Two Sword Fighting Pirates Dying Simultaneously
#4yrolds1stGremlins
What does watching “gremlins” with a 4.75 year old boy have in common with watching “Ghostbusters” with the same boy? Well, both films take FOREVER to get to their respective good parts. But beyond that, I am only faced with questions. I watch these movies with my son because I want to remember something about what I felt when I watched them back in the 80’s. I like being a Dad, as well as a film nerd, so I have a good excuse to see them again.
And I’m aware of another motivation sneaking in the background. If I fill his empty canvas with Summer Blockbusters from 25 years ago, maybe he’ll develop into a rosetta stone by the time he’s six or seven. Twist his inevitable genius into a pop-cultuaral translator between our two generations’ story telling vocabularies.
In simple terms, it looks like he enjoyed “Gremlins” a lot more than “Ghostbusters,” but clearly neither had as much of an impact as the first “Star Wars.” I feel like we are working our way up to Jurassic Park. I hope by then we have a much bigger television.
Here’s how I tweeted "Gremlins” on 12-21-2010
I will now proceed to live blog my son’s first viewing of “Gremlins” #4yrolds1stGremlins
6:53pm
“Why can’t he get brung out in the light?” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:14pm
Kiddo: “What happened?”
Dad: “There are five new ones.”
Kiddo: “They’re the Gremlins maybe.”
#4yrolds1stGremlins
7:21pm
“I know why that happened. Because they got water on them.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:22pm
Wow, I really missed all the racist subtext and orientalism when I watched Gremlins back in the 80’s
7:29pm
“When will it be the Gremlins part?” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:31pm
with extreme longing: “When will the Gremlins come? Next scene? Which scene are they in?” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:38pm
“That’s what happens when you feed them after midnight, they turn into Gremlins…WHY?!” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:40pm
“When will the Gremlins be fighting Daddy? WHEN!?!” —- “will it be scary?” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:41pm
I forgot how much fun it is to watch the Mom kill Gremlins. Kiddo says: “She killed 3 so there’s only 2 more to fight!” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:50pm
“Is this movie real?” Looks at our expressions, “No, it’s not real.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
7:51pm
“The other man should be there to tell them that the Gremlins can fight.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
8:00pm
“Is that the Gremlins fighting Santa? It’s not real right? It’s just a man dressed up as Santa.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
8:04pm
“The stripe guy shot the other one. The Gremlins have guns now.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
8:08pm
“I’m not scared yet…It’s not scary.” #4yrolds1stGremlins
8:14pm
Watching Gremlins with my kid, I just realized that he hasn’t seen “Snow White” yet. #parenting2010
8:18pm
Wow. In “Gremlins” they all die in a movie theater fire, just like the Nazis in “Inglourious Basterds.” #didQuentinknow?
8:22pm
Kiddo: “Did they bring any weapons with them?”
Dad: “Nope. They should have though. Good point”
#4yrolds1stGremlins
8:30pm
“Was that real or just a story?” #4yrolds1stGremlins
8:40pm
That is all. Next up is “Goonies” since “Tron” isn’t available on Netflix.
#4yrolds1stGhostbusters
Today I watched Ghostbusters with my 4 and a half year old son for the first time. I had built it up a lot as a fun movie that I couldn’t wait to see with him when he got old enough, but after keeping him up an hour past his bed time for the privlege he was politely ungrateful.
His one stunning observation at the iconic film’s conclusion was that the Ghostbusters theme song sounded a lot like the Inspector Gadget theme song “at that one part.” Also, it was really cute to hear him try to pronounce “Inspector Gadget” but you really had to be there.
Here is how I tweeted it:
I will now proceed to live blog my 4yrold son’s first viewing of Ghostbustes. — 7:15pm
“Daddy, are the ghosts in this movie bad guys, or just dead people?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:17pm
“Are they ghostbusters yet?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:32pm
“Why hasn’t she been back in her apartment? Because she saw something scary in the fridge?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:37pm
“Maybe the monster was just hiding. Maybe he sneaked out of the fridge before he opened it. Maybe.” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:41pm
“When will they bust a ghost? Daddy, I thought this would be ghosts outside and people fighting them. It’s not.” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:43pm
Me: “They’re in a fancy hotel.” Kiddo: “Maybe the ghosts are there to mess up the fanciness.” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:46pm
“Why are they splitting up so then it’s easier for the ghosts to win the battle?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 7:47pm
There’s a lot of smoking in Ghostbusters. Larry King is even smoking a cigarette in his cameo. — 7:54pm
Movie: “I am Zool the Gate Keeper. Are you the Keymaster?” Kiddo: “Is she pretending?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 8:11pm
I grew up in L.A. The DWP guy who shuts off the Ghost Containment Unit, taught English at my Highschool. Larry Dilge — 8:22pm
“They were right not to shut it down.” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 8:23pm
“Daddy, I’m bored. Is there a Big Ghost fight coming up?” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 8:25pm
“Why’d they cross the streams?” #4yrold1stGhostbusters — 8:49pm
“Did it kill them? If it didn’t kill them and it did kill the Marshmallow Man that would be good for the whole city” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 8:50pm
“Is this the end of the whole movie? Why are there words on the screen? It wasn’t like I thought it would be.” #4yrolds1stGhostbusters — 8:55pm
That’s it. He definitely enjoyed Star Wars more. Next I’m going to show him Gremlins. Then Goonies. Then Back to the Future. I sure hope the world doesn’t end.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Dan Harmon writes T.V and Movies for a living. His show “Community” is funny. This is Dan telling us what makes a good story is less than one breathe.
It’s a clip I pulled from The Sound of Young America.
…it makes me mad that it scared you, because I tried to tell them they were making a bad movie that was going to confuse and frighten smart children, instead of making children more brave, and they acted like I was stupid for being afraid that would happen.
Two Guys Dreaming. One is angry because he’s fighting a monster and the other guy is dreaming about hanging out with his friend.
David Kipen, former SF Chron book critic and Lit guy at the NEA wrote a polemic (I called it an essay) arguing that screen writers need more attention and support for their work.
I interviewed him on the radio and had a very nice time doing it.
