Ellen M.
10-27-2004, 09:07 AM
Ever see a movie on cable that sparks a time & a place that was a seminal moment in your childhood? Well, for me, it’s “The Blue Lagoon”. It was on cable this past weekend (thank you Comcast!), and it took me right back to the summer of 1980…
I was 11 years old, and a camper at Kelly’s Day Camp in suburban Chicago. A new movie was coming out with the coolest girl in the world, Brooke Shields, who was fresh off her success as a jeans model for Calvin Klein (and in my school, if you didn’t have a pair of Calvin’s or Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in your wardrobe, you were lower than scum). I was
dying to see this movie, but I think at the time it was R-rated, and there was no way my Mom was going to take me to see something like this. My camp girlfriends & I openly pined away each summer day, as we were sitting on the deck of the swimming pool or doing crafts. Our idol was in a movie, running around half-naked (or so we had heard) with a really cute guy on a deserted tropical island… how much more romantic & exotic could life be? And the kicker was, NONE of us would be able to see this movie, unless a miracle suddenly happened (like sprouting 36 C boobs & growing 3 inches)!
And then, after a long holiday weekend, the miracle happened… over lunch on a hilly spot, just north of the mess hall, one of the counselors told us she saw “The Blue Lagoon”! We all froze in our spots, then ran over to encircle her with our pre-teen fascination… the questions flew, but I was the only one who suggested she tell us everything, scene by scene. I remember clutching my plastic swirly comb (which all halfway fashionable girls carried in the back pocket of their carpenter jeans shorts, that were held up by rainbow suspenders), while hanging on this 18 year old girl’s every word. They were in a shipwreck… the old man dies… they have to fend for themselves… they build a shelter… Brooke’s character steps on a rockfish & nearly dies, she kisses this really cute actor… she goes into the water & sees blood (What? Blood, what is she talking about? Oh yeah, we had “the talk” the year before in 5th grade)… she has a baby (What? How does that happen? Okay, I know how it happens, I mean how does it happen in the movie?)… then, they eventually get rescued, or do they? The counselor (I forget her name), sat back, playing with her long, blonde hair, clearly enjoying the power she had over our wide-eyed, pre-pubescent group. I remember going home on the bus that afternoon,
daydreaming about being Brooke’s sister, who comes to rescue her in a tall ship… I simply HAD to see this movie now!
Well, another year passed before I actually got to see “The Blue Lagoon”. I was sleeping over at my friend Julie’s house, and her older sister had a betamax copy of it, so we watched it, after I begged & pleaded like a junkie needing a fix. Julie was even kind enough to hit the pause / rewind button several times, during a scene where a naked Chris Atkins comes down a waterslide (my first exposure to full-frontal male nudity). I was in heaven! When my Mom came to pick me up I spent the entire car ride chattering away about the fact that I had finally seen “The Blue Lagoon”! Back at school I was just as thrilled to tell anyone & everyone about it, except that most of them had already seen it a year ago, and were far more interested in discussing the latest V.C. Andrews book, which really crashed my buzz.
Okay, your turn!...
Ellen
:)
I was 11 years old, and a camper at Kelly’s Day Camp in suburban Chicago. A new movie was coming out with the coolest girl in the world, Brooke Shields, who was fresh off her success as a jeans model for Calvin Klein (and in my school, if you didn’t have a pair of Calvin’s or Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in your wardrobe, you were lower than scum). I was
dying to see this movie, but I think at the time it was R-rated, and there was no way my Mom was going to take me to see something like this. My camp girlfriends & I openly pined away each summer day, as we were sitting on the deck of the swimming pool or doing crafts. Our idol was in a movie, running around half-naked (or so we had heard) with a really cute guy on a deserted tropical island… how much more romantic & exotic could life be? And the kicker was, NONE of us would be able to see this movie, unless a miracle suddenly happened (like sprouting 36 C boobs & growing 3 inches)!
And then, after a long holiday weekend, the miracle happened… over lunch on a hilly spot, just north of the mess hall, one of the counselors told us she saw “The Blue Lagoon”! We all froze in our spots, then ran over to encircle her with our pre-teen fascination… the questions flew, but I was the only one who suggested she tell us everything, scene by scene. I remember clutching my plastic swirly comb (which all halfway fashionable girls carried in the back pocket of their carpenter jeans shorts, that were held up by rainbow suspenders), while hanging on this 18 year old girl’s every word. They were in a shipwreck… the old man dies… they have to fend for themselves… they build a shelter… Brooke’s character steps on a rockfish & nearly dies, she kisses this really cute actor… she goes into the water & sees blood (What? Blood, what is she talking about? Oh yeah, we had “the talk” the year before in 5th grade)… she has a baby (What? How does that happen? Okay, I know how it happens, I mean how does it happen in the movie?)… then, they eventually get rescued, or do they? The counselor (I forget her name), sat back, playing with her long, blonde hair, clearly enjoying the power she had over our wide-eyed, pre-pubescent group. I remember going home on the bus that afternoon,
daydreaming about being Brooke’s sister, who comes to rescue her in a tall ship… I simply HAD to see this movie now!
Well, another year passed before I actually got to see “The Blue Lagoon”. I was sleeping over at my friend Julie’s house, and her older sister had a betamax copy of it, so we watched it, after I begged & pleaded like a junkie needing a fix. Julie was even kind enough to hit the pause / rewind button several times, during a scene where a naked Chris Atkins comes down a waterslide (my first exposure to full-frontal male nudity). I was in heaven! When my Mom came to pick me up I spent the entire car ride chattering away about the fact that I had finally seen “The Blue Lagoon”! Back at school I was just as thrilled to tell anyone & everyone about it, except that most of them had already seen it a year ago, and were far more interested in discussing the latest V.C. Andrews book, which really crashed my buzz.
Okay, your turn!...
Ellen
:)