3.30.2006

Childhood Jubilation

Believe it or not, this was my absolute favorite movie when I was about 6 (mom would have to verify). I remember watching a copy we had taped off of TV (remember when we all did that?) what seemed like every day after kindergarten. I loved it. I thought it was the closest thing to perfect happiness. I remember my tiny little self bouncing and bobbing around the family room in complete joy.

Of course, it is based on the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Pirates of Penzance" which I wouldn't even give a chance ( as there is a very good movie version with Kevin Kline) seeing my movie as the pinnacle of cinematic creation The question is...what strange and unseen force took hold of my young movie watching perspective? "The Pirate Movie" has to be one of the worst movies ever made and after viewing it a few years ago, chuck full of raunchiness and crude jokes...totally lame. I questioned my mom about this very thing and she noted, quite wisely, that I had no idea what was being said and loved the songs (which were also undertoned with a myriad of sexual connotations). Greatfully, one afternoon when I was visiting my Aunt Gus she opened my world to "The Pirates of Penzance" and my joy was renewed. I was considering showing Mike "The Pirate Movie" but I can't even get through the thing but I still sort of want the outfit she wears at the end. It's so peculiar and amazing how our minds and imaginations work as children because in a way I will always think on "The Pirate Movie" with Fondness even though it is one of the great fallacies of modern cinema.

Shoot, gotta go to work.

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