Going Indie

I think I've said before that the time from the summer before my senior year of high school to the summer before my freshman year of college was a very important period for my current tastes in entertainment. They were certainly developed when I got to college, but I doubt I would have had a chance to develop them if the foundation was laid during those 15 months. The year before, I started watching 24 during its second season, and that was the first heavily serialized show that I watched regularly. Most other things I watched were silly sitcoms that, for the most part, had almost no overarching plot (I think Drew Carey came the closest). But during that time, I started watching Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Stargate SG-1. The first three are still shows that I adore, and although I have all but abandoned the Stargate franchise (SG-1 did have some incredible episodes, and the new series looks like it could be enjoyable if it can adequately use what made Battlestar Galactica amazing without ripping it off), it was important for me to get in to that show because, in some ways, it served as a springboard into better shows. After all, people could make compelling arguments that if I liked that, I would like other shows. (My freshman year of college also helped because Galactica, LOST, and Veronica Mars all debuted that year.)

But that time was also my introduction to independent films. I doubt I'd seen a single independent film before those 15 months, or if I had, I either don't remember it, or it became so big and mainstream as to not qualify anymore. During the summer before my freshman year of college, I saw three films that opened the doorway to my love of indie films (don't get me wrong, as this site demonstrates, I am by no means opposed to studio films). Clerks, Lost in Translation, and Garden State each introduced me to something new, and made me realize that there was a whole world of film that most people didn't even know about.

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