What Your Top 5 Movies Say About You

Headlines like the one I just wrote usually make me gag. In this case, I'll suffer through the clickbait cliche, because it's a decent description of the process I'm about to walk you through. I had a film theory teacher in my undergrad years who taught us to rewrite our top ten lists annually. Why? Because our choices tend to reflect something about where we are in life.

If you're the type who likes revealing self-help exercises, I'd pause to do this now. Grab a scrap of paper and a pen. Write quickly. Don't think too hard. Because once you learn what the trick is, there's no way to do it without cheating.

So do it! I'll wait. Just click through below when you're done...

Disclaimer: No actual technical difficulties are ensuing...I
just like this as a "Wait a Minute" picture.)

Did you do it? I did. Mine were...

1. The Pink Panther Strikes Again
2. Pee Wee's Big Adventure
3. Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
4. Kind Hearts and Coronets
5. Superstar

The second step of the exercise is simple. Glance over the list and look for patterns. Are the movies all from the same genre? Do they have a similar storyline? Are they from a common era?

All mine were comedies, all mine involved a totally awkward weirdo as the protagonist, and three of them would probably be considered too embarrassing to appear on any kind of movie list by my fellow film class snobs.

If someone told me to write my Top Five Favorite Comedies, my prestige list would go, in no particular order...

1. Kind Hearts and Coronets
2. The Pink Panther Strikes Again
3. Duck Soup
4. Some Like It Hot
5. Modern Times

While totally truthful, that's the list I'd write to try to sound impressive. Four of the movies are black and white...and I think I could allow myself to feel pretty superior about that.

So, what does it all mean?

Simple. I'm feeling like a fish-out-of-water at the moment. Maybe I'm interested in writing a fish-out-of-water story. Maybe I need to watch more comedies.

Whether I choose to read the list personally or professionally, it leaves me with homework. Fun homework. Watch comedy or try to write comedy. That's an easy, low-stakes exercise.

I'm curious, what was your list and what did it tell you about your life? Were they all movies from your childhood? Were they one specific drama? What did you learn?