Lately, I’ve been noticing a pattern in my life. I’ll be having a conversation with someone and the dreaded topic of ‘movies and tv shows’ gets brought up. My brain will start to break a sweat because 99 times out of 100, the movie you’re referencing? I’ve never seen it.
This doesn’t apply to just movies and tv shows though. Actors? Nope. Musical artists? Unless they were popular in the 90s, I don’t know them. And I’ve been seeing this so much more than I used to. Between working a job where I have plenty of downtime to talk with coworkers, and coming to college, it’s making me realize how little I know compared to my peers.
I know my roommate can’t stand it. She’ll be scrolling through TikTok and get an edit of an actor I’ve never seen before and she’ll start fan-girling over it. And there I am completely clueless. She’s tried to force me out of my comfort zone of movies too. Something called ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘The Hangover’, but 20 minutes into the movie I’m half asleep. It’s concerning really, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of even a fraction of the movies and shows she knows. (Sorry Lily! Maybe in the next lifetime.)
There’s something so comforting in the predicability of the few shows and movies that I do watch though. My favorite movies are definitely The Princess and the Frog, Rio, Rango, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Rodrick Rules). I think the fact that a lot of these movies were constantly being rewatched in my early childhood makes them so special to me. Not only are the movies themselves great, but the memories behind them are even better.
Some shows that I can rewatch over and over would be Outer Banks, Never Have I Ever and SpongeBob. I know, it’s a very short list. Even just writing this, I had trouble thinking about more to put down. But that’s my reality, I really have never seen it. I think it all comes down to the memories associated with the shows.
SpongeBob was a classic at my grandmas house. My mom HATED it, but my grandma thought it was cute. I spent so much of my childhood at my grandmas house hanging out with my cousins and older brother. Now, when I watch season 3 episode 13 of SpongeBob all I can imagine is my grandma laughing at the 25 joke. And Never Have I Ever was one I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I do now. My aunt (who’s more like a best friend) and I decided to watch it and now it’s one of my top comfort shows.
Outer Banks holds a special place in my heart though. I will admit, I was an OBX hater during the peak of the show. I told myself that I would never watch it because it was overrated. But there I sat, bawling my eyes out over JJ at the end of season 4. I find myself watching it during any downtime I get because it’s really just that comforting to me. I’m a beach bum, so the adventurous and beach-y vibes of the show really resonate with my soul. My boyfriend introduced me to the show and now when I watch it, I think about our trip to Florida that felt like our own episode of OBX.
New movies and shows are unpredictable and new. And I hate change. So to any bystander, it may look like I’m uncultured and boring. But to me, it all boils down to my fondest childhood memories.