Books, movies, or tv shows that impacted, changed, or deeply moved you.

[Ann.without.an.e]

It occurred to me that one reason I limit myself drastically in the realm of tv/movies/books is very few things are worth the investment of time.  

What have you read or watched that was without question a good investment of time or that impacted/changed/moved you in some way?  You can describe how or why it impacted/changed you or not give the details ... your choice. 

I know that opinions vary, I am just curious for you (personally). ❤️ 

[J-rap]

GREAT topic.  Many books and movies have majorly impacted me.  

It's hard to just stick with one or even a few.  I'd say that many books (mostly memoirs) from WWII and the Holocaust profoundly impacted me -- actually changed my life.   I've probably read a couple hundred though by now, so they're all mixed up in my mind and I can't remember particular titles.  They've taught me about priorities and what's really important and what I would do beyond my comfort zone to help others.  Honestly, they've taught me that most things in life don't really matter at all, but a few things are absolutely critical.  They've helped me live the life I have now.  I could probably put together a list of 20 or so if I really worked hard at remembering titles, but it's really more a conglomeration of everything I've read.

 

 

 

 

[SereneHome]

What an excellent topic, thank you!  Can't wait to read responses!

 

[elegantlion]

I am an emotional person and get attached to things. 

TV shows: Supernatural and Doctor Who (although I am way behind on DW). I started watching both when I was first separated - fighting a lot of my own demons, trying to find my own self-worth. Sam and Dean showed me the value of family, even the ones not related to you. Doctor Who told me I was worthy of whatever 900 years of time and space had. As someone coming out of a borderline abusive marriage, I really needed to hear those words. I contribute a lot of their episodes that encouraged me to take a few risks, ones that have led to where I am today. 

Books: The Road - melancholy, sad, but purposeful as a parent. Read at a time when I wanted to know that the sacrifices I was making as a parent were worth it. The Iliad - the first time because I made it through it - it took me 6 months the first time and I read it aloud to myself, butchering probably every other Greek name. I fell in love with the battle dialogues - the fierceness, the loyalty, and the grief. The Epic of Gilgamesh - when Enkidu dies and Gilgamesh grieves, it made me realize how long man had been experiencing deep emotion. Fahrenheit 451 - the power of books to change the world - for good and for bad. 

Movies: Reign of Fire - this weird Christian Bale movie that is a contrast between the medieval world and bravado Americana, and there are dragons. Lord of the Rings (books and movie)-  Love, adventure, moving out of your comfort zone even when it scary, being something more than just yourself (if that makes sense). 

This scene gets me every time. It summarizes so many of the fears I used to have and now I don't feel caged. 

 

 

[Stacia]

Books that come immediately to mind (I have others too, but these are at the top of my list):

 

 

   

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

The Plover by Brian Doyle

Sweet Dreams by Michael Frayn

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (as well as the movie)

I think all of these books ultimately carry a similar underlying message, which is reflected in this quote from Cloud Atlas:

Quote

“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Stacia

[DesertBlossom]

Left to Tell 

The Hiding Place

Movies-- 12 Years a Slave, Schindler's List

Edited April 23, 2019 by DesertBlossom

[Carol in Cal.]

“Passages” which was the book that made me realize that every single decision I made did not have to be made FOR LIFE, something that I had believed until I read it.

”That Hideous Strength” influenced forever afterwards, so much so that when I reread a couple of years ago I realized to my shock that several pretty fundamental things that I hold to deeply and thought I had come up with on my own were actually in that book, which I had read in college.

[mom@shiloh]

Books:

To Kill a Mockingbird -- amazing writing, powerful and sweet story

First They Killed My Father -- Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime; awful, gripping, eye-opening

All of the L.M. Montgomery books -- she captures the nuances and idiosyncrasies of people and tells a good story

Left to Tell; Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by  Immaculée Ilibagiza; more powerful than words

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng; cultural revolution in China

Journey Through the Night by Anne DeVries; Dutch resistance in WW II

Educated, A Memoir, by Tara Westover; the story is powerful, her writing is lyrical

Fahrenheit 451

The Last Book in the Universe -- not the type of book I would usually read, so I was pleasantly surprised

Movies

It's a Wonderful Life -- makes me cry every. time.

Schindler's List

I'll probably think of more later. 🙂

 

 

 

[PeterPan]

Jane Eyre, all versions but probably starting with the Timothy Dalton. Such an important exploration of ideas, and it brings the book to life.

Happiest Millionaire. Yes, the Disney movie. Go right ahead and laugh, but it hits ideas of growing up, money, what it means to be happy, how we choose to live.

Frozen. Oh man, more Disney. But they've gone so crazy philosophical these days. They took one of my favorite or memorable fairy tales from childhood (I sort of lived in them) and made it profound. I guess it's not just the movie but the rides and the moment. I guess there's a lot of back story on why that would hit me that way. (how I was raised, making a big shift later in adulthood)

Born Yesterday. Explores education, politics, honesty, what we're willing to put up with as women. GREAT movie. And a way dashing co-star William Holden. 

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. This is amazing on so many levels, but basically for me it made me question whether I was internally honest, whether I was REALLY as whatever (open, accepting, kind, unbiased, etc.) as I thought I was. And you get Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, etc. in one movie, which makes it essential. Pretty much you can rabbit trail every movie Sidney Poitier made and they'll be profound. Music is good too.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Poverty, making it, what it will take to make us happy, friendship, being different. And great music.

Men of Honor. With Cuba Gooding Jr (who also seems bent toward profound things), hits issues of racism, poverty, endurance.

