6 iconic movies in pop culture I have never seen & what I think they’re about
Casablanca. Annie Hall. Forrest Gump. It’s a Wonderful Life. Some movies are cultural touchstones that *everyone* is supposed to have seen. Somehow, other people glide into adulthood having watched the 100+ movies that always top every movie critic’s lists of most iconic movies.
And then there’s me, who goes through the list one-by-one saying, “Nope . . . um . . . nope . . . nuh-uh . . .”
I don’t know how I missed so much. I grew up in a house with a VCR and a DVD player. I have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. I go to movie theaters. Sometimes I’m very lucky and I even go to film premieres. But my personal tastes have always run more towards documentaries (Murderball), indie films (Short Term 12) and quirky comedies (Wet Hot American Summer) than whatever I’m supposed to have seen. I dunno, blame my parents!
As a grownup, I have more than a few friends who are film nerds — we’re talking about “watch a movie every single night” people — and my lack of a film education appalls them. I insist I’m not completely out of touch — I’ve picked up some stuff from being around pop culture!
Here are 6 movies that I haven’t actually seen, but I’ve heard about enough to have an idea (vaguely) of what I think they’re about:
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Dorothy lives in Kansas, then she’s not in Kansas anymore. She’s in on a yellow brick road with a lion, a tin man, her dog toto, and I think someone else. She sings a song called “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” There are munchkins. Or are they Oompa Loompas? There is a witch — or maybe two witches, but I’m not sure if that’s the plot of the Broadway show “Wicked.” Dorothy ends up seeing “the man behind the curtain” and then going home. Somewhere in all this, there’s a tornado. She has ruby red slippers, too!
The Godfather (1972)
The family is in the Mafia. They’re called the Corelones. Somebody wakes up with a horse head in his bed. You try to get out and keep getting pulled back in. There are, like, six sequels.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
There’s a lady who wears a dress made out of curtains and she has a romance with someone named Rhett Butler. This is literally all I know about this movie.
Finding Nemo (2003)
There’s an orange fish named Nemo who has a friend named Dory . . . and I’m guessing that Nemo gets lost somewhere, hence needing to be found?
Beetlejuice (1988)
I think Johnny Depp is in this, maybe? There’s a scary-looking guy who wears a striped suit. I want to say Winona Ryder is also in Beetlejuice, but I may be confusing it entirely with Edward Scissorhands, another movie I haven’t seen.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone*** (2001)
*** This is my secret shame. Please do not tell the HelloGiggles HR department, because I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to work here if you aren’t a Potterhead.
Harry goes to a wizard school with his friends Hermione and Ron and they fight bad guys for something like seven books/movies. Snape is the bad guy. Hufflepuffs are nice and Ravenclaws are smart and the guy who played played a character named Neville Longbottom grew up to be super-hot. They all wear something called a Sorting Hat and Muggles are non-wizards (and calling someone a Muggle is an insult in some circles).
What iconic movies have you never seen (and are willing to admit in public)?
