The Films That Made Us

So, a few months ago, some movie streaming site decided to spam and gather data by starting a Twitter hashtag asking people to name the four movies that define them. As far as corporate stunts go, I thought it was pretty fun and harmless and it was interesting to see what some people thought. I got tagged and had to Google what the hell it was about, but thought it was fun, so I replied with my picks and then tagged some others. (If that annoyed you, well...that's Twitter's job. But I thought it was fun!)

I clicked the hashtag and went through A LOT of strangers' answers to the #FilmStruck4 challenge. I was curious what people said, but I also liked seeing the answers of some "famous" people. It's tricky whenever you talk about your top favorite movies or movies that mean a lot to you or compile a list of all of your favorites... I've been a member of forums that would have the inevitable "Top 10 Favorite Movies" thread and would want to reply, but would be hesitant. When I saw CCLemon99's blog post about his favorite movies, I wanted to copy him and post something similar, because his list was fun and honest. But...again, it's tricky.

I feel like a Top 10's not big enough, but where do you stop? And then there's snobbery... I'd compile a list of my favorite movies and it would be about 20 to 30 movies mainly from the 1980s. There's so many movies that mean so much to me from that decade, and I have theories why it was such a magical decade for movies. (No, it's not cocaine. Well, not JUST cocaine.) But the fear of snobbery creeps in. I'd be hesitant to post lists of favorite movies, because someone would see it and chortle at an entry like The Goonies, which I think is just one of the most fun and funniest adventure movies ever made. Or the way some people absolutely worship Back to the Future, I worship The Karate Kid. I'm pretty protective of that movie. ( Apologies to my bro, who was upset when I shat all over YouTubeRed's Cobra Kai, when he finds it legitimately entertaining, despite being a supposed Karate Kid fan. :P )

At the same time, I'll see some people's list of their favorite movies and be like "Yeah, right. Nice try, pretentious." (And I'm sure those people would turn around and say that's a defense mechanism based on my picks being "lowbrow" crowd-pleaser flicks, but forget those people. Pretend all you want, but you don't genuinely like the four-hour, black-and-white, silent, German, expressionist tearjerker you placed at number three on your list. So, shaddap!) There's many a "serious" movies I like and value, but I feel like if you're being really honest with yourself when compiling one of these lists of favorite movies or movies that mean most to you? You gotta think of what movie you reach for more often, and chances are it's not one of the heavies.

But this silly little Tweet was kind of different. The films that define you. I posted mine, and fear I had a couple of bizarre answers. (Of the many, many Tweets I went through, not too many people had a horror movie on their list. I did.) There also seemed to be some confusion about the challenge. I thought the challenge was obviously movies that meant something to you, shaped you in some way. These wouldn't necessarily be your TOP favorites, but movies that were important to you and probably still ranked pretty damn high for you. Some people took it to mean the movies that represent the type of person they are, which I think is a bizarre interpretation. (For example: one person said they were forgetful, so they felt Memento represented them. Weirdo.)

When I saw someone semi-famous post their selections, which included one of the choices I had, they indicated that if those movies truly defined them, then that meant they were a messed up person. So...I'm here to defend my picks and explain them a little more to compensate for that jackass.

My four choices, in chronological order:

GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)

Ghostbusters was a phenomenon when I was a kid. I was massively into the movie and The Real Ghostbusters. (I feel like my first memory is of the movie, but I'm not completely sure if I saw it or the cartoon first.) It speaks so much to my interests; there's wise-ass comedy, there's horror, there's heroics. It's also sci-fi in a way, in the way it tries to depict the science behind it all, striking a balance with the supernatural elements. It gives it all a surprising credibility for a comedy and roots it all. There's also authenticity in the supernatural material because co-writer Dan Aykroyd has a real life interest in the subject matter.

It's working on a lot of levels; it's a horror movie that's not too scary and it has so many types of comedy, one that you can still get as a kid, but also adult humor that you didn't realize as a kid. I hate when I see people categorize this movie as purely comedy or horror (or even worse, a kids movie because of the cartoon). It's a movie that transcends genres, yet pulls it all off and is its own, unique thing. And it's insanely quotable -- I think I quote the movie every day and just don't realize it. ("Slow down. Chew your food.")

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

You can't overstate how popular this franchise and Freddy Krueger was back in the day. Horror just doesn't reach that level of popularity anymore, so there's nothing to really even compare it to in modern film. You couldn't escape this franchise, so it was on my radar well before I should have even watched the movie.

