RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE “MOVIES THAT SHAPED OUR CULTURE” LIST: A couple days ago I posted a list that forms the basis of Nick Clooney’s new Movies That Changed Us. All of these lists are inherently pretty random–there’s simply too much cultural influence out there. It’s a vast pool; each observer dips a hand in and tries to grab as much of the stuff as possible, then analyzes the handful and pretends the rest of the pool never existed. So I’m not going to get on Clooney’s case because he didn’t pick some movie I would have picked, especially because I don’t have a great handle on what his criteria were and because I’ve only seen five of the movies he names. Nonetheless, this seems like a good opportunity for me to riff on movies and culture–an opportunity to scoop up a different handful, and suggest some reasons my handful is also interesting. I fully admit that all of the following selections are highly subjective and/or eccentric:

“Dr. No”: James Bond epitomizes a particular kind of masculinity that’s defined by savoir-faire rather than by, and often in opposition to, ethics or charity. I’ve really enjoyed the Bond flicks I’ve seen, but it seems to me you can draw a line from Bond to Hannibal Lecter, whose attraction lies in both his skill and his amorality. (Here, have an excellent article from The Rat.) Lecter is obviously a degenerate of the form, but I do think the connection is there. Bond is the anti-Jimmy Stewart style of masculinity. (And I mean that for the movies where Stewart plays the villain, too–“Vertigo” and in a different way “Rope.”)

“E.T.”: Kids’ movie can make money by the sackful. I’ve seen several reports that G-rated films gross more than R-rated ones, but can’t verify that–would be interested if anyone knows.

“The Godfather”: I know, very obvious. But it sparked one of the richer metaphors through which Americans work out their obsessions with guilt (direct and complicit), ambition, Christianity, and violence. Plus it has the best opener of pretty much any movie ever.

“It’s a Wonderful Life”: I wonder how many lives have been changed because someone, at a crucial moment when personal sacrifice was required, called to mind his self-image as a good person, and made the needed sacrifice because he modeled his image of “good person” after George Bailey. We live by poses and costumes, and IAWL, to my mind, provided an exceptionally powerful and good one. I doubt it changed Politics or Culture or any of those words you write books about; but I would be surprised if it didn’t indirectly shape a lot of lives.

“Network”: I’m really surprised this wasn’t on the initial list. It anticipated the politics of anger; growing suspicion of the image/reality distinction in politics (no doubt spurred by the election of an ex-actor); growing suspicion of the influence of the media; and probably a lot of other things I’m forgetting.

“Pretty Woman”: This I’m listing because several women who work with prostitutes and women seeking to leave prostitution have told me that the Pretty Woman myth is a huge obstacle in getting people outside “the life” to understand prostitution. I haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to.

More suggestions from the readership?