I have a handful of very intense aversions that were instilled in my youth, and paramount among them is a disgust of marshmallows after ingesting a bowlful when I was about six. I haven’t eaten one since.
Another is Stand By Me, probably the first R-rated film I ever saw with the mix of panicked excitement and fear a first-time thief must feel following his escape route. I didn’t make it past the campfire scene, during which the story of “Lardass” is told. He ingests a stomachfull of raw eggs and vinegar, and proceeds to induce an entire crowd of people to vomit all over themselves and each other. Henceforth, any remembrance of this scene triggered nausea of some intensity.
So imagine the discovery, some two decades after the fact, that this scene isn’t gross at all. It looks like hosed grape juice. And suddenly, I’m not so afraid of marshmallows anymore.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Cable TV
18 Jan 2007 3:04 PM | Comments (1)
the same intensity can be attributed only to the shock you experienced from the first viewing of any film. for example, back in 75, Jaws sent me into complete shock when the fucking head popped out of Ben Gardner’s boat. I sank into the cushions whilst my daddy, pointing out that my eyes had conveniently rolled back into my head, told me to sit up for the rest of the movie. He didn’t understand at that point that I might have an aversion to the horror that was presented towards me from the big screen as I was only 11 years. I do wonder how you must have dealt with something as odd as The Exorcist. this is River’s great accomplishment. the anguish is real, captureing the innocence of eternal youth. I commend you with your sacrifices to endure any film, as you are an excellent critic whom I admire greatly.
marky
23 January 2007
1:50 AM