The Fandom Portals Podcast
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The Fandom Portals Podcast is hosted by Aaron Davies and Adam Brasher, two friends who are obsessed with fandoms, storytelling, and building a community where passion and positivity come first. From Marvel to Middle-earth, Star Wars to indie comics, we dive deep into the stories you love — and how they help us learn and grow. ✨
The Fandom Portals Podcast
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) Why Living in the Present is Key to Self-Actualization | Becoming your True Self
Summary
Aaron and Brash explore the themes of self-discovery and personal growth as depicted in the film 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.' They discuss the cinematography, character development, and the importance of connection and recognition in realizing one's true self. The conversation delves into the symbolism of dream sequences, the significance of taking risks, and the lessons learned from mistakes. Ultimately, the hosts reflect on the film's message that beautiful moments don't always need to be captured, and that true fulfilment comes from living authentically in the present.
Theme Arc: Becoming your True Self
Takeaways
- The film encourages viewers to step out of their comfort zones.
- Cinematography plays a crucial role in storytelling.
- Character development is key to understanding personal growth.
- Self-actualization requires engagement and authenticity.
- Overcoming fear is essential for personal transformation.
- Connection and recognition are vital for self-worth.
- Dream sequences symbolize inner desires and struggles.
- Moments of freedom can lead to self-discovery.
- Mistakes are opportunities for growth and learning.
- True fulfilment comes from living in the present.
Chapters
00:00 The Quest for True Self
02:05 Reflections on Walter Mitty
05:20 Cinematography and Visual Storytelling
08:55 Character Development and Relationships
12:32 The Journey of Self-Discovery
18:13 Themes of Connection and Purpose
22:50 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Authenticity
27:39 Favorite Scenes and Symbolism
35:06 The Journey of Self-Discovery
40:54 Embracing Vulnerability and Authenticity
48:07 The Climax of Transformation
54:11 Final Reflections and Takeaways
Sound Bites
"Life is about moving forward." - Aaron Davies
"Sometimes the answer happens by accident." - Aaron Davies
"Beautiful things don't ask for attention." - Sean O'Connell
Apple Tags
Walter Mitty, Self-discovery, Adventure, Cinematography, Ben Stiller, Imagination, Life Magazine, Personal Growth, Inner Potential, Iceland, Greenland, Sean O'Connell, Daydreams, Self-actualization, True Self
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What if the version of you that showed up every day isn't the real you at all, but the quite as safest version of you? How often do we hide behind safe routines instead of chasing the life we're truly meant to live? In this episode, you will learn how the Secret Life of Walter Mitty teaches us that realizing your potential in the real world is the first steps to becoming your true self. Welcome to the Fandom Portals podcast, the podcast that explores fandoms and films to help us learn and grow. I'm Aaron, a teacher and a lifelong film fan, and each week on the podcast, we explore the stories that we love to learn more about ourselves and the world that shapes us. Today, I'm joined by Brash.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, I am Brash, I am me, we are he.
Speaker 1:And today we are doing the Secret Life of Walter Mitty Brash. What's this one about?
Speaker 2:This one is about Walter Mitty, a mild-mannered photograph.
Speaker 1:What would you call it a?
Speaker 2:producer I would say producer, producer for Life magazine who is being taken over by the corrupt business corporation and everything is going online. So everyone is losing their jobs. And as a last ditch effort to sort of his last hurrah, he sets on an adventure, which he never does, in search of the missing photograph that was sent to him by a famous photographer, and this sets him out on a journey of self-discovery, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And in this episode we are going to be starting our multi-episode themed arc, which is all about becoming your true self, and we're going to be diving into stories about breaking free from expectations, from silence and smallness, and stepping into the people that we're always meant to be. So this is film number one of our journey into becoming a true self, and we're going to explore what happens when you finally realize your potential in the real world, Rash. Let's get into first of all what you thought of the film when you first watched it, because I've watched this a few times and my feelings about it has evolved over time. What did you think of it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when I first watched it I was a lot younger and so I thought it was a fun movie and it was good, it was funny, it was fun, but, yeah, not much more than that. Watching it now, older, with a bit more life under my belt, I think it hits a little bit harder. It sort of made me feel bad Not in a bad way. But I look back and I'm like there's so many things I wish I had have stepped out of my comfort zone and did, or some things that I wish I'd have been a bit more aggressive about or more just spontaneous about. Not, that wasn't that spontaneous in my younger life, but it wasn't for anything decent it was more for parties, but yeah, it wasn't character building.
Speaker 2:It wasn't character building, it was just for the quick moments. But yeah, I have more appreciation of it now, definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can 100% relate to that because I also watched it at a younger age. I think I watched it when it first came out, which was 2013. So, yeah, like 23. And you're a very different person when you're 23 than you are when you're 35, that's for sure, and your priorities sort of change a little bit. And I'm the same as you.
Speaker 1:I kind of watched it and thought there's a bit of a deeper message here and it makes you be very retrospective of the things that you've done and the things that you could have done and the things that you could do in the future, I guess. But one thing that stood out to me, just sort of on a less sort of metaphorical, deeper meaning kind of level of this film, was it's actually like a really beautifully shot movie, like that's the first thing that I noticed straight away was it is absolutely beautiful in terms of cinematography. I know lots of people, when I sort of talked about this on our social medias, said that it made them want to visit iceland and greenland, which is countries that you're, like, not even on your radar to travel to. But the scenery in this movie was just top tier, phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's it. Like you see, I think it must have been on purpose because, you see, whenever he's sort of at home, everything's sort of like the same and bland, because it's always just him at his house or it's him at the office and it's just four walls. Besides, like the life pictures which show these beautiful places, everything else is just bare bones. And as, just as the movie progresses, every time he goes back to office it's because it's all getting torn down, everything's getting taken on the walls, it's getting more bare bones, more bare bones and more just a depressing just four walls. And then every time he steps out of the office and steps into something, even when he's going on for a walk with Kristen Wiig's character, cheryl, you see, they go to the park and everything, and you can see that the more beauty around the place, there's more colour.
Speaker 2:But every time, even if it's at home or it's office, it's more dull. And then, as the movie progresses, even his house starts getting a bit more colorful. When his mom moves in with him and there's more people around him and he's not just by himself, it's a lot more colorful. And when he goes overseas and all the beautiful places and it's all colorful. So I think it's a message about we all have that jury nine to five. But you know, sometimes you need to really step out of that to see the beauty and everything like that yeah, and the brightness that the world has to offer.
