Movies, television, and more movies

My son, who is almost 16, is a major film buff. Not your "I want to go to the movies today, can I have 10 bucks" kinda movie fan. He's more of a historical movie fan. But he has this habit that I find incredibly annoying. And between the movies he has seen (every one ever made, I think) and the TV he watches, I'm about to tear my hair out.

So what's this annoying habit?

He quotes lines from film. Constantly. Incessantly. If there is a line from a movie, he will find a place to insert it into any conversation. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he knows a movie or South Park quote that will fill in nicely.

I've mentioned before that he has a photographic memory. Well, it's more of an aurographic memory, if there is such a word. He remembers everything he's ever seen in a movie. Or on TV.

I thought it was a phase. If it's a phase, it's the longest phase in the history of raising kids. He started doing this quite young, but the first movie he ever memorized was Monty Python's The Holy Grail. I think he was maybe 8 when he learned the entire script by heart. Now, that's probably a good thing in some minds, but when he watches the movies he's memorized, he speaks the dialog about 1 second before the characters in the film. Talk about annoying! It can drive you right over the edge.

He's a kid who has always loved watching movies, even as a tiny tot. When he was very young I worried about him being so enamored of movies, watching his favorites like Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians over and over and over ad nauseum. But movies are a real comfort for him. They are one of the few things that keep him calm and relaxed, and when he is particularly agitated, he'll go up to his room and watch a movie until he's forgotten what got him so annoyed in the first place.

We don't own a ton of movies, but when he gets birthday or Hanukkah money, the first thing he wants to buy are DVDs. When we belonged to Netflix, he took over the list and his sister and I never got to see anything we wanted to, because he would constantly move items on the list that he wanted to see up to the top. No more Netfilx fixed that problem.

Now we borrow DVDs from the library, which has a very extensive collection. From observing the way the library works, he figured out the optimum time and day of the week when the best selection is available. He's that dedicated to film.

I often wonder if he'll end up in the industry, but he doesn't seem really interested in the making of movies, more in watching them. If Ebert and Roper ever quit, I know a kid who has a bright future in watching movies for a living.

Comments

[tata]

Erm... it just so happens that Ebert and Roeper quit just this week!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/21/people.roeper.ap/index.html

[Florinda]

My son has been like that with The Princess Bride since he was about 8 or 9. Sadly, I caught it from him, and no one wants to watch the movie with us now.