Ahhh... to be 16

Went and saw Eclipse with Daughter #1 and friend. Have to say not as much squealing this time. ( Have to clarify my daughter has never "squealed in her life- opposite of the whole Ninja persona she exudes-but her friends have been known to sequel at the first sight of Edward sauntering across the parking lot of Forks High School.
Actually there was a bit of squealing from the Twilight moms that have been taken up by the wave of Twilight-ness out there right now- but that is a different blog.
Watching the movie, I meandered back to the defining movie of my teen years- Footloose.

Footloose came out just months after I got my driver's license and in an era of the second you got your license you could stuff your car full of all your friends- and my boat of a 67 Chevy Caprice could hold six- and take off with no restrictions we headed to the movies- and freedom and independence.
Loveland was what was known as a "Bedroom community" with very little restaurants or shopping and no movie theaters when I was a kid- but up the road ten miles or so was Fort Collins and Colorado State University- there we would go to shop, eat, see movies and goof around and the first movie I saw with my new found freedom was Footloose- how poetic was that.
Footloose is about a small town in the middle of nowhere- still ruled by the might hand of a charismatic pastor and a great communal wound of the loss of a car load of teenagers after a midnight escapade. Music is to blame and therefore banned, until a rebel teenager- Kevin Bacon- comes from Chicago and stirs things up.
I think I saw this movie...6 0r 7 times- the last with my parents who needed to understand why this movie hit such a chord in me, I don't think they got it.
Now looking back-why did it hit a chord?-
Well for one- the music could raise the dead- it was just that kind that seemed to have the same rhythm of the heart beating in my chest. If I hear the sound track even today, I can't help my feet from starting to tap away and mortify my children.
The story- teens banding together, against greater opponents, and being victorious, is epic.....well and Kevin Bacon, was really really hot. Edward, squealing hot. His messed up hair, his cocky grin, his shrug of his shoulder in that certain way- I was about twenty before I decided NOT to name my first child Ren- I am sure Daughter #1 is very thankful for that, plus I don't think Jon would of agreed to that.
Footloose also signaled- though I didn't have a crystal ball- what life I was headed for- filmed extensively in Utah County Utah- the landscape of the distance mountains, the flat valleys and rural farm lands- spoke to me then and here I sit looking towards the start of such landscape that now is my home.
And the Conservativeness....argh....never thought I would be a rebel living amongst those who....see things differently, but often the opposition I have experienced- being involved in a figure drawing group- I was labeled with having a pornography problem and we left a church over it- has made me think of Footloose.
No doubt, Footloose was a movie that help define me when I was 16- Twilight? A movie about a Vampire going to high school and falling in love? How will that define these girls, floaking to the theater- I don't know, I could not of told you twenty five years ago why I was moved by the sight of Kevin Bacon leading a victorious prom procession to an amazing beat- I just know I was.