Speaker 1:I agree, because the cinematography definitely tells a story. As you said, the blues and the grays that's the color palette in the office all the time. The life magazine is completely beautifully colored. The other thing that's really beautifully colored is his dream sequences, his imagination sort of sequences. They just get explosive, the color palette completely changes and it just goes to show the transition from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie, where the only brightness he finds and sees is in his imagination. But then as he grows out of his comfort zone and moves into a truer version of himself and it's not almost, it's not like he's pulling things out that were never there he always saw that he had the potential to be this kind of person that he wants to be, because it always only just lived in his imagination. But it's becoming more realized and more into the present and into the moments of his every day. And the color palette and the cinematography mimic that, especially when he starts to go into Iceland and goes on his adventure through there. And I think we'll jump into that a little bit later when we talk about the scene specifically. But there's definitely a turning point in this movie where that starts to shift and change.
Speaker 1:Which I liked Ben Stiller in this movie and he directed it as well and starred in it.
Speaker 1:Yep, so this one actually was.
Speaker 1:It was bouncing around the studios, so to speak, and they couldn't lock in a director and they couldn't lock in a leading actor and eventually it fell to Ben Stiller and he was cast as Walter Mitty before he decided to direct it. And then eventually, once a few other directors sort of fell through, he sort of stepped up to the plate to take on the reins. And before this he'd done the Cable Guy, he'd done Zoolander and Tropic Thunder three comedy movies definitely not like this at all. So I think there was a bit of skepticism, but I think he pulled it off. He played a really nuanced character, especially in the way that he expressed himself non-verbally, because I think there was a lot of bombastic ways that you could show him sort of snapping in and out of reality. But it's really just a couple of blinks here and there and a slight head turn that you see, and it fully takes you into and out of his imagination, dream sequences and it's almost portrayed as a real life person, which is not really what I used to from Ben Stiller.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I like the dream sequences because it's realistically the only thing that ties it back into the original Walter Miltie comics, back from the papers, from the New York Times, because that whole run was of Guy Walter Miltie who got on these massive adventures. But the Walter Miltie in the New York Times was always very depressing because it always ended his dream sequence right just before the good ending or the climax, or end up with him just before he dies. So like he never. He never gets, he never gets fulfillment from these dating because he always gets what taken out of it either too soon or from the fact that he's just about to die. Yeah, yeah, but I do, and they do the same thing in this, which is probably the only tie to what's the actual original ultimate. But I do like how they created a whole world for what's media instead of just like the from the comics was just every week. That's different.
Speaker 1:Eventually he'd go on in his head and they created an actual like ben still created an actual person with actual law, with like like a world around him not there and I I appreciate that, yeah, and I think ben stiller, once he jumped onto this role, he really saw the potential in it, you could say, because he was in an interview with tiff, which was a press conference that was held in 2013 for this movie, and he said the idea that the most seemingly average person might have a rich inner life and heroic potential really appealed to him. So the archetype of the Walter Mitty is actually something that's really well known through American culture at least, because it foregrounds this dreamer mentality usually a guy who's this dreamer that doesn't live in the real world and it's derived as well from those comics that you were talking about. But also there's a literature short story where, basically, this guy's driving his wife around to run errands and as he's doing that, he's envisioning himself as like an Air Force pilot and going on these heroic and adventurous things and ordeals in his head and then retreating back to the everyday. So they took that little seed. Ben Stiller took that little seed and turned it into this larger than life masterpiece. It also has a lot of sort of hidden gems and messages in it as well.
Speaker 1:This is probably one of the first times I also saw Adam Scott on film as well, adam Scott being Ted Hendricks. That beard, yeah, everybody comments on the beard man. I don't know if it's real, is it?
Speaker 2:real? I don't think so. I really don't. It's probably real, but it's probably like they've got the spray on there to make it really like, just like a brick colour.
Speaker 1:It's, yeah, completely darkened and, yeah, just puts out his sort of jawline there. And obviously these two collaborate again when they do Severance in 2020, a very critically acclaimed series. And yeah, I think he's the instigator, obviously, because he's that force of tension in this movie that forces Ben Stiller to then go on this sort of journey to find the frame 25, as it were, that Sean sort of sent him and always trusted him with his work, and I liked the message that this seemingly unassuming man, this average guy, as Ben Stiller sort of said, was his potential, was seen not only by himself through his imaginatory experiences, but also from Sean, the photographer, who he always had seen really bringing to life the work that he had shot and taking that care to present the everyday world in such beauty to everybody else through his magazine. So I liked that he was seen by another character and it was that quiet sort of acknowledgement and recognition between those two relationships, between Sean and Walter.
Speaker 2:That was a really awesome part of the movie for me that I enjoyed too yeah, the fact that he has sean and him have never actually met face to face the only time. The only thing they've actually like ties them together is the fact that walter has been publishing his photographs. For what was it like the nine years or 10 years or something, or however long it was? Yeah and that that.
Speaker 1:But the fact that sean could just see the end product and be like, wow, it's a guy who sees things differently to everyone else and he's like that's my guy, just how he goes on this big adventure and at the end there was never really any need to, because of what happens, and I was, I I sort of like that, and it brings us back to our sort of mvt of this, this movie, as well, because the the fact that he had to go around the world to try and find frame 25 is a big and massive metaphor for the fact that he didn't need to go on these massive adventures to be this version of himself. He always had it in him to start with, just like he always had frame 25 in his wallet to start with. That's the, that's the tying key for it all together, which I loved perfectly. But you know, on a first viewing, when I watched that at 23, I was like what a pointless experience. Why the heck did he go on? That is like check your wallet, dude, come on.
Speaker 2:Like it completely went over my, my head, because when I give you a wallet, I always have a look at all the pockets.
Speaker 1:You got it.
Speaker 2:And then if you had to put anything. But the thing is I think that's the other thing you see, he doesn't actually put. The only thing he puts in his wallet is in the big pocket. I think he puts some money in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cash, I think Cash.
Speaker 2:That's the only thing he. He put some money in, yeah, cash, I think. Yeah, that's the only thing. Like he has. No, he doesn't have anything else, he has no other. Like he doesn't have a coffee card or anything else that to put in that, to put in that wallet, for him to actually look through that wallet with like, and I think that's another showing of like how, at that time, how like boring and dull his life was, he had nothing to transfer from one wallet to another yeah, that that's very true as well.
