This week the AFI (American Film Institute) announced their selections for movies they believe most inspire us. Roger Ebert has the list. Looking at it, I find that only two or three would I say really inspired me personally-there are others that I liked, but not that I would say really inspired me.
One I don't get why it's considered inspirational.
The few that did are "Star Wars," "The Black Stallion" and "Fiddler On The Roof". The one I don't quite understand why it should be inspiring is "Thelma & Louise." I still don't get that. But anyway, it got me thinking, what does inspire me?
It's nothing very shocking if you know me (and probably not even if you've just been reading my blogs for any length of time). Let's define the term, inspire:
To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion
To stimulate to action; motivate
To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence
What does that for me? Beautiful women, of course, represented here by Rebecca DeMornay. I've tried before, and I'll probably spend the rest of my life trying again and again, to get down what really happens inside a man when he sees a woman he thinks is beautiful. It is so much more than just the desire for seduction.
Then there's the best writers, like oh, say, Aaron Sorkin, who as chance would have it, had something to say about the above subject.
Jeremy: (voice over) One last thing: Dan finally got over his writer's block. He met Stacy Kerr at The Smoking Dog. Stacy plays on the women's professional beach volleyball tour. Turns out Stacy's a big fan of Dan's and was particularly taken by his writing....And in that moment, Dan was reminded once again why he wanted to write in the first place....It's for the same reason anybody does anything: to impress women.
-Sports Night, "Dear Louise," written by David Walpert and Aaron Sorkin
And then there is divine music. It is the gods among us, whether it's Kirsty MacColl or Cole Porter.
That's all, really. Not much, is it? Just all there is. Beautiful women, the best writing, divine music.
That's not so much to ask, now is it?
3 comments:
Rocky (#4)---bores me.
Breaking Away (#8)---you gotta be kidding me!
Dances With Wolves (#59)---is a great movie that I really like, but I wouldn’t call it inspirational.
Karate Kid (#98)---maybe for teens or kids, but not me.
Chariots of Fire (#100)---what a waste of my time this one was.
Maybe they should have stopped at 50?
Should we now look to the money trail? In other words, how does the AFI benefit financially from publishing this list?
Excuse me now while I go do something that really inspires me: I'm going to start re-watching all the episodes of Sports Night, a series that should have been on the air for a decade, but wasn't because the intellectually inferior wouldn't watch it.
Alan Coil
What a pity that there is so much dreck in the world, and so little that is truly inspiring. I shall have to ponder this for myself...
Thanks a lot, like I didn't have enough crap on my mind...lol
I can't generate that much scorn. The way I look at it, if Sports Night and West Wing had continued to run at the same time, the writing would have suffered on both.
And Sorkin would have either OD'd or otherwise comitted suicide.
Plus, given a choice between a series that has a couple of superior seasons and leaves me wanting more and one that suffers the inevitable decline of 90% (at least) of TV shows after their fifth year...
But I do think Sorkin himself had the best line on the cancelling of Sports Night, and he was able to put it in the last episode.
"Anyone who can't can't make money on Sports Night shouldn't be in the moneymaking business."
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