Humanities & Classics 3270
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Sixties Forum
Humanities & Classics 3270 |
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Watching The Big Chill last week really hit home and had a powerful impact on me. I had never seen the movie before but it is my dad's "favorite" in a sense, if this sounds weird you'll understand as I go on. You see he went through an experience that was very similar to the one in the movie, except the ending wasn't as happy. Real life doesn't always have a happy ending I'm afraid. He had a group of friends in high school that were very tight just like the characters in the movie. But after they graduated, everyone went their seprate ways. My dad started his own business, got caught up in the corporate culture and never really heard from the others again. But as I grew up I could tell that he still considered them to be his best friends by the stories he told about them. He would get a look of excitement and passion he never showed otherwise. But one day 5 years ago he recieved a call telling him that his best friend from that group shot himself after killing his wife and 2 daughters. This man was a stockbroker, full of dreams from what my dad told me, wanting so much from life for him and his family. His parents said that there was no real reason, things were going better for them than they had in years. But it wasn't enough, so rather than living with unfulfilled expectations and the guilt of not being able to make his kids dreams come true he wanted them all to venture into the unknown together, where he might find the bliss he was looking for. At least that's how I interpret it.
At the funeral the old group was there and talked about old times, but they couldn't talk about the death. They appeared to be mere acquiantences, and it seemed that what they had together in the 60's was just a fad, but I know it wasn't. This was real life, these people only had a few hours together and were dealing with the emotion of the situation. But I'm sure this all hit them smack in the face and made them rethink life. I know it did for my dad. He use to have such high expectations of me but laid off on it, started to tell me to go for whatever I dreamed of, and said he would love me regardless. He goes for long walks alone in the woods, something he never did, and began to look at life with a different perspective.
My dad has the Big Chill soundtrack and every once and awhile he goes into the basement, cranks up the stereo, sings a the top of his lungs, and escapes into his own little world. It you knew my dad this would be the last thing you could picture him doing. I never really understood it before, but now I do and feel a little closer to him because of it.