Relatable movie moments and how to travel in your mind
“The intellect is vagabond, and our system of education fosters restlessness. Our minds travel when our bodies are forced to stay at home,” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”).
Before Covid-19 ever came into existence, I had a problem with staying in one place too long — a genetic trait present in all of my family members except for my father, meaning you should not envy his position in our household right now. In fact, I hadn’t been home for more than two weeks at a time in almost 7 years before the world began to shut down. For high school, I went to boarding school in New Hampshire, and in the summers, my home in Louisiana is not the ideal destination unless you are looking to fry an egg on the pavement. So despite my sometimes lazy and homebody nature, to say being at home for this long has been uncomfortable would be an understatement. And I know I’m not the only one.
“I’m down like the economy,” (Lil Wayne, “Down”)
I think my restless nature is why I have always loved to read, and am — to put it lightly — obsessed with movies. Books, movies, and other forms of media allow me to travel to places and become different people in my mind — for about 80 minutes, you can be somewhere else, or someone else. They depict far away places, real and fictitious, with unfamiliar customs and characters whose troubles are easier to digest than my own. I’ve been calling this the Bedknobs and Broomsticks mentality (told you I liked movies). For those unfamiliar with the film, it depicts a magical bed that can transport you anywhere, even a cartoon underwater world, or an island in a book where animals talk.
But, in my opinion, what really transports you to the destination in question is the emotion we share with the characters — those moments which make you think, maybe someone can know exactly how I feel. That shared feeling is our magical bed, and through these relatable moments we can transport ourselves into a different time, place, or even person.
In an effort to perhaps provide you with an escape from the isolation and stationary existence that accompanies the Covid-19 pandemic, I’d like to share some of the relatable moments that have allowed me to venture beyond my bedroom walls and that have reminded me that I’m not alone. Here is a collection of moments that, in my extensive movie marathon, document the stages of quarantine I have experienced.
**Disclaimer: Some of these scenes may contain mature language or content.
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
“Let my Cameron go…” This scene reflected in a sense the inner battle I experienced at the beginning of the shut-down, before we knew exactly how deadly it was. In that first stage, I would alternate between my inner Ferris and Cameron approaches, like the scene cuts back and forth: between the It’s a beautiful day and I’m not going to school, time to enjoy life approach, and the It’s the end of the world, I can’t go outside and that’s fine because my allergies are killing me anyway approach… between relaxation and anxiety. In the beginning, the idea of doing school in pajamas and hanging by the pool was like a dream come true, if you managed to avoid all news of the outside world. But there was an underlying anxiety that came from the uncertainty of the situation — no one knew what was to come, if this was temporary or for the rest of the semester, how contagious the virus is, etc. And I would swing like a pendulum from one state to another.
2. Pleasantville
“Bud… Mary Sue… your breakfast is getting cold…” I don’t think I’d eaten breakfast on a weekday in three years before the stay-at-home orders sent me packing from my college apartment to my parents’ home. If I did, it would consist of an Eggo waffle or an apple, on a good day (more often, I’m ashamed to say, I grabbed a handful of potato chips on my way out the door). To go from my college apartment, where I survived on ramen and did chores when I chose, to my home where my parents started cooking home-made family meals and assigning chores at first felt like I’d been drop-kicked into the Waltons. This stage of adjustment, for all of us, was in the beginning uncomfortable, at times overwhelming, and could start to show me the perks to isolation. But, ultimately, it was also the best thing to come out of this pandemic — for our family to support each other, reconnect, and grow together.
3. Risky Business
“Don’t try to take me to the disco…” After the initial stages of excitement, anxiety, and adjustment come and go, there sets in one feeling that could be the defining characteristic of the stay-at-home order: boredom. And in order to combat this boredom, I found myself (and still do, this stage I think will last through all the others until the end) throwing way too many solo dance parties at the most random moments. I may or may not own a hairbrush with the picture of a microphone on the back that has come in handy way too often. And yet, I’ve found this boredom-born dance parties to be actually kind of fun, especially when I get my sisters, or god-forbid my parents, involved. Being bored has reminded me that boredom is a choice — remember that tired and unbelievably annoying expression, “Only boring people get bored,”? I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I do think you can choose to make your own fun, and trust me, watching others make their own fun is entirely too entertaining to pass up.
4. Bridget Jones’ Diary
“All by myself… don’t wanna be… all by MYYYSELF… ANYMOOORE… ” Perhaps the cinematic scene that most embodies the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders, this is the stage of desperation and loneliness. After a certain amount of time passes in isolation, when your family has possibly gotten on your nerves (not you Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this…) and you’re stressed about school or work, the lack of an outlet or a friend to help you get some perspective can make your life start to seem pretty dark. Though we have FaceTime and instagram, there’s something about actually being with our friends that shines a light into our lives, acting almost as a medication that maintains our sanity. For me, even with FaceTiming multiple friends every day (which I honestly did before the pandemic), I’ve had my Bridget Jones moments. I think by watching these moments of shared emotion in movies, I remind myself that I’m not alone. For better or for worse, that’s my way of dealing with the covid isolation and depression.
5. The Graduate
“Well… I would say that I’m just drifting… here in the pool….” Throughout the emotional rollercoaster of Covid-19, there came a moment when I just stopped to care about it all. I entered a state of numbness in which it became hard to see an end, and hence I found it difficult to motivate myself. I wallowed in my own nihilistic feelings of uselessness and aimlessness — I wasn’t anxious, but I wasn’t happy. I was just existing. I think it’s easy to get numb after a few weeks of being cooped up, because you start to lose sight of your goals, your future, and the many memories that come along with actually living your life. At times, it can seem too painful to remember everything we used to do, or to hope for the future, when it feels like we’re thinking of all the things we can’t have right now. So instead we just stop. We drift.
6. The Little Mermaid
“I want to be where the people are…I want to see them dancing… ” As some states begin to open up and the curve flattens, I hit a stage of yearning and distant hope. Though it feels so far away, I know that one day we will open back up and all the little things we’ve missed will slowly return. We will see each other in a room with more than ten people, or head to the movie theater, or watch a football game… it’s only a matter of time. And while time can appear to be movie so unbearably slowly while stuck in one place, the way our minds travel through movies and books reminds me to be hopeful — to remember the things I once took advantage of and watch with anticipation as the world returns to this state, with the lifting of one restriction at a time.
7. Back to Bueller
“Well shake it up baby now … twist and shout…” And to bring this adventure full circle, here’s a stage I haven’t quite experience yet but am eagerly anticipating: the way I imagine I’ll feel the day the world opens back up:
