Have you ever wondered if there was that one moment in your life that dictated what dream you would be pursuing? I can’t point to one. If you’ve read my About page, you’ve seen that I have many influences at different stages.
Well, James Rolfe has found that moment. You may know his by his more well-known internet persona, the Angry Video Game Nerd. Or perhaps you’ve seen his new board game reviews, Board James, or his recent series of movie reviews. However, at his heart Rolfe is a filmmaker, mostly horror movies. That is his dream and recently he’s found the origin of that dream. In The Dragon in my Dreams, Rolfe learns that instant when he became fascinated by nightmares, which drove him on his path of becoming a horror movie maker. And it all started with his first nightmare…and his first trip to the park.
There is one thing in this film that I have to disagree with. I don’t think we’re ALL attracted to fear. I tend to avoid horror movies, and you won’t find anything in my movie library scarier than Doctor Who. I don’t even find Godzilla all that scary, but my first experience with him was during the kiddie “guardian monster” years of the Showa era. (I discussed Showa and Heisei in my Kamen Rider Dragon Knight review last week.)
I look at fear in three factions: “good” fear, which keeps us from doing something too dangerous keeps us safe; “irrational fear” is something I’ve dealt with and often keeps us from moving forward; and finally there’s the fear created by those who would keep others down, or “under control”, which is similar to irrational fear but that we create ourselves. To me, the last two are not a thrill, but something that needs to be beaten down, which explains the stories I’ve written over the years.
Still, I’m fascinated by how much this one park sprinkler affected the course of a young James Rolfe. It didn’t lead to a bad childhood, or horrible memories, but instead amused and inspired him. I’m a strong “defender” of childhood and childhood memories BECAUSE of how these influences can affect a child for good or for bad, and therein influences many of my social and political belief, and maybe a few spiritual ones as well.
And this is where I often DISagree with certain parents groups. While I understand the need to limit kids exposure to “harmful” imagry, these groups often risk limiting their positive influences as well. It isn’t so much the depiction of violence but HOW violence is depicted, for example. A positive display may actual lead them away from becoming a dangerous person or horribly scarred when tragedy strikes. Which doesn’t mean they can’t be scarred by certain images, contrasting the defenders of that stuff who turn out to simply be part of the “everything for meeeeeeeee” crowd.
If you read the comments on his site, or the YouTube posting, you’ll note that I’m not the only one that was moved by this video. The scene where Rolfe “confronts” the dragon, and that it would have been the last time he would have seen it the same way it was when he was a kid (the dragon sprinkler was supposedly moved elsewhere in the park, and I would think repainted), is probably the best part of the movie and I for one thank him for posting this part of his life.
Related Article
- The “Angry Video Game Nerd” Makes His Movie… (geektyrant.com)
(PS: Am I the only one who wouldn’t mind reading that comic? Maybe it’s just the comic fan/writer in me.)
BW Media Spotlight 