Speaker 1:So I think that that wallet, and the quote on it as well from Life Magazine, is really sort of poignant for the story as well, because it's almost like that through line that occurs. Let's jump into what our most valuable takeaway of this movie is. So for me, the most valuable takeaway of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty was that sometimes your fullest self isn't found in fantasy, but uncovered through experience, and that Walter's journey reminds us that we don't need to be someone that's extraordinary. We only need to let go of fear and live boldly as we already are. So, as we were talking about before the fact he he began as someone that people really overlooked and he knew that he could be more through his imagination, sequences there, but he sort of had that belief as well that he was a little bit unworthy. Did you get that sort of impression that he he didn't think very highly of himself or didn't have much self-esteem? Brash?
Speaker 2:oh, 100, like, like, how he'd like, and I honestly I saw a lot like I still see a lot of walter in me as well like, um, like, just always thinking like that I'm going to, like I'm not good enough or I'm going to annoy people with my attempts of friendship, or like it's always just, that's like that it's always sad to see, because, you see it, you're like, oh man, that's really sad. Then you're like, wait a minute, shit, I do that, yeah, and so like. And how he like sees kristen wick's character cheryl at like a distance and he's sort of like wishing he could, he like in his fantasy he's this big macho hero man who saves the day and a dog as well from a burning building that has three legs, like he.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he just has to, because that's the kind of person he thinks that they want yeah they want some big, showy, flashy hero can do anything, and then in reality, they just, they just want guy man, that's, that's one, that's one dude, it's gonna be, it's gonna be, and he doesn't need to be so self-conscious.
Speaker 1:Yeah he he is enough, absolutely, and I think he he always had that little inkling that he, he was enough. But I feel like those imagination sequences, as you said, they sort of play into some insecurities, but it also reveals a lot of what he desires in terms of who he would like to outwardly portray and yes, it's like a larger than life version of that. But really, if you break it down, there's sort of those three symbolizing characteristics that are in a lot of his fantasies. To start with, there's the connection that he's always seeking, which is through Cheryl. Every time Cheryl appears in one of his imagination sequences, he sees her as this attainable and somebody he wants to be close to, to form connection.
Speaker 1:That's number one. And number two is purpose. So that's symbolized through his acts of heroism, whether it's him climbing up all the mountains to try and be with her or jumping through the building to save her dog from the burning space. He wants that sort of purpose, but he also wants that recognition through those acts of service. So that's number three. He's always seeking, through those dream sequences, those three things connection, purpose and recognition.
Speaker 2:And you see it change after a while, at the very start, because we get a fair few of those sequences at the start, yeah. But then when he starts going on that adventure, the next time Cheryl's in one of his imaginations it's he when he jumps in that helicopter, but it wasn't him being all heroic or anything, it was just Cheryl cheering him on with a song that they both really like.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which was Rocket man no Ground Control to Major Tom Ground Control, both really like yeah. Which was? Was it Rocket man no Ground Control to Major Tom Ground Control to?
Speaker 1:Major Tom, yeah, by David Bowie, great song. But yeah, I completely agree. And it's even externalized when he's talking to Patton Oswalt who plays the eHarmony guy and I love that guy too. Yeah, he's got some good lines, but I loved it when he he was just like you've got nothing here under like places you've been or things you've done, and he goes. I haven't really done or seen anything.
Speaker 1:And then as that list on his e-harmony profile expands, his imaginatory sequences decrease and he even asks him patten oswald's character even asked him. He's just like how that, how's that daydreaming sort of going and he goes. You know a lot less lately. So I think that's that's very true to point out that he starts off wanting those three things connection, purpose, recognition. But as he goes further along he kind of becomes more comfortable with himself and the things that he's doing outwardly, expressing those traits and it's less of a dream and more of a reality, but always resided inside of him, to start with you.
Speaker 1:But there's this thing called self-actualization, which is realizing one's full potential and it comes from engagement, growth, risk and authenticity, which is the four things that Walter definitely does through this story and he eventually, we'll say, becomes himself.
Speaker 1:But he was always himself to start with.
Speaker 1:And we sort of talk about this a little bit in schools, because one thing that you learn about is called Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and it's a needs system where the things at the tippy top of this pyramid are things that you need to be self-actualized and the things at the bottom of the pyramid are things that you need for survival. So an example is like food, water, shelter those are the things you need for survival and if you have them you can start to build your self-actualization. But if you don't have those things, that's what you need to fix in order to feel like your needs are met, basically. So in the start of this movie, walter Mitty obviously has those things enabling him to survive, but he's not thriving. So he's surviving but he's not thriving, and he begins to live with intention a little bit more, and that's when he starts to do those things where he's engaging in the real world. He's taking risks by jumping out of helicopters. I'm not recommending our viewers and listeners do that to find who you really are, but-.
Speaker 1:No, if you do do it safely and with professionals. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I think that was definitely just a big metaphor for jumping out of your comfortability and embracing that authenticity that makes you who you are, and that's sort of one thing that you could do that's purposeful to you, that's something that you love, something that you're sort of passionate about, and aligning your inner and your outer self, because we all have that idea of who we are and who we want to present on the inside. But is that who we're presenting on the outside? And for me personally I'm trying to get better at that, because it's definitely something that I've sort of struggled with as well, just like Walter Mitty has is trying to bring the inside me to the outer world, and the more I do it, the more I realize that it's. It's kind of okay, but I'm definitely not all the way there yet oh yeah, 100.
Speaker 2:Like I kind of blame me. Anyway, I blame my teenage years and, yeah, cool, like we were always trying or I know, for me at least, always trying to like join in and be a part of the bigger group, as much as and I don't think anyone in that bigger group actually really knew who they were we were all just trying to pretend to be something. We were to try and pretend to fit in and then as soon as, like, high school was over, it's like what was the point?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it didn't even really matter.
Speaker 2:that's that recognition as well yeah, it didn't matter at all and then. But now I think because of that it sort of left, like it sort of ingrains it in you a little bit and because I don't think it was until like I was 24, 25, yeah, when, no, maybe like 25, 26, when I started, like when I really was like I don't like doing any of the things I was doing and I'm like I, that's just not who I am. Like that's when I started like playing dnd again and and then we met. And then we met and like I like I stopped drinking and like I stopped drinking as much as I used to, because I used to think that was because I was a teenager. That's all we do Friday night and we get on the piss, go out. I do that Friday, saturday and Sunday and then sleep off Sunday night and hope that I wasn't too bad on Monday for work.
