Anecdote about Apocalypto and Movies
Hi, I just wanted to share an anecdote about this film and how it impacted me. It would be awesome to take the time and read it! Maybe it could make for an interesting discussion? Anyway! Here it is!
The year 2006 was a defining year in my life. For me, 2006 was the important year that most kids remember. It was the year I started watching rated “R” movies regularly. Prior to that year, catching movies with salty language or graphic violence was a novelty that I could use to brag to my friends. But, at the ripe age of twelve, puberty was hitting and things of the grown up world started to take on a different meaning. If I were ten years old watching The Departed, I presumably would have only remembered the gallons of gore and gunfire. Yet, I wasn’t ten when I watched The Departed, but twelve. And at that age, I think kids/pre-teens are able to process complex information and stories in unique ways. To not speak so broadly, I can only speak for myself and assume many others have gone through the same thing. So, for the sake of trying to make some sort of argumentative thesis, I just want to use an anecdote.
Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Schindler’s List, to name a few. These were some of the films I finally viewed when I was twelve. Perhaps other kids’ parents wouldn’t allow their children to watch these kinds of movies at that age, but my parents thought I was ready. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had young parents? Either way, it doesn’t matter to me now because I believe they made the right decision. I remember being twelve was the first age where I was actually, consciously, able to process a movie’s implications. Was I able to dissect every shot’s composition or all the movie’s themes? No. But, I was able to keep up with every character’s actions and realize the consequences or benefit of those actions. Although the age of twelve saw me struggling to fit in with clicks and wondering where my place was in the real world, it was also a magical age because of that transition. Being twelve years old allowed me to understand more adult things, but I was also young enough to still have some of my unadulterated childhood wonder. That is why, above all else, the movie Apocalypto was the rated “R” movie that resonated with me the most when I was that defining age.
Before you think I am digressing, let me assure you I am not. Let me explain why Mel Gibson’s gory epic is synonymous with being the age of twelve. For me, the movie taps into the biggest set of pathos I can imagine. Apocalypto’s images alone make me yearn for my childhood. You see, I was born and raised in Lakewood, California. If you have never heard of Lakewood, well, you probably aren’t alone. The only thing you may know us for was being voted “The Most Boring Town in The United States” in 2013. I’m not *beep* kidding you. Anyway, living in Lakewood means being right next to Buena Park. Buena Park is the home of the world famous theme park Knott’s Berry Farm. Now this is odd, yet this may attest to the power of film, but Apocalypto’s images make me want go to Knott’s Berry Farm with my mom and grandma. Knott’s Berry Farm has a stage show called The Mystery Lodge. My mom and grandma would always take me to watch this show and it completely racked my tiny brain. The show would play traditional Native American music in the background with a live actor portraying a tribal chief. The actor would recite stories to the audience as if it were his tribe. Then suddenly, he would vanish. It was just the most insane visual. How does this show assimilate with Apocalypto? Well, various elements attribute to the comparison, but none more so than the chief character. I remember watching the scene in Apocalypto where the chief recites a story about “greedy men” or something. As soon as I watched that scene, I was transported to memories of my mom or grandma holding me in their lap, watching The Mystery Lodge. I was watching a film about a totally different culture from my own or any modern culture for that matter, yet I felt completely at ease. Besides the emotional ties the movie holds for me, it was also complex enough to keep an older kid like myself at the time engrossed. The power struggle with all the villains, Jaguar Paw’s wife awaiting his rescue, the idea of an old civilization ending was all stuff that I could completely process when I was twelve and I totally loved it. But then again, I was still twelve and still held onto childlike instincts. And that is where Mel Gibson totally won my little heart over. The scenes of Jaguar Paw whacking dudes over the head with clubs, all the high octane foot chases and the sacrificing scenes. It was all stuff I just loved to see. I don’t care if one wants to criticize the movie for being sadistic, but for me it tapped into my innermost childhood fantasies. If someone felt like they had power over me? Forget it man, lets duke it out in the middle of a forrest with no guns. Just give us a couple of clubs, war paint, some poisonous frogs and see who comes out on top. Apocalypto was the right film at the right time for me.
If there is anything one could mine from my passage, I hope it’s to see the power of film. Who in a million years would have ever thought that Apocalypto could remind someone of Knott’s Berry Farm? But who knows? Perhaps Psycho reminds someone of an amazing weekend at the Hilton Hotel in Hollywood. Movies are pathos and empathy mechanisms. Films can remind you of the images of important times in your life and how you grew up to be who you are. Apocalypto did not necessarily make me the blood thirsty man I am today(kidding), but it certainly captured the imagination of a twelve year boy.