Movie Buffs (Heroes vignette)
Title: Movie Buffs
Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by the NBC.
Summary: Some little known facts about the Petrelli family.
Characters: Mr. Petrelli, Nathan, Angela and Peter.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Rosebud's the sledge? Vague ones for s1 until .07%.
Thanks to: wee_warrior for Mr. Petrelli's first name.
I.
Arthur Petrelli can’t stand The Godfather. Any mention of it will result in a diatribe about it being responsible for most of the clichés Italian-Americans are stuck with. He also refuses to watch any movie set in Vietnam, which doesn’t stop him to pepper his anti Coppola rants with disparaging remarks about Apocalypse Now. It’s impossible to watch a legal thriller with him; he will always nitpick everything the movie in question gets wrong about procedure.
“So what kind of movies does he like?” Heidi asks when she is briefed about this once Nathan introduces her to the family, carefully, one family member at a time. He does want Heidi to last, after all. Which is why she gets the near-truth as a reply.
“James Bond,” Nathan says with a rueful smile. “And not even the Connery era, either. Pop actually likes Roger Moore best. Oh, and you can’t go wrong with a Woody Allen movie, either.”
Heidi is suitably amused and promises to remember, which she does. Something Nathan never mentions to her or anyone else is this: after his father’s second “heart attack”, Nathan went to the hospital determined to ask why on his first visit alone. In the end, he didn’t; once he breathed in the hospital air, he knew that to ask why would make it real, and if he only kept silent, they could get his father out of there and pretend this never happened, that his father didn’t hate them all enough to want to escape this way.
What happened instead was that they watched Purple Rose of Cairo on tv. When Jeff Daniels’ movie character escaped the screen to be with Mia Farrow’s housewife, something softened in the harsh, unapproachable lines of Arthur Petrelli’s face, and when they kissed later, and the movie character was amazed that something else was supposed to happen after the fade out, Nathan’s father actually chuckled softly.
“The newer ones aren’t so funny anymore,” he said, referring to Woody Allen’s movies, “but that’s my favourite gag. After the fade-out. Ha!”
That is all he says on that occasion as Nathan likes to remember it. Which is another film edit. In the un-cut version, the one responsible for Nathan keeping this memory to himself, Arthur Petrelli continues, softly, so softly that it is possible for both of them that he didn’t say it: “As if anything ever does.”
II.
Angela likes Hitchcock movies, starting with Rebecca, though she thinks the second Mrs. De Winter is a hopeless ninny. She rarely misses a Hitchcock retrospective, either on tv or in the cinema. Her favourite is To Catch A Thief, and she knows every line of dialogue between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly by heart, although this is a fact she keeps carefully hidden. The only one who stumbled across it is Kaito Nakamura, who tricked her during a picknick when he asked the breast-or-leg-question, which made her reply in quote before she could stop herself.
Another movie Angela likes is The Graduate. She is convinced Benjamin and Elaine are heading for a divorce within two years, but then, she never watches The Graduate for the ending anyway. It’s all about Mrs. Robinson for her.
At some point during the 80s, she stopped seeing new movies. Instead, she developed a sneaking fondness for some tv shows and got addicted to Dynasty, even though it has what is essentially the second Mrs. De Winter as a heroine. But at least Rebecca is alive and scheming.
III.
Nathan’s relationship with The Godfather is more complicated than his father’s. He doesn’t like the film, but certain images stay with him, and he can’t help rewatching every time he comes across it. He probably should be disturbed by Michael going from being the one who’s supposed to legitimize the family, to make it in a legal, acceptable way to being his father’s successor as Don, but instead, he finds the scene with Michael and his father in the garden oddly consoling. He also could care less about The Godfather’s impact on the perception of Italian-Americans. His own hostility comes actually from the sequel.
Supposedly, The Godfather II is one of the few sequels superior to the original, and it might have all the artistic merit in the world, but that scene where Michael kisses his brother Fredo and condemms him to die for his betrayal means Nathan never watched it more than once. Still, he can’t make it unseen, and it is in the back of his mind every time he watches the original as well.
His reply to the “favourite movie” question depends on who asks and what mood he’s in; but no matter what he says, he never answers with the truth. It’s actually Citizen Kane, and he’s aware that this sounds either like the safe choice of a classic or something too highbrow to appeal to voters. Picking the story of a man who could have been great but wasn’t also begs for all kind of intrusive questions.
When Linderman brings Nathan to his vault full of paintings from the ages, fate fixed by frozen images, Nathan experiences an odd moment of déjà vu which he can’t quite place, since he knows quite well Linderman never invited him into the inner sanctum before. Then he realizes he has already arrived in Xanadu, and somehow skipped the breakfast scene altogether.