Speaker 2:I think as I've gotten older, I've started shedding off of the whole persona that I was pretending to be and started being more comfortable in who I am. And unfortunately, it did take a lot longer than I was hoping for and if any young people take anything out of this episode, it's like high school is great, high school, you meet some friends for life, but don't let high school define you. Yeah, like high school is going to end. You're going to become an adult and everything that happens in high school define you. Yeah, like high school's going to end. You're going to become an adult and everything that happens in high school, besides what you learn, is not going to matter.
Speaker 1:I like that, I think that's really good and it sort of falls into some of the themes of this movie too, where you're looking at demonstrating action and overcoming fear. So his moment is obviously jumping out of the helicopter but for us might be, you know, stopping some habits that we used to have that don't serve us anymore, like we don't want to do x, y and z because we want to change our life and make our color palette go from blues and grays to beautiful colors, like like walter middy's was. But I like at the end of this movie how he'd always sought that recognition and I think that's what that we can relate that back to teenage life as well. You're always seeking that recognition, you want to fit in, you want to be part of the group and part of the collective and he's seeking connection as well through Cheryl. But I think through this at the very end of it, walter Mitty does get that recognition because Sean does actually put him on the last cover of Life magazine.
Speaker 1:But it's not really about fame at that point for me, for Walter and his reaction to that is absolutely perfectly exemplified by the fact that he's okay with being himself. Now it's understated. There's a quiet acknowledgement, there's a worthiness that sits within him and even though it's externally validated through that magazine cover, that isn't really what matters to him anymore, because at the end of the movie it doesn't focus on the fact that he is now on the cover of this Life magazine and he's immortalized forever in a photograph. What we focus on is the colorful, beautiful palette of him walking down the street with Cheryl, sharing a beautiful human connection. That's completely natural.
Speaker 1:Conversation isn't grandiose, it's just a simple sort of human interaction at the end of it, talking about the things that they enjoy, and eventually they agree to meet each other again, you know, and the relationship and the connection flourishes there. So it's this movie that's full of all of these brilliant and amazing and big impactful adventure pieces. Core of it. There's also the small human interaction moments that really sort of matter, that make walter come out of his shell a little bit and realize his potential through the journey that he went on, but also through realizing the things that are inside him are good enough to show people outside as well yeah, I, I know I love that because I forgot about that until I watched it.
Speaker 2:That's last time that the final photo was him. I forgot all about that, it's one of the most poignant parts, but when I watched it I was young and didn't give a shit.
Speaker 1:I think that says a lot about the movie, though is the fact that it was so understated that it wasn't really the point of the movie that he was the very end picture on it. The point of the movie was that he overcame that sense of needing external recognition, being on the front of the cover that it didn't really matter to him anymore. And the fact that it didn't matter to you as an audience member was like well, that's just art meeting real life yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:I think, though, it was a little bit more poignant this time around. That was when I first watched it, when I was younger, because this time I saw it and like, because the photo, the photo is him sitting on steps looking at two different photos. Was he having lunch? No, he's having, he's looking at photos.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was looking through the, the spectacles that he sort of and looking at, looking at photos and like, and it showed, and it just shows that, like the last episode of time magazine, which every, every cover of time magazine is something large and or something beautiful, something thing, and then the very final thing is this is what, like all those things, this is what life is.
Speaker 1:It's yeah the quintessence of life, it's just us, yeah yeah, that's really awesome.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get into some of our favorite scenes here. All right. So I want to start off with the first daydream sequence. When we looked at that, we already sort of talked a little bit about it.
Speaker 1:But we're introduced to this scene where walter's sort of sitting in the middle of the train station and he's very isolated. Through medium and wide shots and you can see that there there's not very many people around him and the connections that he's having really aren't there. And the fact that he's so small and positioned so small around all these really big buildings and structures just shows how much of a small piece of the machine he is. And when he's sort of traveling in the train and to work, you can see him moving with the herds of people. So it shows that he's not really an individual in this space. He's moving through the crowds, he's trying to get through the day. The palette is cool and desaturated and it's grays and blues, as we talked about before but then jumps into this daydreaming sequence where he literally does a double flip off the bridge, enters this burning building that is completely engulfed in flames and then comes out the back of it.
Speaker 1:A real hero, and that was like the first instance where I saw ben stiller acting like the ben stiller I see in the movies and he comes out and he's got this completely silly-looking robotic leg for the dog and you notice in that small instance that he's obviously sort of wanting these sort of connections and he's wanting that recognition and he's also a bit of a dreamer as well. But I just really liked how his daydreams are not rooted in selfish fantasies. Here it's like a longing to be valued. It was a of it was a bit out of left field for me because I didn't know what to expect when I watched this movie whether it was a comedy, whether it was a drama, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So when I was watching this and I saw this lonely guy sitting at the train station that snapped into that dream sequence, I was like, oh, what's this? What's happening here?
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, and there was a few of those going through the the movie brush those dream sequences as well. Yeah, like I, I really enjoyed the uh stretch armstrong sequence dream sequence. That was probably my favorite dream sequence because I was fighting in the elevator yeah, fighting in the elevator with, uh, adam scott's character and they're fighting over the stretch armstrong. It ends up spilling out into the streets, but they're like earth bender rock sliding across like the bitumen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's just just like this huge production and I like that to me, like watching that scene, but like, and it was just how, how much he wanted to sort of, why does it stick up for himself? Cause he's, he always just takes it. And this, this was his dream of him being able to stand up to the bigger boss, the bigger man, and try and win, but sort of doesn't. But that was probably my favorite dream sequence of this movie.
Speaker 1:I really liked when they'd snap into and out of the dream sequences because it would always have this soundtrack swell when he got into the dream sequence and it'd be cinematic because obviously it's imaginatory.
Speaker 1:But then there would also be like it almost fades to near silence.
Speaker 1:It's almost like a distortion and a fade and it's a sharp contrast between his imagination and the real world.
Speaker 1:And then obviously, coupled with Ben Stiller's subtle reaction like the, the snap back into the reality in the slow blink. It's like who hasn't done that before? But yeah, I just love how like that's a really artful way to to portray that kind of transition, because otherwise I think it would be a little bit more sort of confusing for us to to watch. But in the end he sort of reclaims his imagination as part of action. But to to go back to what you were saying about Adam Scott and how he always sees himself against him as almost like a victim against an antagonist, they do that as well by they sort of lower the camera angles slightly when they're looking at him as well, to show the distortion of power, time and you know, work, the workplace framing also. It's just putting him in this space where he's, he's completely in this social and emotional detachment, but he's also having a lot of sort of antagonistic, internalized invisibility towards his boss he's always alone.
