Monday, November 7, 2011

my job is occasionally cooler than yours

Have you ever been paid to watch My Girl with teenagers?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

This unique experience elicited a limitless chain reaction of further reflection. Such as...
  1. Had Vada Sultenfuss attended my grade school, I would've done everything in my power to keep my distance from her, and failed miserably when my curiosity got the best of me. Over the next three years, countless futile attempts would be made to convince my friends that I didn't like her.
  2. In the summer of 1999, a My Girl marathon inspired my friend Gene and I to Yahoo search "Anna Chlumsky." This is significant because obscure celebrity information was just beginning to become available on the internet, and Chlumsky would become the first of roughly 792 actors that I have since referenced. How badly did I care to know her story? Two words: dial up.
  3. Chlumsky and Macauley Culkin were both 11-year-olds at the time of release, having played 11-year-olds in the movie. Were My Girl to be filmed today, two 15-year-old Disney stars would be cast solely to sell the accompanying soundtrack. In the modern entertainment age, there will never be a true child actor receiving the widespread acclaim that Culkin did during the early 90s.
  4. My Girl belongs to a short list of movies of which a viewer cannot in good conscience make fun of another for crying.
  5. Apparently, Dan Aykroyd revealed that a third movie was being considered as recently as 2004, awaiting Chlumsky's return to the big screen. I love the idea on paper, but I don't see it turning out well. I wonder which 30ish actor would play her love interest -- probably some Topher Grace like character. I pass.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guess what? I TOTALLY have gotten paid to watch MY GIRL with teenagers!

:)

It's definitely one of my all-time favorite movies.

a.w. marks said...

Not sure how I dropped the ball on that one, Katie. I was considering what my readers do for a living, and forgot that you would totally be the type of teacher that would look for reasons to connect your favorite movies with your subject material :)