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Moving in the Movies

  • Writer: Jules Robinson
    Jules Robinson
  • Aug 28, 2019
  • 4 min read

Moving house is fun, isn't it? What a delight! Energy bills to sort out, flat viewings to arrange, looking through every single item that you own, staring at it and having to think 'is it worth me lifting up this thing on potentially three separate occasions only to go on ignoring it in the new place?'. Moving is great.



Staying awake for for hours, lying, looking at the ceiling, a cold sweat forming on my forehead as I think about how, just how in hell are we going to get all of our belongings and ourselves across the country has given me a lot of time to think about movies. Are there any pieces of film media that might illustrate the complex ins and outs of life-relocation?


The Haunted House™



Researching for this post (yes, I do RESEARCH like an academic or something) meant coming across a whole heap of scary films, it's really difficult to search 'moving house movie' without Google offering 'did you mean: two hours of houses trying to kill their tenants?' The majority of haunted house films that came up as suggestions I couldn't remember seeing because they are all essentially identical.

  • Family find STRANGELY AFFORDABLE Victorian/Edwardian/plantation era house and move in without a second thought.

  • "Sure, the estate agent who showed us around the place was oddly sketchy around the subject of the 'previous tenants' and their 'misfortune' but the place comes part-furnished!"

  • The family discover sounds of crying/light fittings behaving erratically/ walls that bleed and invite an equally creepy 'expert' in to investigate the odd goings-on. The 'expert' proclaims the house 'mega haunted' but the family don't leave because (insert lame reason that in no way makes up for staying here).

  • The family ultimately meet their doom. Sometimes, as an add on, a family member will become possessed too as some kind of right turn in act 3, undoubtedly portrayed by an unhinged girlfriend or crazed mother or creepy child because grown men are scary enough already. SPEAKING OF SCARY MEN-


The Shining (1980)



The Shining is the best example of the haunted house motif and also horror as a genre not least because Jack Nicholson gives the most horrifyingly accurate and convincing portrayal of 'guy gone nuts' that for a long time I considered Nicholson himself a respectable actor but 'not be trusted'. Let's be clear, 'family move into an old hotel that begins to unhinge the patriarchal figure and convince him, entrapped in the building as he is, that the only reasonable outcome is to murder his wife and son' isn't the greatest omen for moving house that I've found. But on the other hand, a private bar that caters just to me? Enough space in the hallways to fit two identical children shoulder-to-shoulder with room to spare? Secluded enough as to eradicate neighbours? A hedge maze?! How much are they asking?


Toy Story (1995)



Moving house on your own or with a partner is hard enough as is, I can only IMAGINE what moving with children must be like (shoutout to my parents who moved house with a 10 and 8 year old back in the year 2000). The more I think about Toy Story, the more I can sympathise with Andy's Mum. The newly divorced Andy's Mum (as Pixar fans are now theorising) wants to move out of the family home and start a-fresh. An already mildly traumatic event without having her son bang on every other minute where or wherenot his dolls are. She throws him a stella birthday party just days before they have to leave and takes him to Pizza Planet all the while juggling life as a single parent and worrying about removal vans and packing. The woman is a Saint. Moving house in Toy Story is the ultimate goal for everyone. It literally signifies the finale, the closing scenes depicting the family in their new home at Christmas, all being well with the world. Needless to say, I hope Andy's Mum got one hell of a bottle of scotch from Santa.


Juno (2007)



Not a moving house film. No-sir-ree-Bob. Nothing to do with moving house here. But there is one scene that stirs something up for me. I love a bit of decorating and DIY, it's what I look forward to most when moving. So when I think of Jennifer Garner decorating the baby's room and lovingly turning to her husband and, all gooey-eyed from the blissful idea of parenthood asks him of the paint swatches "tart yoghurt or dehydrated melon?" and Jason Bateman rolls his eyes back like a sullen teenager and shakes his head and complains that "since when is yellow gender-neutral anyway?" like some hetero-normative, gender-conforming fool and continues to pooh-pooh Jennifer's decorating despite it making her happy it's just like... red flag youknow?


Also, I'm really excited for an IKEA trip.


My Neighbour Totoro (1988)



A heartwarming tale of how two sisters, on moving into a new home in rural Japan, discover a wonderland of magical creatures along with a guardian in the form of giant, amusing Totoro. The pair learn to face the harsh reality of an unwell mother as well as a brand new living situation by approaching the world with curiosity and verve. This is depicted especially well in little Mei who's tenacity and gung-ho spirit is what helps her to discover Totoro, a mythical beast who somehow represents both the uncertainty of an unknown world but also the reassurance of compassion, like some fur-clad symbol of the future.


No jokes there. Just genuine sincerity. See? I could be a serious reviewer. I just choose not to be. Very important. Not written badly. Conscious choice.


 

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