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, and the boss, adam scott, has always got those two other guys on each side of him, sort of like overshadowing Walter, and the first time he has a daydream about fighting back, it's just him and Adam in the elevator alone. Adam doesn't have his backup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I think that's really good to note as well, and also noting the fact that he's also alone. He has to travel into the underbelly of this Life magazine business to get to his office. He goes down all the levels. He goes through like the internal structure of the building. He's literally alone in a dank, darkened, deep space. So that's sort of metaphorical for him as a person too. That's how far removed he is from society. And as he gets himself out of there he starts to live his real life and the color palette begins to change as well.
Speaker 2:But he definitely has that detachment there, doesn't he? Yeah, and going on to how, from his daydreams, how he's all grandiose, like how he is all grandiose. You see that moment when he's in the park with cheryl and her son and he shows cheryl's son how to do a kickflip. Yeah, because he used to skateboard and he used to be really good like skateboarding, but doesn't feel that that's, he sort of pushes it, so it doesn't feel that's like a necessary life skill to make him cool or anything like that. And you see him in the background while shell's on the phone, just doing all these cool tricks on this board, and you're like and like no one else besides the kid is there to see it. And then cheryl gets the phone turns around. That's when he's finished with all these tricks, and so cheryl doesn't see it either and you sort of like that's cool as yeah but you do it when no one's watching and no one no one actually sees how cool it is yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:That's perfect, because it shows that how overlooked he feels, but also how undervalued he feels his skills are, and that sense of unworthiness and just how he really shows who he is and who he feels as a person on the inside, because he doesn't feel like that massive and awesome trick is worth sharing with anybody.
Speaker 1:And I love that because when they shot it they've obviously got Cheryl in the foreground completing up all the focus and in the background Ben Stiller's doing kickflips and stuff in a sort of fuzzy outline and that's drawing all our focus, but we can't sharply see it. So we can see that yeah, it's there, it's in him, but it's not fully obvious to us and it's also not obvious to him that it's really really cool. And it goes back to that quote that Sean says at the end of the movie where he says beautiful things don't ask for attention. And that's Ben Stiller or Walter Mitty in this moment doing a beautiful thing, asking for no attention for it at all. So it's that playback, too, which is really awesome. I love that scene. That's a really good pull out.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah, that's probably one of my favorite things in the entire movie, besides the huge Iceland Greenlandland trip. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that whole thing, but maybe skateboarding, the skateboarding down that road, that's absolutely let's jump into that scene now, because that's pretty, pretty symbolic as well.
Speaker 1:You know, he's there's a scene that comes before that that we'll sort of talk about as well, with the helicopter jump, which that's what that's his first sort of step into realizing. You know, know, I've got to do things outside, I've got to step out of my comfort zone, I've got to be who I am on the inside. And he climbs into the helicopter and jumps out and does something completely reckless and unnatural to him. But as he's skateboarding down the slopes of Iceland, it is just like he's narrowly escaping volcanic eruptions. In this part he's using his longboarding skills.
Speaker 1:It's literally a pure moment of presence, like he's in the moment, to the point where Ben Stiller once again is depicted as a really tiny guy, because they use a lot of long shots and you see the beautiful landscape of Iceland but instead of it sort of pinpointing and highlighting his isolation to society, it's almost like him succumbing to the fact that he is just a small part in the big game of life in this sort of moment and he is so small in terms of the landscape around him.
Speaker 1:But he almost sort of succumbs to it because there's that shot of him going down arms open, sunlight behind him, sort of shining in that understated music playing as he's going down as well. That shows he is completely pure in this moment. It's a it's joy and self-liberation and he's just sort of impressed by the fact that he's not daydreaming and that's the like he's doing these brilliant things. But he's actually not daydreaming this time and he's experiencing freedom for the first time. And it's not about achieving that greatness, but he sort of feels alive in that moment. So I think that was one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie.
Speaker 2:Him jumping out of the helicopter on the wrong side is absolutely hilarious. Dory's just a dolphin and then there's going to be a shark.
Speaker 1:Not a dolphin.
Speaker 2:But yeah, like I think Ben Stiller did a really good job of this. When he's in that skateboard scene, just the look on his face when you look at job of this, when he's in that skateboard scene, just to look at his face. When you look at his face when he, when he's his arms black, when he's like down and he's just zooming, you see, look his face and just looks like he's at peace yes, yeah like it's just. It's just like there's absolute freedom. Puts his arms out and he's just going take me lord.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely oh and like, because I think that's one of my like. My second favorite scene was him on a skateboard going down that winding road and just just how and like even me watching it. I was just like, oh, like.
Speaker 1:That's probably not something that I want to do, necessarily, but it's something I want to feel yes, yeah, and that that's illustrated perfectly, I think, because when we're looking at this, if we look at the symbolism of it, the road is like winding through all these different obstacles, and that represents, obviously, walter's path and the life that he's on right now and life of anybody. It's a winding path full of things that we don't know. He doesn't know what's coming up around the bend, there's no shortcuts, there's no detours, but he's moving forward and that's what we all want to do. We all want to sort of move forward. We don't want to get stalled in this moment.
Speaker 1:He's got his arms outstretched, which can be like a symbol of like rebirth and freedom, vulnerability, without fear as well, because he seemed at peace, as we said, like the look on his face.
Speaker 1:He's just vulnerable to whatever is coming around the corner, but he's present in that moment and the landscapes around him the real landscapes, not the actual imaginary landscapes is like authenticity. He's going through this transformation that isn't a fantasy, but it's earned and it's lived and it's real and it's just effortless in that moment. And I think that there's this introspective moment of triumph for him, because the song that's playing is called Far Away, the lyrics in it so it says step outside, won't you lend me your wings? And it echoes that emotional liftoff that walter goes through when he's in that moment and he really just wants to sort of be who he is on the inside, outside again. So yeah, I, I agree. I think that it's really again one of those moments where sean o'connell's line beautiful things don't ask for attention. It's one of again one of those moments where Sean O'Connell's line beautiful things don't ask for attention. It's one of the most beautiful shots in the whole movie and no one's around to see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's worthy for him yeah.
Speaker 1:He captures in that moment and he doesn't boast about it, Like he doesn't later on. I would tell everybody. That was me, and I did that successfully, and that might say a little bit about me. But like walter goes through that whole thing, skateboards down one of the longest, windiest roads in the whole entire world, escapes a volcano. Yes, he tells pat nolswald he's a harmony guy. Yeah, that's all. But he doesn't do it as a brag, he almost does.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, put that on there, okay yeah, actually do you want to just shut that down, like later he says do you want to shut down the e-harmony page?
