And by party I mean go to the movies!!!
If I were to design the perfect day, it would include a movie. It could be a sleepy-still-waking-up morning movie, a rainy-day-snuggly mid-afternoon movie, or a main-event evening movie.
A movie or a binge-watching series, I should say, since a series can be just like an extended movie… with breaks!
Movies and series are a part of my heritage. A childhood weekend treat was always hiring a movie to watch at home. As a teenager, I would host movie parties for my friends (oh, how they loved horror!). My brother grew up to become a film producer. I studied movies as part of my Media & Cultural Studies minor, while majoring in English Literature at The University of Birmingham. Going to the cinema to watch a movie is still a thrill I treasure – so much it was the first thing I did when coming out of each coronavirus lockdown.
My love of visual storytelling started of course with cartoons and television puppetry – coming home after school to watch shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold, He-Man, ThunderCats, Spiderman, DangerMouse, Inspector Gadget, Bagpuss, Thunderbirds, Fraggle Rock, Scooby-Doo, Pingu, the Moomins, the Smurfs, and Popeye. While my parents both worked past midnight, my brother and I would bond over the safety we’d find in our early-afternoon television routines and, after bedtime, while I’d then read by torchlight, I swear I’d hear him sneak the TV back on.
Later, we turned to family shows with over-arcing storylines for entertainment like Doctor Who, Buck Rodgers, Knight Rider, Robin of Sherwood, the A-Team, Dukes of Hazzard, Monkey Magic, Cheers, Dallas, Dynasty, Moonlighting, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, ‘V’ and Star Trek. Each episode offered escape and adventure, thrills and familiarity. It was the perfect wind-down at the end of the day and, without my knowing, all the intricate narratives, detailed worldbuilding, and subtly of visual nuances seeped deep into my subconscious where, years later, they would influence my creative writing.
When it comes to my favourite movies or series of all time, I find it difficult to narrow down titles because I love such a wide range of genre. Top of my list would be anything science fiction, fantasy, adventure, action, war, western, or global disaster. My husband adores rom-coms and I’ve come to appreciate them too over the years (his favourite is The Proposal!), I do like how they can make me both laugh and cry! I also love docudramas, historical films, crime, martial arts, dark comedy, superhero, spy movies, foreign and experimental film. Some titles I could watch again and again include Casablanca, The Fifth Element, Star Wars, Gone With The Wind, The Princess Bride, The Piano, Game of Thrones, and anything by Quentin Tarantino.
Perhaps when you’re reading my stories, you might notice some of these early influences in my work?