the groundhog day project

Dragnet is on one more time. I don't think I have anything specifically regarding this film to say today, but 1) I wanted to watch it at least once on the larger screen that is my tv (I've been on a sort of emergency roadtrip and have been watching the film on my phone that last three days), and 2) I didn't quite want to transition to the next film on my childhood deconstruction (aka movie life) list; rather, I wanted to gather a sort of interlude of thoughts about all the movies so far as it were. The question of what this movie (in particular, but so many other movies from my childhood more generally) did to affect my... Well, my worldview, really--it's an interesting question. Because, for example, I grew up on Star Wars , saw the first one before I can even remember, was already interested in the toys and books and whatever merchandise was out there by the time Empire came out, distinctly remember going to see Return of the Jedi in the theater (the theater...

On the other hand , popular culture is a dangerous distraction. This week, they almost elected a racist pedophile to the senate in Alabama. Today, the FCC voted to get rid of net neutrality. Trump's still president... And, regardless of which side you're on in any of those things, it is easy to get distracted binge watching the latest Netflix series, watching the latest movie, updating your social media accounts. Our lives are not as streamlined as James' life is in that underground desert bunker, with just one tv show to watch, just a handful (literally, he names them later and you could count them on one hand) of friends online, and his parents. We've got larger families, more friends, jobs, school, obligations, a larger world to worry about. Bigger politics than a trio of people and one fantasy tv series--the politics of which he cannot control (except inasmuch as his interest might influence the way his father writes the show, but he doesn't know that, so it...