I have a confession to make. I suffer from a form of OCD. Sometimes a song, a book, a movie, or a person will lodge itself into my head and I need to either continually listen to a song, watch a movie or read up on someone until the obsession slowly fades away.
The first time I noticed this was when I read the the biography of Zelda Fitzgerald in my mid-20s. I just became fascinated with her and had to go to the library and read everything I could about her and F. Scott. By sheer luck, at the same time there was a one-woman show in DC at the National Portrait Gallery about Zelda Fitzgerald where she read her letters. I saw her every performance. I topped it off by making a field trip out to Rockville, Maryland to the cemetary where F. Scott and Zelda are buried. After that I finally felt sated and went onto something else.
When the movie The Mothman Prophecies came out in 2002 I was really intrigued. The movie was totally panned by almost every movie critic labeling it an X-Files wannabe with a terrible ending because there were no answers and no resolution. I waited until it came out on DVD and saw it. I LOVED it and recommended it to everyone. Fast forward to this December. If you have Comcast Digital cable you know you can rent movies On Demand right off your TV for $3.99. They also have a "library" of free movies that you can watch. Each free movie usually last for a month when they are replaced with another. Toward the end of December I realized The Mothman Prophecies was listed as free but would expire on December 26. I watched it and that something clicked in me. I don't know if it was the eeriness of the movie, the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack (which I've already ordered), the fact that it is based loosely on a true story and filmed partially here in DC, or all of the above. Whatever it was, I watched it every night. When I was off for the holidays I watched it multiple times during the day. It seems that everytime I watched it I learned something new. There is a point in the movie when Richard Gere grabs a book and asked someone/something over the phone what the 3rd line is on page 51 and the voice whispers the line from the paperback "A Broken Smile beneath her Whispered Wings" It still gives me goosebumps.
Look, even the photo of the book didn't come out very clear---spooky!!
I was so intrigued with the line from the book that I googled it and unfortunately it was just scripted for the movie.
My fixation has not stopped yet. I'm going through Mothman withdrawals. But, I should be getting the movie from NetFlix any day now!!
What about you? Is there anything you are obsessed with?
9 comments:
Hmmm--I would not have called this tendency OCD, but when I see a movie (or read a book) that has an historical basis, I have to go and read all the background I can.
And then I return again and again to that history.
For example, since we just visited Cambridge on our London trip, I was reminded of an alum there--Alan Turing--who was involved in cracking the Enigma machine that the Nazis had--so just today, I was reading again about that whole chapter in World War II history.
OCD, probably. When someone with OCD likes something - they REALLY LIKE IT. :O)
I wonder if my daughter had/has ODC. She watched Winnie the Pooh about 1000 times...and so did I.
I've watched A League of Their Own under fifty times.
Well, Possumlady, you'll have to come visit. I live only 40 miles from the site of the Mothman sightings. The story lives on here, and every year I take grandchildren "Mothman hunting." There is even a Mothman Festival which is a lot of fun--and they give tours of the TNT area. There's a museum with a lot of original documents, etc--very eerie to read.
The title of the book that the phrase "A Broken Smile beneath her Whispered Wings" appears in is:
"Electric Blue Passion"
-Indrid Cold
Sorry, I'm so late in responding! Thanks for the comments Granny Sue! Actually, I think my sister and I will be making a road trip to Point Pleasant, WV for the Mothman Festival in September!
Wow, THE Indrid Cold is commenting on my blog! I don't know whether to be honored or horrified!! I tried googling Electric Blue Passion but nothing came up.
Possumlady! i am from dc too, crawled into the office this morning to find out where this phrase came from. i fell in love with the phrase too. what is this electric blue passion nonsense! I thought the movie was great.
This is an old post, but I’d like to rekindle your Mothman OCD
I think you’ll like this podcast featuring the writer of the Mothman screenplay.
This podcast also did a multipart series on the Mothman. Astonishing Legends is a great all around podcast for the spooky and weird.
http://www.astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2017/5/25/richard-hatem-on-the-mothman-prophecies
The "Electric Blue" nonsense you're referring to is the title of the book (Electric Blue Passion) he reads the line "a broken smile beneath her whispered wings" in the movie The Mothman Prophecies. I too was intrigued about this line and wanted to get the book so I kept pausing and rewatching when he opens the book.
Holy cow. I read your post and it felt as though I had written it myself I related to it so well. Here it is now, 2024 and I have always felt the exact same way about this film. I still find it completely unfathomable that more people don't feel the same way about this wonderful movie. I have shown it to so many people over the years (and I am literally watching it AGAIN as I type this) and I always tell people before doing so that "there is just something about it" and that it is on my Mount Rushmore of comfort films. The acting. The story. The mood. And even the score, which I think is especially overlooked and underrated, just simply never get old to me. I also have a good friend that i showed it to who has been totally obsessed with it ever since. Lol I will watch this film for the rest of my days FREQUENTLY, of that much I am sure. One cool little anecdote? Since showing this film to my fiancé a couple of years back, it has become a go to comfort film for her, as well. We even watch it with my projector while camping we both love it so much! Anyway, I'm not sure if anyone will see this comment or not, as old as this post is, but I just felt compelled to chime in regardless. 🙂
P.S. There is a Sci Fi film that is a real hidden gem that I feel very much the same way about that I HIGHLY recommend checking out if anyone reading this has not seen it yet. It is called 'Gattaca'. It stars Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, and has small roles played by Gore Vidal and Earnest Borgnine. It's from around 1997, I believe. And just like Mothman Prophecies, it is dark, moody, beautifully written, and acted, and has a wonderful score. Hope someone reading this checks it out and loves it too! Cheers.
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