Monsters! The Blob
Jane, Steve, Blob.
WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Steve wants nothing more than to get a leg over with his girlfriend Jane. But the Blob won’t let him. Young Steve will, in fact, never achieve his goal of making out with Jane — he will, instead, be thrust into the job of saving the entire world from an ever-growing glob of flesh-eating protoplasm.
WHAT IS THE MONSTER? The Blob, a whatsit from outer space, is an exemplary movie monster — mindless, soulless, alien, unknowable, capable of mysterious and peculiar actions. Because it has no real characteristics to speak of, other than its desire to consume people (and nothing else), it can be a metaphor for almost anything.
WHAT IS THE WARNING? In times of trouble, we would do well to trust those trying to help us — even teenagers.
What did you do on election night?
I took my family over to a friends house, where there was a small gathering of white-wine-sipping, arugula-eating Hollywood Liberals gathered to watch the election results. The adults watched MSNBC and talked shop (movies and real estate) while the kids watched Anchors Aweigh in the other room.