#YouAreEnough30 Blog Challenge: Day 18
Day 18: In Chapter Thirteen, I talk about a favorite movie that has had an indelible impact on my life. Talk about YOUR favorite movie or movies that help you reconnect with who you are.
November 18, 2018: If you have read my blog, you will know that I love movies and often find a connection with them and how they relate to my life. My all-time favorite movie is Napoleon Dynamite. This 2004 independent film, awarded the 2005 Best Movie Award by MTV, is about a social misfit and his unique surroundings in small town Idaho.
At the time this movie was in theaters, I was in my late 20’s but could easily relate to the socially awkward teenage Napoleon and his equally awkward friends and family. How I wished this movie was around when I was a teenager in the 1990’s! Napoleon did not let the social pressures to fit in affect him negatively. He continued to be himself and did one of the bravest things ever: dance in front of the entire student body to help his friend Pedro win the election for student body president.
I cannot count the number of times I’ve seen this movie and have recommended it to everyone. A few years after the movie came out and I got the DVD, I had my teenage cousins watch it to show them that movies don’t have to have foul language, sex, and violence to be entertaining. Without thinking about it at that time, I wanted my cousins to see this movie to reassure them that it’s okay to be who you are and not worry about following the popular crowd.
In 2011, I played Napoleon Dynamite in my church’s talent show. I did the Happy Hands skit and the dance, which was a hit with everyone and I have it on DVD. In a film class, I wrote a paper about the movie. Below is an excerpt of my paper from 2014:
Napoleon Dynamite is a high school geek who lives in present day Preston, Idaho with his grandmother and unemployed, 32-year-old brother Kip. His wardrobe consists of thrift store t-shirts, black moon boots, and giant glasses and his hairstyle is a 1970's afro. He also carries his homework in a 1980's Trapper Keeper. Napoleon's stoic expression and monotone voice makes him seem indifferent. As the story progresses, his implied aloofness might be a self-protected method to help him not to feel intimidated by bullies.
The inciting incident of the film occurs after Napoleon has been harassed by a few classmates. When he is unable to get out of school early, Napoleon feels helpless until he sees a new student and the principal in the hallway. When he offers to take Pedro, the new student from Mexico, under his wing, Napoleon hopes that he will have a new friend and ally in a school full of bullies.
The scene of Uncle Rico's unexpected arrival is a pivotal part of the film and may be a bit over-the-top. The nondiegetic sounds of disco music play in the background as Uncle Rico's vintage orange van pulls up to the Dynamite household. When he gets out of the van, he sports modified bell-bottoms and a vintage shirt (circa late 1970's) and wears a slightly longer hairstyle and a mustache.
While Grandma is in the hospital recovering from an injury, Uncle Rico insists on staying with Napoleon and Kip. He immediately makes himself at home by eating most of the steak, dragging Kip along in his get-rich-quick schemes and finding ways to irritate Napoleon. Meanwhile, Napoleon faces a few social setbacks but now has Pedro and Deb as his friends. Napoleon and Deb help Pedro run for class president against mean girl Summer Wheatly.
One of the most unique qualities of this film begins when the credits show numerous props that will be used throughout the film and different cafeteria lunches showing the other actors' names. These characters will eat those particular lunches during the film. The first plate of food to show up is tater tots which Napoleon, the main character, hides in the pockets of his pants.
During the credits, a 2004-05 Preston High School student ID is pulled out of a wallet to indicate that the story takes place in the present. However the characters' wardrobes, some of the décor, and the technology in this film seem to contradict that. No one carries a cell phone; instead they use rotary phones with long cords and Deb uses a pay phone in a remote location to call Napoleon. At Napoleon's house, the computer that Kip uses to chat online is giant-sized as well as the television set. The color schemes and furniture in Napoleon's house are in brown, yellow, and orange which were popular during the 1970's and early 1980's. Another unique feature of the film's mise-en-scene is the way that the characters try to connect to their surroundings. While Kip, in an orange shirt, sits at the computer, behind him is a couch with a few orange flowers and two rust-colored pillows. When Napoleon stands in front of a blue locker at school, he wears a blue shirt and blue jeans. His implied intention to blend in with the scenery does not succeed because he kicks at a bully who walks by the locker and tries to taunt Napoleon.
Although this film was made by recent film school graduates of Brigham Young University, it unexpectedly became a hit teen comedy. Even adults, like me, can relate to the awkwardness of being a teenager who fails at trying to blend in with everyone else. In my opinion, the mise-en-scene of the props and décor and the quirky characters make this film one of the greatest and funniest ever.
