Two for the Road

I am addicted to pop culture. There, I admit it. But not just any old pop culture. Nothing against them, but I am a little non-plussed by the romantic problems of Britney Spears or Posh Spice. What I'm talking about is my very own little version of popular culture. The Feronia-brand special. What interests me. Because pop culture - movies, books, music, tv shows - have really had a big impact over the years on how I see myself and the world. I suppose this is true for many people, really. But as a teenager and a young adult especially, films were far more for me than just films. I entered right into the world they presented to me.

I had "Two for the Road" on VHS video cassette tape (!) and I watched it over and over and over again. I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn (and hey, I know I'm not alone there), even though a rake-thin, finely-boned, straight-haired woman was a long way from where I was at! Everything is so neat in many of these older movies, so precise, so succinct. Even bitter arguments are confined to a scene or two and then left behind. It took me a while to realise that life doesn't often imitate art in that regard! So the world of movies has been at least partially responsible for building up a lot of unattainable expectations about how my own scenes would be played out, but they've also had a significant part in refining (what I think is) my fairly quirky and individualistic kalidescope view of life.

What movies did you grow up with?