The Amistad. I'm clearly not toward the dark side in my taste, but this is worth watching.

Did you remember this thread? The other thing you could do is go through a list of Academy Award winners and do pretty well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Academy_Award-winning_films  Some maybe haven't stood the test of time, but some of these are just excellent films that hit on so many levels (music, exploring important concepts, excellent acting, etc.). Even something as simple as The King and I, if you haven't met it, really is important. I think movies also interact with where you are, what you're thinking about or trying to process. I tend to love older movies for this and a lot of amazing ones are on that Academy Award list.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by PeterPan

[TheReader]

oooh, fun. This is much easier for me than "what's your favorite....?" topics, which I can never narrow down. 

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (and then all her other stuff, too) made a huge impact on me at a young age; it's cliche, but the whole Stay Golden, Ponyboy, and gallant young men dying under streetlights and......:sigh: it's just so......everything. 

To Kill a Mockingbird, of course, because....how could it not. Looking at the truths of people, no matter what they look like, where they come from, what society might say.....That standing up and doing the right thing can look like lots of different things....but no matter what it looks like, no matter how scary it may be for you, it's worth doing/must be done. 

Band of Brothers (mini-series)....it just brings to life, so much, the realities of WWII. No matter how many times we watch it, I still just sob when they find the camp. I'd add Schindler's List here, too, and several books I've read since on the topic as well. 

Hidden Figures (the book, not the movie)....again, brings to life a part of history I wasn't alive for and just really impacted me in that way....to read that whole states rebelled against integration, cities closing schools rather than complying......it's horrifying. It helped me understand a lot better just how deep the scars of racial inequity truly run in our country. I mean, I just did not get it before, because I never witnessed it, never experienced it, etc. This book more than any other helped me see it.  And then of course the science, too, and realizing the incredible aspect of people having to invent math, basically....not only working the equations to figure out the stuff but having to actually come up with what on earth those equations even *were* because this was all a thing that had never been imagined, let alone done before.....I mean it was astounding to me. The movie really left that aspect out in so many ways. 

Dead Poet's Society.....being brave enough to be yourself, no matter what. To go against the status quo, the expected, the norm. To find your tribe, your family, and stick together. 

Probably tons more but I'll stop there for the morning.....

[Ann.without.an.e]

@J-rap @PeterPan @mom@shiloh. @Carol in Cal.  @DesertBlossom. @Stacia  @elegantlion @TheReader

What an amazing list already and I am sure there will be more.  I am literally making a list, haha.  And @PeterPan, nothing is to be laughed at.  Sometimes it isn't how profound the story is but how it hits where we are at the time, how it speaks to us personally.  That has totally happened to me before.  In fact, when I was at a turning point in my marriage, the movie Before We Go (not an overwhelming favorite of mine) really spoke to me in this quote.  

“There will always be struggle, you just have to pick who you want to struggle with.”

I am really trying to remember what has spoken to me.  I haven't read or watched that much because so many things just seem a waste of time.  I often start books and tv shows and even movies sometimes and don't even finish them. I want to expand my reading and watching list with depth. Especially right not, I want depth and I don't need to waste my precious time with twaddle.

Books that stand out...

Night (I am not sure anyone can read this one and not be impacted, right?)

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 

To Kill A Mockingbird

Diary of Anne Frank

Movies/TV that have really spoken to me lately

About Time (it is on Netflix now and if you've never watched this then it might be my tippy top overall favorite movie ever)

I started Outlander recently and I wouldn't normally watch something like this (so sexual) but the story is gripping and in some weird way it is speaking to me. I can't even explain it, its totally weird.

Lord of the Rings, this clip in particular has always been at the top of my list and sums up exactly what I am thinking about stories that stick with you. 

 

 

 

I will think of more and I am making a list now to read/watch in the future.  Thanks y'all! ❤️❤️ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Attolia

[WoolC]

Great thread!  I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Flannery O' Connor's short stories, especially Parker's Back and The Lame Shall Enter First were literally life changing for me.  The former was the seed that took me from a Baptist background to a sacramental Lutheran with strong Catholic & Orthodox leanings.  The latter made me see the children I had in front of me and adjust my parenting to their needs instead of my plans.

Anna Karenina, Brideshead Revisited and Les Mis have also shaped who I am in significant ways.

[Nan in Mass]

Lord of the Rings had the most influence on me growing up. 

A A Milne's books underlie everything in my life as well. And Wind in the Willows. And my grandfather's copy of Two Little Savages. Dated as the language is, I found it pretty accurate, as an adult. The Little Prince influenced me, and continues to influence me. It portrays what the adult world feels like to someone stuck with a way simpler view of it, which I seem to be, and I have always found that comforting.  I reread the Narnia books a lot but I don't know how much they influenced me. Ditto fairy tales and books about sailing around the world or getting lost in the woods.  

Lord of the Rings continues to influence me as an adult. Music of the Dolphins I read every year, for some reason. Amd my family has Three Men in a Boat more or less memorized. It isn't an influence, but it uses the same amusing wording that we use to entertain ourselves, which is why we like it. And it has boats. Ditto Wodehouse, minus the boats. I love Patricia McKillip's books deeply. They capture the confusion and magic and music in my life, and I love her writing. The Wee Free Men/Tiffany Aching series speaks to me.

The Well-Trained Mind had a huge impact on my adult life grin. Huge huge huge.

Stacia gave me The Plover to read and I loved it. So much truth in that book.

I loved Door into Ocean, another recommendation here.

Nan