Small Comforts
Why they matter.
I was a young kid in the early-to-mid aughts, still impressionable and open to being molded. I remember it being a stressful time in my life when my mom’s parents died as well as struggling in school, particularly math. Those two things caused a lot of stress in my family, and I often found refuge in the fantasy world. Two franchises I remember falling in love with at this time were Back to the Future and Star Wars.
In a seemingly distant world before mainstream streaming services were widely available, my older sister, mom, and I were channel surfing one afternoon until my older sister saw Back to the Future was beginning on like HBO or Showtime. I remember my sister being so excited because I had never seen it before. That experience will always stay with me from the retro coolness of a time traveling DeLorean to the aesthetics of an alien world that I was told was just life in the 1950s. That began my fascination with the past, how it changes, and how it tells us where we came from. I remember my paternal grandfather started picking me up from school due to me getting in fights in afternoon care, and he would regale me with his experiences traveling through time. He told stories of remembering the smell of his mother’s fresh baked apple pie in 1930s Indiana, waking up to explosions and bright lights during the Battle of the Bulge and of course the Black servicemen being the last to be notified of the coming German war machine, and of course, being a teacher during the unrest of the 1960s.
It amazed me that he saw so many scary moments, to me, like war, open racism, and widespread Depression-era poverty. But even he had his small comforts that made the time pass. He loved the timeless beauty of jazz. I can hear him now, “that boy can play some saxophone, can’t he?” He also was an avid magazine reader. After he died, I realized that as a man born in 1923, he was perfectly situated to be impacted by the golden age of magazine publication. He and my maternal grandfather collected National Geographic. I would read the kids’ version while they read the adult one, but they would always take time to show me a picture they loved. Come to think of it, my love of photography likely developed here. Small comforts like jazz and magazines transcended through time, no matter if there were bread lines, rioting, or kids turning into adults before your eyes.
Since the day I first watched Back to the Future with my mom and sister, I spent the next several months scouring cable listings to see when the sequels would air. Eventually, I was gifted the box set for Christmas. Who knew such a seemingly mundane moment could lead to so much?
Star Wars is another franchise that has brought small comforts to an increasingly chaotic life. Although I grew up with the prequel trilogy, which I loved for its lightsaber battles, I began appreciating the series when I was gifted a Darth Vader VHS box set with the original trilogy. I was lucky to watch these movies with my mom, who always took an interest in the popular culture impacting her kids. She would unpack the lessons of themes like the pitfalls of arrogance, the quiet confidence of expertise, and the dangers of our emotions. Like many American children, I remember toy lightsabers and I even dressed up as Darth Maul for one Halloween. But the prequel trilogies were different. By the time I was entering middle school, I could appreciate them a lot more, not only because the audience finally saw Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader, but also because the charm of Luke Skywalker was undeniable. I also began to make historical connections in the films as I grew from preteen to teenager to young adult.
The original movies appealed to a generation who may have wanted to resist “the machine,” but would accept that they were inheritors of it. Similar to Luke Skywalker learning that the genocidal space tyrant is his father and that the empire had grand designs to bring him into the fold. As former flower children or just watching the disillusionment of the 1970s unfold as Boomers cleaned up and went to work for IBM, the story has a subconscious connection.
Similarly, the less beloved prequel trilogy frames its general conflict around the death of democracy as emergency powers and strategic demagougery open up the pathway for autocratic takeover. I remember unpacking the religious and political themes of Star Wars in my sophomore literature class in high school and found a renewed love for this franchise.
My favorite scene in all of Star Wars:
For me, small comforts are in the movies. My mom collected Disney films on VHS as they were released from the vault. Thus, my first trip to Disney World remains a special moment for me as I saw movies come to life in an elaborate wonderland. I have fond memories seeing King Kong (2005) or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) with family and family friends, or being surprised by my parents on Friday to see Spy Kids (2001) or Spider-Man (2002). Most recently, my family, friends, and I saw The Boys in the Boat (2023) and Wicked (2024).
But that is not everyone’s small comfort. Some people like to sit by a lake and fish, others enjoy working on an old car, some like to read till they can’t anymore, and others want to play golf. These are familiar activities that never change, no matter how much the times do. They are something to be cherished.
Now you know why I love writing about film on Fridays!