IV.
Peter’s relationship with films starts with a misunderstanding. There is a rare occasion in which the entire family is actually watching a movie together on tv, in some semblance of American normality, and it’s Bridge over the River Kwai. Peter is eight and knows this is a World War II story, but he doesn’t know much more. He duly admires Alec Guinness’ Colonel Nicholson going through horrible treatment by the Japanese without breaking down, and he admires him even more when he comes to terms with the Japanese commander afterwards, and they start to work on the bridge together. He can’t understand why William Holden wants to blow it up, and he’s absolutely horrified when this symbol of cooperation between enemies-turned-friends-against-the-odds does get destroyed in the end, with every main character dying, upset enough to throw a tantrum and declare how unfair it was, how stories aren’t supposed this way. His father promptly gets annoyed and won’t watch tv together with the rest of them again; it’s not like there aren’t enough view screens in the house, after all. His mother tells Peter that he’s a sensitive boy and will understand in due time, and this is just a story, but that doesn’t mean anything and certainly does not make him understand. Finally Nathan explains the whole aiding and abetting the enemy in times of war concept, and when Peter still insists the ending was wrong, his brother sidetracks him by stating that if Peter wants movies that end the way he wants them to, he should stick to Steven Spielberg.
Peter recognizes an opportunity when he sees one. Nathan is at college now and rarely at home, so it’s better to strike if there’s an opening. His father may doubt it, but Peter knows strategy. “You mean we’re going to watch my E.T. video again?” Peter asks with a hopeful look.
“No,” Nathan says, sounding as irritated as their father, but he’s still in the room when Peter pulls out the tape, as opposed to their parents. He grimaces and gets a book when the opening credits roll. Peter isn’t worried. They’re in familiar territory now, away from movies that don’t end the way they’re supposed to because of stupid rules. He gets caught up in the familiar story, and sure enough, Elliot and E.T. both come back from death, and everyone works together to get E.T. to his space ship. E.T. dying still is hard to watch, true, but he’s sitting on the sofa next to Nathan at that point, and Nathan, though determinedly looking into his book, has his left hand on Peter’s shoulder, soothingly.
This is Peter’s movie lesson: if the story doesn’t work the way you want it to, change the story. Or keep arguing until someone else does it for you.
Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by the NBC.
Summary: Some little known facts about the Petrelli family.
Characters: Mr. Petrelli, Nathan, Angela and Peter.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Rosebud's the sledge? Vague ones for s1 until .07%.
Thanks to: wee_warrior for Mr. Petrelli's first name.
I.
Arthur Petrelli can’t stand The Godfather. Any mention of it will result in a diatribe about it being responsible for most of the clichés Italian-Americans are stuck with. He also refuses to watch any movie set in Vietnam, which doesn’t stop him to pepper his anti Coppola rants with disparaging remarks about Apocalypse Now. It’s impossible to watch a legal thriller with him; he will always nitpick everything the movie in question gets wrong about procedure.
“So what kind of movies does he like?” Heidi asks when she is briefed about this once Nathan introduces her to the family, carefully, one family member at a time. He does want Heidi to last, after all. Which is why she gets the near-truth as a reply.
“James Bond,” Nathan says with a rueful smile. “And not even the Connery era, either. Pop actually likes Roger Moore best. Oh, and you can’t go wrong with a Woody Allen movie, either.”
Heidi is suitably amused and promises to remember, which she does. Something Nathan never mentions to her or anyone else is this: after his father’s second “heart attack”, Nathan went to the hospital determined to ask why on his first visit alone. In the end, he didn’t; once he breathed in the hospital air, he knew that to ask why would make it real, and if he only kept silent, they could get his father out of there and pretend this never happened, that his father didn’t hate them all enough to want to escape this way.
What happened instead was that they watched Purple Rose of Cairo on tv. When Jeff Daniels’ movie character escaped the screen to be with Mia Farrow’s housewife, something softened in the harsh, unapproachable lines of Arthur Petrelli’s face, and when they kissed later, and the movie character was amazed that something else was supposed to happen after the fade out, Nathan’s father actually chuckled softly.
“The newer ones aren’t so funny anymore,” he said, referring to Woody Allen’s movies, “but that’s my favourite gag. After the fade-out. Ha!”
That is all he says on that occasion as Nathan likes to remember it. Which is another film edit. In the un-cut version, the one responsible for Nathan keeping this memory to himself, Arthur Petrelli continues, softly, so softly that it is possible for both of them that he didn’t say it: “As if anything ever does.”
II.
