Winter great for cuddling up to movie
You know it’s coming; the cold days of wind and rain, long nights of icy streets and snow-bermed driveways. They’ll be here faster than Frosty on a snowman.
Mother Nature served up a bit of weather tomfoolery in September but the ever reliable Doppler radar is predicting winter will sink its icy claws into the Inland Northwest with a La Niña vengeance.
This year, I’m prepared for that “most wonderful time.” Flannel jammies have been yanked from their summer slumber, hot cocoa stands at the ready, the stick-to-yer- ribs dinners await the crock pot and popcorn is stockpiled for movie watching – tons of movie watching.
I love movies. They take me to exotic places, show unusual ways to handle weapons and provide just enough martial arts moves to be a danger to myself. Above all, movies tap into my deep well of emotion that, until recently, was as shallow as a kiddy pool because movies, I’ve recently found out, are also therapeutic.
Beverly West, best-selling writer and co-author of the Cinematherapy series, discovered this when she was going through a divorce. “I had to learn to be by myself,” she said. “The concept of Cinematherapy came to me as I watched movies based on the mood I was in at that particular time.”
And women, according to West, are at the top of the mood driven movie list. “Women make purchases and selections based on emotion and feeling. They experience movies in a different way. For women, movies are a way to get in touch with our feelings; getting a couple of hours by ourselves to safely indulgence our fantasies and fears that help examine our own feelings.”
West coupled her observations with research and, along with co-author Nancy Peske, began penning the first of five Cinematherapy books.
The books are an eclectic mix of movie synopses, tidbits, quotes, and even recipes for movie maniacs like me.
The authors take a comical and cheeky look at films from all eras. With such chapters as, “Yeah, OK, So He’s a Jerk, But He’s Sooooooo Cute!: Dysfunctional Romance Movies” or “I Hate My Life and I’m Moving to Bora Bora: Seeking Greener Pastures Movies” the authors explain, with a wicked sense of humor and a dollop of hard hitting reality, how movies therapeutically speak the essence of women’s moods.
But there’s much more to cinematherapy than meets the psychological meltdown.
“Movies make important statements that remind us what happened before,” West said. “We live in a culture where things that happened two months ago are forgotten. Cinematherapy helps us remember the stories that were important and experience our own issues of the day.”
West notes movies made in the 1930s as “a time women were really powerful. A number of Bette Davis movies presented powerful female executive figures. Once the Depression hit, the movies of the ’40s totally changed back to women in submissive roles, home, family, and a completely different female. Our ideas of what women are supposed to be are preached from the movie screen.”
With five books under their popcorn bowls, you can bet your theater ticket West and Peske are avid movie watchers but the twain splits in their cinematic tastes.
West teeters toward the contemporary, dark, and gritty edge. Peske totters toward a nostalgia and happy-ending “classics” edge. These differing edges, however, are the magic behind the mayhem turning humdrum movie critiques into a hilarious philosophical romp through films and the reasons why women love them.
So, when the mood strikes for a “Someday has Come and Gone and my Prince Still Hasn’t Shown Up: Happily Ever After Movies” or “Going Postal: Working Girl Blues Movies” or I’m hankering to see Brad Pitt’s gorgeous blond locks bouncing through the Montana skyline or perhaps Ralph Fiennes’ smoldering gaze but, dagnabbit, the title is lost in a fog of PMS, I simply dig through the book’s contents or index and my corn is oh so righteously popped.
Come to think of it, this is the most wonderful time of the year.