Comments | prog_schlock: LJ Idol Week #23c

prog_schlock

LJ Idol Week #23c - "The Golden Ticket"

May 19, 2016 12:25

This is my third (of three) entries for Week #23 of therealljidol.

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The Suspense Is Terrible - I Hope It Lasts

The original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released in 1971. It started a kind family tradition that I don't know that I've ever fully from. Specifically, it started a tradition of my mother showing me films and shows that freaked ( Read more... )

Comments 8

bleodswean May 25 2016, 15:23:27 UTC

OMG. I want to laugh but I don't think this is all that funny. I have such a love/hate relationship with TV and movie theatres. I remember the first time I ever saw a TV show. I was six. We had no TV in the house when my kids were little. They resent that now. I will show them this post, so they can know my motivation. ;) I took my twelve year old to the movies to see one of the Pirates of the Caribbean and he was destroyed by a trailer for The Ring. How is that PG??? Just remember, some things can't be unseen.

Glad you grew up to be the sort of kid who likes having nightmares. You certainly don't seem to be the worst for these childhood frights! Another superb entry from you, sir.

Also, torture and satantic possession will have me looking for my hard hat and blankie curtains!

prog_schlock May 27 2016, 01:23:56 UTC

Wow, The Ring preview at a Pirates movie? That's nuts.

The little secret at the heart of this story is that I suspect the reason my mom took us to all of these films is because she wanted to see them. She's never specifically said that she likes horror movies, but I think somewhere in her heart, she loves them. Like suspense-horror movies, not shock and gore horror movies. My brother and I were just her excuses to go. Heh.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

murielle May 26 2016, 13:32:19 UTC

I used to be so embarrassed by the antics of The Partridge Family, and The Brady Bunch that I'd run out of the room. The scene in Happy Days where Fonzie's robot died reduced me to a sobbing blubbering mess. At the end of E.T. where he's so sick I went through three packets of tissues I was crying so hard ( ... )

prog_schlock May 27 2016, 01:26:18 UTC

Oh my goodness! The "Baby of Mine" scene in Dumbo. I can't even hear that song. Or the scene where Bambi realizes his mother is dead. *sobs*

I empathize with you 100% about those sitcoms. Yeah, sometimes stuff is just too cringe-worthy to endure. I mean, I like drama, but somehow poor social behavior makes me acutely uncomfortable too.

Hurray for enjoying nightmares!

Thank you for reading and commenting!

lrig_rorrim May 26 2016, 15:18:56 UTC

It's funny - movies and television never had such an impact on me. I could (and did) blithely watch horror movies from an early age. I still remember going to see Jaws at a drive-in with my babysitter's family when I was maybe three or four. I loved it, though the other kids screamed and hid (the babysitter smuggled us in, in the trunk of her car. Four kids squished in there, as she paid for herself and her husband and one giant tub of popcorn. We held our breath and tried not to kick each other and give away we were there, secret. The scariest part of that night for me wasn't the huge dismembering shark - it was becoming convinced as we bounced over the gravel driveway, past the ticket booth, that she wasn't going to let us out of the trunk, and I'd be stuck in there for hours with her three kids who hated my guts ( ... )

prog_schlock May 27 2016, 01:30:55 UTC

In the trunk of a car heading for the drive-in! I experienced that several times as a youth. Man, just being in the trunk is a nightmare. I can't believe I used to do that - closed space AND dark? I'd flip out these days!

My dad let me read Stephen King's "The Stand" when I was a kid and I was absolutely hooked. I think if I hadn't been so into Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I could have very easily fallen down the Stephen King rabbit hole forever. Since he didn't write about elves and lasers and shit, though, I only read his books sporadically. He's terrific, though and I can well imagine who terrified you must have felt reading It when you were a kid (though he should have let you finish it so you knew what happened to Pennywise - that is actually a relief in the end).

Thank you for reading and commenting!

halfshellvenus May 27 2016, 19:07:52 UTC

What an awesome use of the prompt, to tie it back to the source! And I can see why you found those kids' fates in Willy Wonka disturbing, because yes-- they just disappear. Forever. And are probably dead. :O

Both my husband and I found the flying monkeys to be the worst part of the Wizard of Oz. They are freaky and ugly and so wrong, and they can steal people! :O

Yes, I wore a hard hat. Yes, I put a blanket under the hard hat so I could close it like a curtain when scary things happened.I love that solution to this whole situation. Very inventive! And such a kid thing to do ( ... )

prog_schlock May 27 2016, 19:46:06 UTC

The struggle is I love shows with embarrassment squick - sometimes I laugh so hard at Arrested Development's comedic moments that my face hurts. But I also can't stand those moments. Its a conundrum!

I empathize with your daughter on all of those points, especially the memory books. When I hear about people's houses getting destroyed by fires or tornadoes, my first thought is "I hope they got out all right" and my second though is "Oh no, what if their photo albums were destroyed?" So much family history! I'm getting worked up now over your daughter's reaction - I'm with her on that 100%. Poor Piglet!

Narrative. It can tear your heart out. :D

Thank you for reading and commenting!