WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE

(it was always burning, since the world's been turning - a May movie challenge)

*not really

New Around Here? Here’s a somewhat helpful FAQ to get you started.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” sucks. It always sucked. It’s a list of things that happened, or people who existed, with no clear criteria for inclusion of methodology as to their placement. The sum total of all the cultural references is an unpleasant ear worm. Truth be told I’m not really a Joel guy, Bruce’s working class hero gimmick was always more my speed. Regardless, is the song just a bit?

I can’t get a temperature read on that take, because I don’t think anyone cares about Billy Joel’s Fire anymore, really. It was an annoying song, and most of it’s references feel quaint. Or maybe the magnitude of the references feel quaint; oh, U-2, really Billy? Someone tried to kill the president three days ago…. AGAIN!

So, if it sucks, why build a month around it? That’s a really, really valid question. Truth be told, I don’t have a coherent answer. It’s a shower thought run amok, a hare-brained idea probably better left in the notes app. Oh well, here we are. There is something curiously satisfying about Joel’s list of Boomer Greatest Hits, which coalesce mostly around Kennedy, the Cold War, and random entertainment figures. And “space monkeys” and mass murderers. We seem to hurtle away from these things with greater velocity each day. Concepts like “the television age” and “Doris Day” are specks in the rear view mirror. So I guess this could be 20th Century Nostalgia Month, or High School Textbook Month.

Really it’s just an excuse to watch more movies.

Categories come from the lyrics:

1. Watch a movie featuring Doris Day OR Brigitte Bardot.

2. Watch a Beatle movie, OR an Elvis movie.

3. Watch a movie about McCarthyism, OR a Communist Bloc movie.

4. “British Politician Sex” still makes me laugh, so watch a movie from this list.

5. Watch a movie from the Khrushchev Thaw, or a Berlin movie.

6. Watch a movie based on Hemingway’s work.

7. Watch a movie based on the Starkweather killings (or just a spree killing movie in general).

8. Four movies are name-checked directly in the song. Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Psycho, and The King and I. Watch one you haven’t seen, or one you haven’t seen in forever, or:

9. ALTERNATE: “Terror on the airline”—Watch a plane action movie.

Disclaimer (don’t yell at me): I haven’t seen all these movies. Many of them are from a “different” time. I don’t always know what’s in them. I don’t always know If they are good. (Sometimes, I know they’re not!) I generally try not to include truly harrowing stuff, but I don’t do research for content warnings or provide them myself. IMDB and parent guides are your friend. If you have sensitivities, look both ways before crossing the street.