Thinking about Harold and Maude, and the song at the end. Don't think I ever want to watch the movie again, fearing disappointment. Saw it several times in my 20s, and once after that. That last time nearly spoiled the first impression for me, so I'll keep that early, overwhelming experience. Such stuff is best unanalyzed, protected under glass, kept safe in my heart and away from direct sunlight.
Still, such a profound rogue wave, hitting me at just the right moment in my life. So many ideas shiny new to me, glimpsed and only vaguely understood. Thusly are favorite movies made. Not the story alone, but in conjunction with one's receptivity. Or vulnerability.
Go and love some more.
It's not just me, this exchange from a discussion online.
Mouse_Woman
I am amazed at memories of the starry-eyed idealist who occupied my body forty-five years ago. I honestly believed that my generation would see the end of sexism, racism, war, and measles.
i wasn't even right about the measles.
Talitha
I know just what you mean.
cococo
It's amazing to me. Even on a small scale, look at Miss Manners today.
AlsoCuteandFluffy626
A few weeks ago there was some Miss Manners that must have been cross-posted to some anti-gay website, because the comments were just horrifying. It made me feel sick just reading them.
Talitha
Yes, it was awful... a siege.
obxwahoo 88
It's a nice way to think, even if the reality doesn't measure up. Maybe in a hundred years... nah, we'd need enough time for people to actually evolve further.
DJWinMassachusetts
Faulty theories about the causes of sexism, racism and war.
AlsoCuteandFluffy626
It takes a black man and a woman running for president just for people to see the ugly racist and misogynist streak in this country. Some of the rhetoric and slurs that just get tossed around in conversation are horrifying.
Of course, the reality is that it was always there, but people felt they had to hide it before.
obxwahoo 88
There are actually a lot of signs of hope - it's just ugly while we lift up all the rocks they were hiding under.
WonderfulWorld
Mouse Woman -- We're not dead yet!
Mouse_Woman
No, but at this rate, it will require several incarnations to get much of anywhere. I just hope I don't come back as a cat.
WonderfulWorld
Why not? We are at the top of the chain...humans obey our every wish.
4 comments:
Such an abrupt end to that song. I saw the movie more than once but it's been so long I can't remember the song being part of it. Still it would seem to be appropriate.
I feel this way about Isaac Asimov - some of his stories are best left for when I read them years ago; the memory of them is likely better than the reading of them.
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Cat,
It's right at the end, which is probably why it ends like that. Harold is strumming the ukulele.
Phil,
And we do respond to experiences at several decades in, differently from our first, early impressions. Should hope I've grown a bit since I was 20.
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