Movies (and also TV-Series) are our most accessible source of information about life besides books.
So it’s interesting to understand which movies have shaped our view of life
#1
I was quite young when I saw the Butterfly effect, but it was pretty deep for me at the time, lol. It made me realize how consequential every little decision is.
#2
After Life (amazing Japanese movie from 1998) – the premise is that after you die, you have to choose one memory to live in forever. For about a week, the recently dead get to sift through memories until they find the most meaningful one. It’s the most provocative movie I’ve ever seen about what is truly significant. Which of yours would you select?
#3
Pay it forward was pretty good, too. It made me realize how much better the world would be if we all did a little extra.
#4
The Trueman Show.
You know that this is not your life.
But then again. Do you really *know*?
#5
Fight club
You are not a special or unique snowflake
#6
“The pursuit of happiness”,
It shows me how life can be difficult.
This movie always give me strength in my difficult time.
#7
Mitchell’s Vs the machines. improved my relationship with my little sister.
#8
Fight Club
I completely related to Edward Norton’s character. Insomnia – everything is a copy, of a copy, of a copy. You can’t tell if you are awake and living life or asleep and dreaming.
I didn’t realize what I was doing to myself and made some changes to live a healthier life.
#9
Now Voyager, for 3 phrases. When Betty Davis’s character was challenged by her rich mother as to how she would manage without the mother giving her so much money, their conversation ended with Betty’s character saying ” I’m not afraid anymore mother. I’m not afraid” it was an amazing revelation for the character & me. To not be afraid of life. Also, I have a line from the movie tattooed on my forearm. Its a line from a Walt Whitman poem called The Untold Want. “Untold want by life and land n’er granted, now voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find”. I have “Now Voyager….” on my forearm. It is surrounded by stars that come from the last line of the movie. “Oh, Jerry, let’s not ask for the moon when we have the stars.” This has been long but those 3 phrases just shout at me to live these lines from the movie.
#10
The Matrix-duh I think that was the point of the movie.
And the weirdest one,
.
.
.
Toy story
#11
For me, it was a series, The Fall, with Gillian Anderson as an investigator. She deals with a nasty character who plays a cat-and-mouse game with her, but she keeps her cool when taunted. That prompted me to think about not taking online insults personally. For example, someone called me a “dummy”, so I asked, “You seem angry at me. Why?” No answer from them and I shrugged it off.
#12
Papillon (1973) Steve McQueen – Excellent performances in some of the toughest scenes.
Close Encounters – The idea of aliens brought to life.
American Graffiti – What it’s like to come of age and deal with the tragedies of becoming an adult.
Full Metal Jacket – This hit close to home because both of my brothers served in the Army. My second oldest brother was in basic training when a guy in his unit collapsed and died from heart failure because the drill sergeant wouldn’t allow anyone else to break formation to help him.
#13
Harry Potter. I always wish that someday a half-giant will barge through my door and tell me I’m a wizard.
#14
the sixth sense. I realized I have no idea if I’m dead or not
#15
Movies:
Melancholia
The Broken Circle
Into the Wild
Series:
Six feet under
#16
The Truman Show
The Matrix
The Butterfly Effect
#17
Harold and Maude. A bizarre choice, but I saw this movie when I was 15 in a period of my life when I felt hopeless because of our family’s circumstances. The beautiful, funny story of a morbid, rich teenager and an eternally hopeful Holocaust survivor completely turned my mindset and worldview around.
#18
Forest Gump
A great movie about the power of mindfulness.
#19
Soylent Green
#20
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe made me realise that even though we might not know it ourselves sometimes, we are not the centre of the universe. Funny to share this here: It taught me that my opinion/interest are not always the most important.
#21
The Lion King: Family means sh*t to some people who are obsessed with power and control.
#22
I know this is strange, and although I’m not a complete conspiracy theorist but there is one that I subscribe to. I will present to you the same question once posed to me. “How do you warn the masses about something or inform them about something without causing mass panic?” – Movies (shows). We as the majority see them as entertainment, I see them as possible warnings. Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, I Am Legend, World War Z, etc etc. To me they could be possible warnings or informational. I’m not saying EVERY movie. But pay attention and see if you don’t recognize stuff that’s happened in older movies. Or what could happen.
#23
“Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep had me thinking about what scenes in my life they would play. What fears have I not faced? What brave acts deserve self-recognition? It inspired me to do a kind of inventory, be kinder to myself, and think about what I really want in life.
#24
Luca! watched it recently, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Alberto is my idol, I love his outlook on life. Silencio Bruno!
#25
‘Cool Hand Luke’ … “Luke: I can eat 50 eggs. Dragline: Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for? Why not thirty-five or thirty-nine?
Luke: I thought it was a nice round number.”
This line among others shows Luke’s mentality of just living the hell out of life, making a normal special.
#26
Startrek I want the music on my funeral: To go beyond where no man has gone before.
The Horse whisperer – until then I believed I was a pacifist. But when the Indians beat up the white men, boy did I get a kick out of that. It also changed my perspective. In movies, in life, I was always emphatic with the underdog, which is a hard way to live. Now when it gets too much, I change perspective.
#27
I had a sudden “Whoa” moment when I first watched Disney’s Christopher Robin. I was writing my thesis at the time whilst taking extra corses and working a side job so stress and work was all I ever did. The movie felt like it was about my situation and it really changed my life at the time. To much focus on work and not taking time for your family and friends is very damaging and you lose track of yourself in the process. It’s important to take time of sometimes and do absolutely nothing! “ Because sometimes, doing nothing leads to the very best of somethings” :)
#28
Jonathon Livingston Seagull. Beautiful film with an equally beautiful soundtrack by the wonderful Neil Diamond.
#29
Film: The killing fields and Schindler’s List.
Series: The man in the high castle. I just couldn’t get enough of it. And without being stroppy and way too sentimental: a bad guy can also be a good guy.
#30
“Underground” by Emir Kusturica. Probably not one of the most popular of the bunch, but I remember very vividly when I watched it first when I was about seven nine years old (my older brother brought it home). I didn’t understand quite well what was going on with war in Yugoslavia (man, I didn’t even know where Yugoslavia was), there were many references and info I could not comprehend, but was the music. The music was magical and in was perfectly entangled with the visuals. The soundtrack was just as magical as the images produced by Kusturica. It captured me, moved me to tears of sadness and joy at different times and completely blew out my mind and allow me to visualise a bigger world.
#31
When I was about 5 or 6, I loved this movie called Ringing Bell (japanimation you can watch on youtube), well it’s only 45 min. long but whatever. I think it really messed me up for good.
#32
Into the Wild by Sean Penn (2007)
#33
The Trueman Show.
You know that this is not your life.
But tgen again. Do you really *know*?
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