMarco for my magical side, The Mighty, just because...there were dozens this decade...
and absolutely, Secondhand Lion's in my 50's for obviously reasons!

I don't believe there's just one...how can you pick just one?
maybe if I was forced into choosing, then Practical Magic would have to be at least pretty high on list of 'just one'...obvious reasons. ;->
Then I look at my video shelf and the most watched is Armagedan...spelling? Do I believe the world is always ending? LOL
NO, I think I just like heroic movies.
And there's tons of TV shows recorded, but my most treasured are my Beauty and the Beast tapes from the late 80's TV show, THAT is probably the biggest ONE and its not a movie. But the message is timeless.