Brainwashing Mission #82: Movies

I've mentioned before how my husband seems to be brainwashing me without me realizing it. It seems obvious that more brainwashing has occurred in the area of film.

In the past, I enjoyed watching Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow, but overall, I didn't prefer to watch BBC/A&E-type films or series. I like action movies, romantic comedies, dramas. But British film left me apathetic.

When we moved and decided to forego the expense of cable in favor of a cheaper Netflix membership, we learned to fill the gap of time between each Netflix movie (we have the "get one at a time" option) with reading and (gasp) conversation. And more reading.

But eventually reading fails to satisfy - too much of a good thing! Horrors! The brain demands visual intake! So we turned to our DVD collection between Netflix arrivals. Initially, when John wanted to watch something I wasn't interested in, I'd read on my own or work on scrapbooking or something so that the movie provided background noise. There I'd sit, working at the computer, and just over the monitor is the TV screen across the way. In medieval England, Brother Cadfael would find an interesting twist in his case. Vanity Fair and Tom Jones came to life. The BBC version of Pride and Prejudice is true to the book, which not many films can say (don't get John started on Children of Men). And even though I love to read Agatha Christie and refused to watch a movie with Hercule Poirot for fear of ruining the enjoyment of the books, actor David Suchet plays Poirot so well that I was sucked in.

Now, I have to watch too when John puts in an A&E or British DVD of some sort. Like a drone, I drop what I'm doing and move to the couch, mesmerized.

We've been watching Horatio Hornblower this week, which I'd seen only parts of, as my dad watched it when I lived with my parents. This is the first time I've watched all of them, in succession. It's refreshing how the actors in HH look like ordinary men - they look like REAL PEOPLE who would probably never get a part in the average Hollywood movie. And when you watch the film, you don't even remember that this is a movie and they're actors. That's what makes all of these films so good.

My film standards have been raised, and it's my husband's fault.