Speaker 2:yeah, he just lives it, he embodies it yeah, because it's not even him bragging about, it's his patent. I was like oh, have you been anywhere else? Have you been anywhere lately? He's like well, actually, yeah actually he's asked about it I've been here and he's like what and?
Speaker 2:but he says like he's saying it so nonchalantly, like, yeah, I've been here, but and I think it's the same with like his doesn't want to, he wants to overshadow himself yeah, so he's talking on his thing, so he's saying it's like not a big deal. He's like, oh, I just did this. The ianui guy was like that's incredible, that's amazing and it's all. What's this all like? It's just something I've done it's just something I've done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one fact I learned about those scenes in particular that we've talked about jumping out of the helicopter into the sea and also this skateboarding sequence is ben Stiller did a lot of interviews when he was promoting this through film festivals and one of the things that everybody asked him was did he really do that? And he did like he didn't use any sort of stunt doubles there. He tried to make it as authentic as possible and he wanted to go through as much of it as possible, because it does build that intimacy and connection with the viewer when you know that the actor is actually or the character is actually doing the things that they're doing on screen for real. And I think that that really plays into Walter's journey as well, because it's actually him performing those sort of moments. But if we jump back to the copter scene at this moment as well, as we said, very funny sort of jumping out of the wrong side of it. But I think that's also a metaphor for when you do take that leap or you do stop that habit.
Speaker 1:If we're going to go small scale or you take this step forward for the day, and for some people that is the achievement is taking a step forward in the right direction. For the day that jump out of the helicopter can feel like the stormy waves that are crashing below for him, like it's not a calm sea. It is a tumultuous, screaming, wave-ridden, shark-filled ocean that is probably freezing. That was my first thought when I watched it. That's going to be calm. That would be super cold.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But, yeah, he takes a step out the wrong side of the helicopter, so, and it's like take that step, like it may not be the right step but eventually. Eventually he got around to the right, he got to the right place.
Speaker 1:That's such a good point too, because, yeah, not every step you take is going to be in the right direction, but you don't know that until you take it.
Speaker 2:So I think that's an awesome message that this movie shows you as well and then it proceeds to him on the skateboard just progressing forward, trying to get to where he needs to get to, and I think that, like the point you made before, like it's about moving forward even if you do take the wrong step or if you do make a decision and it's not the correct one, just keep moving forward and just keep trying, like the worst thing you do is give up, which at one point he sort of does in the in the movie. After this, after he feels like he's gotten to the point where he can't go any further, and then it takes I think it's his mother, yeah, talking to his mother, and then seeing the edge of the piano and the photo to be like wait, and then, yeah, that's another thing, back on track too yeah, yeah, exactly, getting back on track.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it does take that support network, those trusted friends and family members that you need to sort of point you in the right direction and give you assistance to get through that next step, to become your true self through that self-actualization.
Speaker 1:Because it is a journey and as he's going on it, you look at that moment of him jumping out of the helicopter and it's very courageous. But it's that old adage. They say that courage isn't doing something with an absence of fear, it's being afraid and doing it in spite of it as well. So he didn't need to be perfect in that moment, he just needed to be willing to do it and he was. And as he did that, he didn't get his answer straight away as he jumped out of the helicopter, it led him to the next thing. So that's something to keep in mind as well, as sometimes it's not always about the step you're taking to get you to the answer that you want right now. Sometimes it's the small step in the right direction that will bring you to the big goal at the end, as it sits as well and it wasn't, and and with his mistake of jumping off the wrong side, he lost the parts for the radio.
Speaker 2:And losing the parts for radio, he couldn't just get onto the boat and then contact Sean Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which sort of made his journey harder too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which had to continue his journey, which, like at the time, he's probably like oh, now I have to do more things, but then at the end of it coming out, of coming out of it, at the end, he grew more, experienced more and learned more along the way than if it was something as easy as jumping into a boat, going on a boat, fixing a radio, calling sean, saying hey, where's the thing he's saying?
Speaker 1:oh, and flying over there done like yeah yeah, it's almost that, that old saying that they say where you know, mistakes help us grow. But also mistakes sometimes cause suffering, and through suffering you also grow and build character too. And that's what happens to Walter as well. He makes that mistake, he beats himself up about it, but then he goes forward and tries to fix it again with the fishermen on the boats there. He sort of talks to them and moves forward to his next step. But if he didn't lose those parts to the radiator, to the radio sorry which can happen If you're going through something new you're not going to get it right the first time. If you're going through that and you make those mistakes and you don't continue on, he would never have had those experiences in Iceland that really made him self-actualize and really believe in the true self that he could be as he's going down this of skateboarding sequence. So I think that was an important part of the journey and really that was the pivotal part of the movie for me. That's where it sort of transitioned, that's where the imagination sort of moved a little bit into the lesser, as opposed to being foregrounded as something that he did all the time.
Speaker 1:But I think with this, when we're looking at Walter, there's hints throughout the movie that he's a character that has gone through a little bit. His dad's not around anymore. He's obviously got these photos of him when he was a youngster, where he had a mohawk, and the theme of Papa John's is through the movie, where he had to get a job and then step up into the real world and support and provide for his family. At that point as well, he's very close to his mom and his sister. So he's delivered to us as a real sort of person who goes through real struggles, and that's what I think. These moments are really powerful for us, because we see an ordinary guy doing these amazing things. But I think it also does a good job of balancing the fact that these amazing and big things might look awesome on the screen, but for us in our everyday life it might just be, as we said, taking that next step forward. So I think that it does a beautiful job throughout.
Speaker 1:But I want to talk now, brash, about my favorite scene in the movie, which is when he's climbing the Himalayas and he meets Sean O'Connell. That is a beautiful thing, yeah, and for me it's after the longest time. It's an uncertain journey. He goes through oceans, volcanoes, his own insecurities as well. He finds Sean, and he's like calmly watching a snow leopard through his camera, like not knowing anything about what's going on, and he stumbles across him. He doesn't find him on purpose, he sort of stumbles across him and sometimes the answer happens that way too, in real life, Like he's no longer the man from their daydreams. At this point, walter, he is the man that he sort of imagined. This is the climax of the movie. For me, like I know, the movie goes on for a little bit further, but to me Walter becomes his true self at that moment in that conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the whole, I guess, because you see, now he's got like, he's still got like a beard and it's all got the snow on it and you see he's like not so much like age, but you can see the weathering on him for, like everything he's been through, he's been on a journey For sure. Sean doesn't, because they've never really seen each other. Sean's like who are you, he's like who are?
