Art Saves Lives

When you read this because you clicked on the link Facebook's blog sync app posted to my profile, this post will be incomplete.

I was inspired to write this for two reasons:

1. My friend Tarehna's threat to post this on her blog: "Watch It Wednesday: Top 20 Fever continues with my favorite 20 movies from the last 20 years." That made me think of what my own movies would be for specific years. Tarehna is always so inspirational.
   
2. Then my long lost friend Michael did that 25 things meme (here's mine) that has been going around. One of his was: "Jeff Dodge belongs in the above category. He gets his own line here because in my darkest hour, Jeff came over with his four-track and didn’t leave until my despair had been transmogrified into the pinnacle of my artistic endeavors. It took 2 ½ days."
   I loved loved loved how he put that. It reminded me of the Good Will Hunting quote in my last incomplete post. And it made me think I should blog about the art that has saved my life over the years.

Here are the rules. (Self-imposed, of course. Aren't all rules self-imposed?) :D You look at the box office results for the year (only 25 in the 70s, 50 in the 80s and 90s and 100 in the oughts) and pick the movies that affected you most deeply. Then you write why. :D By the way, these are not necessarily my favorite movies, just ones that affected me deeply, and in some cases, they are art that saved my life.

• 1975: Jaws
  
• 1976: Rocky
  
• 1977:
  Star Wars
  Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  
• 1978: Grease
  This is kinda the first movie I remember being somewhat obsessed with. I saw it in the theater MANY times. I bought the soundtrack (still have it)--my first one--and it became an unshakable habit. I memorized all the songs.
  This is also the first movie I remember going to with my friends.
  Also, I affect an Australian accent, ala Sandy, all that summer. The only other time I pulled that off was when I saw Out of Africa in college. Bless all of you, my college friends, for continuing to be friends with me during that period.
  This art saved me because it gave me Sandy, who I was so much like. In the years that would follow, it gave me permission to be two things:
  1) innocent and loyal. Like Sandy, I am hopelessly devoted.
  2) But then, it gave me permission to embrace my high heels and black wearing, smoking self (I am putting all this very nicely). The fact that she finds that other side of herself in the end of movie, in service of love, wrote on my heart, for sure. It would come in handy during all the years I spent in hopelessly puritanical parochial middle schools, highschools and colleges. Seriously: when I was a freshman in college, I came home from a date and a bunch of my floor mates piled into my room to hear about it. When I described what a good french kisser the boy was, one of the girls listening to story seriously ran screaming from the room. Seriously. Good thing I had Sandy in my head to save me from a life a Christian frigidity.
  
• 1979:
  The Electric Horseman
  Superman
  
• 1980:
  Ordinary People
  Caddyshack
  
• 1981:
  On Golden Pond
  Stripes
  
• 1982:
  Tootsie
  An Officier and A Gentleman
  
• 1983:
  War Games
  Mr. Mom
  The Big Chill
  Uncommon Valor
  
• 1984:
  Footloose
  The Natural
  All of Me
  
• 1985:
  Out of Africa
  White Nights
  St. Elmo's Fire
  
• 1986:
  Aliens
  Legal Eagles
  About Last Night...
  Nothing In Common
  Jumpin' Jack Flash
  Heartburn
  Crimes of the Heart
  
• 1987:
  Fatal Attraction
  Moonstruck
  Lethal Weapon
  Dirty Dancing
  Broadcast News
  The Princess Bride
  Baby Boom
  Black Widow
  
• 1988:
  Big
  Working Girl
  
• 1989:
  Batman
  Dead Poet's Society
  When Harry Met Sally
  Turner & Hooch
  Always
  
• 1990:
  Pretty Woman
  Joe vs the Volcano
  Postcards from the Edge
  
• 1991:
  T2: Judgment Day
  Silence of the Lambs
  Sleeping With The Enemy
  JFK
  Dead Again
  Soapdish
  
• 1992:
  A Few Good Men
  
• 1993:
  Jurassic Park
  Sleepless in Seattle
  Dave
  
• 1994:
  Little Women
  
• 1995:
  Sabrina
  French Kiss
  
• 1996:
  Independence Day
  Twister
  Jerry Maguire
  A Time To Kill
  The First Wives Club
  Michael
  
• 1997:
  Titanic
  Kiss The Girls
  
• 1998:
  Deep Impact
  You've Got Mail
  Stepmom
  The X-Files: Fight the Future
  Practical Magic
  
• 1999:
  The Matrix
  The General's Daughter
  Stigmata
  
• 2000:
  Cast Away
  What Women Want
  The Family Man
  
• 2001:
  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  Hannibal
  Bridget Jones' Diary
  Shallow Hal
  Moulin Rouge
  Serendipity
  Someone Like You
  
• 2002:
  Signs
  Red Dragon
  Enough
  
• 2003:
  Something's Gotta Give
  Love Actually
  
• 2004:
  The Day After Tomorrow
  Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Event
  Along Came Polly
  13 Going On 30
  Taking Lives
  
• 2005:
  Hitch
  The Family Stone
  Serenity
  
• 2006:
  The Devil Wears Prada
  The Holiday
  The Guardian
  
• 2007:
  P.S. I Love You
  No Reservations
  Fracture
  Zodiac
  
• 2008:
  Sex and the City
  Mamma Mia!
  27 Dresses
  Fool's Gold