When I saw the first movie, I was just wowed and like "You gotta see this!" to whomever would listen. It's a highly imaginative movie that has been marred by too many of the sequels going too far with humor and losing sight of what makes this first one so damn good. Freddy Krueger is scary, yes, and entertaining and more memorable than a lot of horror villains, but most of the fans of this franchise are drawn to the movie also by its protagonists and its setting. (The third movie is practically a superhero movie, with people learning to use dreams to their advantage and finding their own unique "dream powers.")

I've always had a fascination with dreams and trying to analyze them. This movie and franchise takes dreams, dream psychology, dreaming techniques and applies them to a horror setting in a truly unique way. It's so much more than a slasher film. A lot of slasher films are made for the money, so there's not much thought put into them beyond a crazy guy with a knife stabbing a bunch of women. But Nightmare on Elm Street meant more to writer-director Wes Craven -- a true-life event inspired it! -- and it's fresh in its depiction of a threat, which is...you've gotta sleep! People like to say Jaws is such a great scary movie, because it ruined the beach for them. Well...it's a movie that doesn't work if you're someone who doesn't give a shit about the beach. Nightmare on Elm Street's concept is ingenious, and it stays with you long after it's over.

It's a movie that had a huge impact on me and cemented me as a horror fan.

BATMAN (1989)

So memorable and unlike anything before it, in terms of superhero movies. Tim Burton being a guy who grew up on horror movies, being a guy with a love for the Gothic, you can feel those influences in the movie. So it's marrying horror and superheroes, which appeals to me. It's the movie that set me on the path of becoming a Batman fan, a comics fan, and Batman became my favorite superhero. The movie was just huge and inescapable and influential. I have fond memories of it and it's a movie that I think of as being really special, and I'll just flat out say magical.

Michael Keaton was kind of a hero of mine when I was a kid. I loved Beetlejuice and The Dream Team, Batman making a good trilogy of sorts. I nearly included Beetlejuice in this list, but figured Ghostbusters better covered similar terrain.

PULP FICTION (1994)

A game-changer, such a juggernaut that it was the topic of my school when we were all too damn young to even be watching it. You'd think it was, like, a superhero movie or summer blockbuster with the way it was talked about amongst my schoolmates. One of my friends, who I knew was mainly an action-movie guy, was like "Man, you gotta watch this!" I finally rented it and was just blown away. Like, "Wow! What was that?!" It just felt so fresh and had such a unique flow and palpable energy. I felt like I was hit by lightning while watching it, only instead of becoming a superhero, I became a Tarantino freak who embarrassingly wrote stories aping his unique style. (Hey, I was just a kid. Go and watch movies Hollywood released for a few years after Pulp Fiction, and most of them desperately try to imitate QT, too, when they should've known better.)

To be honest, I actually like Reservoir Dogs the most of any of Tarantino's movies, but I might not have watched it if not for seeing Pulp Fiction first. Pulp Fiction put me on that path, therefore it's the one who shaped me. And Pulp Fiction's another one that I think is insanely quotable.

I feel like what these movies all have in common is a uniqueness, a certain sense of humor, they're highly imaginative, one of a kind, never a movie like it before or since, no matter how hard people have tried to replicate them. I feel like they all create their own unique worlds, with colorful yet realistic characters and you can immerse yourself in these movies, they're transportive. I think that's an important element in entertainment, to be transported, to let you and your imagination go for a ride. These four movies made such a mark that I can vividly recall when I first watched them and all that I felt. (Sometimes I'm like "How did I first discover (blank) movie/franchise? I don't recall...")

While I consider myself a sci-fi fan and was a huge Star Wars fan at one point, I felt funny not including a Star Wars, but even before prequels and Disney made me hate that franchise, I wouldn't consider any of those movies a top favorite or big influence. Similar to James Bond, I'm a huge fan of those movies and considered putting one there, but I feel like Tim Burton's Batman kind of covers it. What is Tim Burton's Batman, but a superhero noir? What is James Bond but a superhero noir detective? And Batman certainly is more meaningful and made more of an impact.

I love The Karate Kid, so that's one that...it would probably be the fifth pick if this had been FilmStruck5. Because that's a great movie with great lessons and I remember watching it a lot after coming back to the U.S. from Japan and loving it for its Nihon no Spirits. If anything's missing from the four I've picked in terms of something that defines me, it's that none of them contain any elements of Japan or Japanese culture when that means something to me.