Speaker 1:you.
Speaker 2:He's like I'm walter, he's like also, and then I know you. And then he's like I hear you get the 25th shot, like it wasn't in the in the with the rest of him. He's like, oh, I put down the wallet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's like you're sitting on it. Yeah, he's like what, what do?
Speaker 2:you mean I put you on. He's like I threw out. He's like why'd you throw the wallet out, man? He's like why'd you put it in the wallet? Yeah, but then that's that point then, where he's like this has all been pointless. But then Sean's like no, just sit here and take it in, man. Yeah, take in the view, take in the scenery. And then Sean sees the people playing soccer. You just come and play soccer. We're going to be short if you don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll be short, if you don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And then you just come down and play soccer and they just have a good time and then, like I think after that that's when he's like, yeah, it may have been pointless, but it was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but after that I think he does grow into that self-actualized version of himself. He becomes his true self because he's no longer fantasizing and he realizes that he's enough to the point where he previously fantasized about beating the shit out of his boss. But now he goes in and has a verbal conversation, expresses his feelings in a healthy way and then walks out and leaves. I'll jump back to the Himalayan scene in a moment. I'll jump back to the Himalayan scene in a moment, but just while I'm on it, I think that that ending scene with Adam Scott, where he actually delivers him photograph number 25, and Adam Scott decides to put that on the page he could have done anything with that and Walter doesn't check up on him or make sure or check the frame itself to see that he actually puts the right one on. So I think it's a moment of growth from Ted Hendricks too, where he hears from Walter and his journey, sees the inspirational things that he's sort of done and believes in him enough to actually go and then put him on the cover. I just wanted to give a little bit of a moment there for Adam Scott and Ted Hendricks for his small growth. But back to the Himalayan scene. The most pivotal part for me is that that moment and that scene is silent, like there's no burst of emotion, there's stillness. It's almost like a deep internal realignment for Walter, and I love the fact that when Sean finds out that he threw the wallet out, sean communicates his feelings very openly and honestly with him. He goes well, that hurt my feelings, that hurts my feelings, you know, that's, that's just. I love the way that those two sort of interact, having never met, but there's obviously a respect there, because sean sees walter for who he could be and for who he is now, and walter realizing it in this moment is perfect. But there's there's these wide establishing shots to show the vast scenery. So once again, they're small in the environment, which means they're standing in the presence of mountains, which is a metaphor for the inner climb that he's going through On the way up there. He wanted to cancel his eHarmony profile as well. He's like I just shut it off, I don't need it anymore.
Speaker 1:The camera is framed in this sort of observational, respectful, quiet way and it allows the audience to sit with the characters in this moment. I think it's like I don't know eight to twelve minutes, but it doesn't feel that way and you're completely invested. And you know sean's face is also always partially obscured by the camera in this. And then you know in that, in that moment he sort of moves away from it, which is a visual metaphor for choosing presence over performance, because he sort of sits there and he embraces Walter's presence and he embraces the presence of the ghost cat that eventually does come along and he lives in that moment, the truth of the moment, which is exactly what Walter did earlier on the hill skateboarding.
Speaker 1:But then Sean Penn, who plays Sean O'Connell in this, delivers probably one of the most beautiful lines in this movie and it's shown across social media all the time because it is such a powerful sort of moment and I think it's very poignant as well for people that are using social media a lot these days. But he says sometimes, you know, if I see something that I like, sometimes I don't take the shot. If I like a moment, I don't like to have the distraction of a camera, I just want to stay in it. And that's so powerful and it's so beautiful the way that it was delivered. You know, kudos to Sean Penn. He had a really small part in this but it was a pivotal small role.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Walter's growth, like you said at the end, how he sort of makes Ted Hendricks, sort of makes him think about what he's doing. When he asked him like do you even know what the model of life is? Yeah, yeah, and he's like life, I'm loving it. He's like no, that's McDonald's. Yeah, just do it. It is how he's talking, like you come to these places and you push people out. You don't know how hard all these people really worked to create this, to build the magazine, and they believe in the motto that's why we work here. And he's like I know you have to do what you have to do, but maybe next time don't be such a dick. And then he does this line that Ted gives him and is like put that on a plaque at your next job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the fact that you know he didn't have to go and beat him up to sort of put him in his place, but he also spread that message and I think that's a good one too. And I think this is what Sean embodies in the movie is that Sean quietly recogn, recognizes the beauty in others and what others should feel worthy about. Because he does that for Walter and I think that it's really important to know that for Walter's job, he catalogs and preserves these moments that are really revolutionary, and sometimes moments don't have to be captured to be meaningful or revolutionary. They need to be felt, and I think Sean knows that pivotally. But he also knows the importance of connecting with people and making sure that you're kind to others, for example, and you show them, or you try to show them or try to help them believe in the worthiness that's sort of sitting inside them, or at least tell somebody that you no longer need to be spectacular or awesome to be recognized as great.
Speaker 1:But this is also in this scene, where the line of beautiful things don't ask for attention. And to get a bit personal here, that's also one of the main reasons why I really love my partner, kalia, because she is a really sort of beautiful person but she has almost zero social media presence. She lives her life in the day-to-day, she's really connected to her family and she takes happiness in those small moments in life. And that connected to me in this moment of this movie because, as much as it's sort of not really nice to compare your partner to a shadow snow leopard, but I think in this moment when the quote was made, it's it sort of really connected me to that in terms of her.
Speaker 2:So well, I mean, yeah, I love that. I mean, sean, that is beautiful, by the way, but thank you, sean also does the same thing. He, because when walter asks him, like when he says he's thrown the wallet out, he's like, well, what was it? And Sean's just like, let's just call it the shadow cat. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just call it a ghost cat. A ghost cat, yeah, because, like you had a comparison before of, like Walter Mini to being the ghost cat, sean makes the same comparison to him, to the ghost cat and Walter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that. But I think that the most important thing for this is, like when he was climbing the mountain, the mountain wasn't like a physical obstacle, it was him overcoming his own self-doubt. And you know we're met with another shot when they're finished, of him just enjoying the moment once again, playing soccer with some natives and Sean, and it's completely silhouetted but they're backlit by light and it really just takes you into the presence of that moment, with the slow score and it's a beautiful scene. That sort of shows him just sort of at peace once again. So you know I'm a sucker for a really good character development story and I think this is one that's done really subtly and really really well. So I think becoming a true self often requires, like, letting go of your ego, but sort of. Also, it's not always ground and grand and loud, which is what this movie does really really well.
