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Juno and the Power of Favorites

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me start this post by telling you a little bit about how school's going. It's great. I really, really love what I study. I get to make movies and see movies and write about movies, which is all I've ever really wanted to do.

Part of the reason I decided to study film was because I didn't think I had seen enough movies. I still don't. Now, the people closest to me are probably shaking their heads, recalling the many hours I've spent in front of TV, laptop, and movie screens. The truth is, though, those hours could probably easily be divided up amongst 15 movies.

See, I have this habit of watching the same few movies over and over again. Unlike most people I've talked to, I have a pretty clear list of my favorite films that I can name right off the bat. This is mostly because I've seen them at least 20 times each, and that's no exaggeration. One of these films is Juno.

The first time I saw Juno, I was 13. I took my mom to the theatre with me to see it and slightly regretted it until I saw Bridesmaids with her a few years later and realized it could have been so much worse. After getting over my embarrassment, I realized my life was being changed. The way these characters talked, looked, and changed over the course of the film made sense to me. They were realistic, flawed, interesting, magical, human characters, and it made me that much more driven to make movies.

Since then, I've watched the movie once every couple of months when I need to be inspired or I just need a laugh. Last night was a night when I needed the latter, so I popped the worn DVD in my laptop and had a smile on my face from "it started with a chair". I finished the movie while I packed to go home today and, for the first time in a long time, finished the movie with the same feeling i had when I watched it for the first time: movies are magic, and I want to be a part of that magic.

This got me thinking about how important having favorites is. Not just favorite movies, but favorite anything: books, music, people, flowers, food, etc. Whether your favorites just make you happy or have some deep meaning to you, they matter. Having something that matters in your life gives you something to look forward to, something to inspire you, something to live for. Whether they matter a little or a lot, they make you happy, and that's all we really need.

That's why I'll never stop watching Juno. I hope you have your own favorites to be thankful for.

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