Angela likes Hitchcock movies, starting with Rebecca, though she thinks the second Mrs. De Winter is a hopeless ninny. She rarely misses a Hitchcock retrospective, either on tv or in the cinema. Her favourite is To Catch A Thief, and she knows every line of dialogue between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly by heart, although this is a fact she keeps carefully hidden. The only one who stumbled across it is Kaito Nakamura, who tricked her during a picknick when he asked the breast-or-leg-question, which made her reply in quote before she could stop herself.
Another movie Angela likes is The Graduate. She is convinced Benjamin and Elaine are heading for a divorce within two years, but then, she never watches The Graduate for the ending anyway. It’s all about Mrs. Robinson for her.
At some point during the 80s, she stopped seeing new movies. Instead, she developed a sneaking fondness for some tv shows and got addicted to Dynasty, even though it has what is essentially the second Mrs. De Winter as a heroine. But at least Rebecca is alive and scheming.
III.
Nathan’s relationship with The Godfather is more complicated than his father’s. He doesn’t like the film, but certain images stay with him, and he can’t help rewatching every time he comes across it. He probably should be disturbed by Michael going from being the one who’s supposed to legitimize the family, to make it in a legal, acceptable way to being his father’s successor as Don, but instead, he finds the scene with Michael and his father in the garden oddly consoling. He also could care less about The Godfather’s impact on the perception of Italian-Americans. His own hostility comes actually from the sequel.
Supposedly, The Godfather II is one of the few sequels superior to the original, and it might have all the artistic merit in the world, but that scene where Michael kisses his brother Fredo and condemms him to die for his betrayal means Nathan never watched it more than once. Still, he can’t make it unseen, and it is in the back of his mind every time he watches the original as well.
His reply to the “favourite movie” question depends on who asks and what mood he’s in; but no matter what he says, he never answers with the truth. It’s actually Citizen Kane, and he’s aware that this sounds either like the safe choice of a classic or something too highbrow to appeal to voters. Picking the story of a man who could have been great but wasn’t also begs for all kind of intrusive questions.
When Linderman brings Nathan to his vault full of paintings from the ages, fate fixed by frozen images, Nathan experiences an odd moment of déjà vu which he can’t quite place, since he knows quite well Linderman never invited him into the inner sanctum before. Then he realizes he has already arrived in Xanadu, and somehow skipped the breakfast scene altogether.
IV.
Peter’s relationship with films starts with a misunderstanding. There is a rare occasion in which the entire family is actually watching a movie together on tv, in some semblance of American normality, and it’s Bridge over the River Kwai. Peter is eight and knows this is a World War II story, but he doesn’t know much more. He duly admires Alec Guinness’ Colonel Nicholson going through horrible treatment by the Japanese without breaking down, and he admires him even more when he comes to terms with the Japanese commander afterwards, and they start to work on the bridge together. He can’t understand why William Holden wants to blow it up, and he’s absolutely horrified when this symbol of cooperation between enemies-turned-friends-against-the-odds does get destroyed in the end, with every main character dying, upset enough to throw a tantrum and declare how unfair it was, how stories aren’t supposed this way. His father promptly gets annoyed and won’t watch tv together with the rest of them again; it’s not like there aren’t enough view screens in the house, after all. His mother tells Peter that he’s a sensitive boy and will understand in due time, and this is just a story, but that doesn’t mean anything and certainly does not make him understand. Finally Nathan explains the whole aiding and abetting the enemy in times of war concept, and when Peter still insists the ending was wrong, his brother sidetracks him by stating that if Peter wants movies that end the way he wants them to, he should stick to Steven Spielberg.
Peter recognizes an opportunity when he sees one. Nathan is at college now and rarely at home, so it’s better to strike if there’s an opening. His father may doubt it, but Peter knows strategy. “You mean we’re going to watch my E.T. video again?” Peter asks with a hopeful look.
“No,” Nathan says, sounding as irritated as their father, but he’s still in the room when Peter pulls out the tape, as opposed to their parents. He grimaces and gets a book when the opening credits roll. Peter isn’t worried. They’re in familiar territory now, away from movies that don’t end the way they’re supposed to because of stupid rules. He gets caught up in the familiar story, and sure enough, Elliot and E.T. both come back from death, and everyone works together to get E.T. to his space ship. E.T. dying still is hard to watch, true, but he’s sitting on the sofa next to Nathan at that point, and Nathan, though determinedly looking into his book, has his left hand on Peter’s shoulder, soothingly.
This is Peter’s movie lesson: if the story doesn’t work the way you want it to, change the story. Or keep arguing until someone else does it for you.