Speaker 1:So, all right, let's get into our final takeaways. Hey, brash, all right. So we're not going to go into really detailed reviews like we kind of used to on the fandom portals podcast. If you want to see those, we're going to do them specialty style and they'll appear like every now and then through our podcast, but most notably on our youtube, which will be in the snow show notes below. In this part we're just really going to talk about our our favorite scene, our favorite quote, any sort of nitpicks we have with the movie, and then we're just going to give it a rating out of five and we're going to put it on our honor board as well, because we're going to keep the honor board going and post that on our social medias. So, brash, what was the best scene or favorite scene for yourself?
Speaker 2:There's so many I really, really, really enjoyed. But for me I think my favorite scene, I'd have to say when he's showing off his skateboard tricks, because he's not even doing it for Shell, he's doing it for Sun. They have no real connection but he's willing to be sort of that father figure willing to try and help out however you can. Even it's as simple as hey, I'll let me show you how to do a kickflip and but. But the fact that it's in the background with the four-round show where it's blurred out, you can barely see it like that. That whole, just that picture, I think that scene just yeah, it does it for me, that one yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1:So that's one of those scenes that show you know, beautiful, beautiful things, don't ask for attention. But yeah, mine's on a similar vein. Mine's the himalayas scene when he sees the ghost cat. Because of the personal connection I kind of had with that line, best quote quote for me is that one beautiful things, don't ask for attention. Did you have a favorite quote that you'd want to share with our listeners?
Speaker 2:I really like that quote. Sometimes I don't. It's like a moment for me. Personally, I don't like to have the distraction of camera, I just want to stay in it. That line, for me, is always going to be amazing. This one, I think, is deep and has such beautiful meaning that everyone should take to heart. It's don't cheat on your lady. And when you live in a country that only has eight people in it, oh, that's true.
Speaker 1:I love that movie. You know what? One thing that we didn't mention as well is? There's like a call out to the matrix in this movie, where there's the blue and the red car. Did you see that? Yeah, yeah, which is literally, like you know, going into the real world, which is what, what was pointing in the matrix there as well. Do you have any nitpicks for this movie? Anything that sort of didn't hit or didn't strike? I've, I've got one and I reckon it's. It's probably one that's sort of mirrored by a lot of people.
Speaker 1:When this came out, everybody was a little bit perturbed by the, the product placement, like oh, yeah the papa john's and and the heineken especially that you can see throughout like it didn't pull me out of it. But if I'm gonna pick knits for this one, I think that would probably be it for me. And sometimes some of the moments they're drawn out a little bit too long in terms of pacing. But on second, third, fourth watch you realize that that's sort of the point. It's like staying in the moment and taking in the sort of beauty of some of the scenery and the situations that you're in. So if I'm going to nitpick something, that's it for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think, I really. No, it's like nothing. I mean, all the dream sequences are cool, the one, the fight scene, my favorite one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that one's probably a little bit too long, yep, but other than that, nothing that I would say that I'd take out to make it better Very good, okay, so that means we're going to give it a rating out of five.
Speaker 1:For me, I've given it 4.5 out of five. What about yourself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll have to say I was going to give it a 4, but now I'm saying that I don't have any notes for it. I'm like that might be closer to 4.5. Yeah, actually I'm not going to say 4.5, I reckon I love this movie. It's a beautiful movie.
Speaker 1:So that means it gives us an average of 4.5 from both hosts. So that means this one sits at second on our honor board, brad, sitting behind only the Guardians of the Galaxy, volume 3. It's at 4.5, and we both sort of agreed we also have the New Mutants at 4.5. We kind of agreed that this movie's messages are a little bit more impactful for us like both of us sort of personally so we put it in the second spot. So there we go, we've got a new top three, yeah.
Speaker 2:Happy with that. So why is Phantom of the Opera now fourth?
Speaker 1:Phantom of the Opera is fifth, now Still in the top five Yep, which one's fourth? The Crow.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, the Crow, of course.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yep, yeah, All right, so let's get into our sign-offs. All right, everybody. This is the end of this episode. If you've got thoughts for us on ahead of time so you can tell us all the features that you loved about the movie or ones that you didn't like so much, we're everywhere at fandom portals, so that's instagram, and also on threads. After we post these episodes, we're also going to post a question for you guys. So, obviously, walter middy's transitional sort of moment in this movie was when he sort of jumped out of the helicopter and was skateboarding down the slopes of Iceland there. So what was your Greenland or Iceland moment? What was the moment that sort of changed you? If anything you can tell us on the social media, we'll put it on our thread. So join our social medias at Fandom Portals there for that. If you're loving the podcast, definitely go and tell a friend about it If you think they'll vibe with it. Nothing grows in the podcast world without your help. So, please, word of mouth is awesome for us and we also have a newsletter. So if you want a newsletter every month we're only sending one a month you can join that at wwwvenomportalspodcastcom.
Speaker 1:Next week we're going to be sinking our teeth into Zombieland from 2009 to explore how value and connection, even a world gone mad, can help us to drop the act and step into who we truly are. That will be the second movie in our run on Becoming your True Self, which is our themed arc for the movies we're doing right now, so definitely tune into that. It'll be a week from your time of listening to this, or, if you're listening to it in the future, it'll be there right now, so go and check it out. Gratitudes, brash. We're moving these to the end. I am grateful for our late night conversations with Kalia Having a few of those lately and it's good to have time when the kids have gone to bed for us to chat. It's good. Watched a movie last night. It was very nice to connect. That's what I'm grateful for Time with the wife what?
Speaker 2:about yourself. Recently, I think similar to you, but not with wife, with friends, we went and watched Superman together and that was so good. I went and watched the New York Night you did last summer with a friend of mine. That was really good. Last night it was over at my neighbor's house. We had a barbecue and had some drinks and just shot the shit.
Speaker 1:Social calendars flourishing yeah.
Speaker 2:So, socially, I've done a lot more in the past month with our trip and everything like that now than I have probably in the last three years Actually, besides when we used to play D&D. Yeah, yeah. That used to be so awesome. Look at you.
Speaker 1:Stephan, jumping out of those helicopters into the Icelandic sea. Brash Go you yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yes, let's go, grateful for the people I have in my life right now Amazing.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you, guys, and we'll see you next week on the Phantom Portals podcast. Keep learning, keep growing, keep loving fandoms. Bye, see ya.
