Light Refreshments Served

Tawnya writes a thoughtful and thought-provoking blog full of opinions (but NOT to a fault) and ideas about writing, music, fashion and politics (and adorable pics of her adorable little one). We’re pleased to share her with you this windy, busy Friday.

More about Tawnya in her own words:

I am a freelance writer from Utah. Well, from, by way of New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon and California. Wife of one (Isaac, an eye doctor), mother of an only (Sammy, 2), I am the rarest of rare in the Church: raising an only child and a registered Democrat and opinionated to a fault. I have a B.A. in Journalism and Public Relations and a Master’s in PoliSci is the most recent goal to shoot towards. I’m not crafty or clever, but I am a mean bargain shopper! Reading, TV, and Pringles usually round out my day.

A Reel Life

When I was little, it wasn’t so much about influence as entertainment.  I watched Condorman and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes in the theater, but I certainly didn’t come away with any lasting life changes from the viewings.  Well, except a litany of family jokes, but that’s not the point.  Other movies may be in the recesses of my mind, but none particularly stick out.  A lot of standard Disney fare for a child of the 70’s and 80’s, but nothing influential.

As I grew, I moved toward romantic media.  I was a complete romantic at age 14.  Since movies were a rare treat in my adolescence, I read everything I could get my hands on and had an overactive imagination.  I wanted Sidney Carton to come and profess undying love to me.  I watched romance unfold and somehow that made me feel better about being bookish and unpopular and helped fritter away the time until college.

Once I got to college I started taking movies more seriously.  Dates, outings to get my mind off school as well as social commentary; movies started taking on more meaning for me.  It still can’t watch Strictly Ballroom without thinking of my sophomore year.  Or 8 Seconds without thinking of the boys I hung around.  I remember watching The Three Musketeers with my roommates and friends one afternoon and feeling decadent that I was splurging on a dollar movie.  I have only ever walked out on one movie in my life and that was at the same theater later that same year.

I’m not sure why, but certain movies speak to me and help me, as a writer, be creative in ways I couldn’t get anywhere else.  Sometimes a film sparks me to writing immediately.  Other times it stays with me and the feelings I had while watching cause scenes from my stories to play out over months or years until I can commit it to paper in just the right way.  I watch Possession and immediately feel the need to research more into the life of Henry VIII and work it into a modern short story.  I watch Under the Tuscan Sun and the slow build of personal narratives haunt my brain for months.  Sticky notes of ideas follow from watching Reality Bites, The Whole Wide World, The Philadelphia Story, The Truman Show and Sliding Doors.

However, in my life, movies aren’t always about the creative process.  Sometimes memories will attach themselves to films, for better or worse.

Our first date (was it our first?  I can’t remember…) was amazing.  He made me crepes and we watched The Odd Couple.  We had a love of old movies and spent a good portion of the next three years held up somewhere watching old movies.  Every weekend we would rent a stack, grab a container of Chips Ahoy and love the days spent without a care in the world.  I fully developed my love of Myrna Loy and William Powell during those years.  Since the divorce, however, I have a hard time watching the movies we both loved.  A few have escaped and are still on neutral territory, but anytime I see a clip or sound bite from The Odd Couple, I can’t help but think of our first date, how he called me Felix from then on and how that night we were standing on the precipice of great happiness.  Viewing certain films from that time in my life, now, brings great heartache.  Not creativity.

Luckily, for every movie that attaches to a less than thrilling memory, I have spades more that are attached to good.  Watching Gattaca with my now husband on our first date.  Sitting in the theater for the third viewing of City of Angels and feeling great hope that I would find love again.  Movies in the middle of the afternoon while we lived in Portland just because we could.  Matinees with my girlfriends who are now far away.  Horton Hears a Who; my son’s first movie in a theater.

Media is all around me and will always be a big part of my life.  For some reason it binds with my memories and is how I categorize eras of my life.  Good, bad, creative or not.