If you have ever seen the movie “Mystery Men,” you know as well as I do that you cannot leave that movie without wanting an egg salad sandwich. Why? Because in one scene, a character gratuitously makes egg salad while the team plans and discusses. There is no reason for them to make egg salad, other than the obvious fact that humans need to eat, but it makes me want egg salad every time I see it. And others I have discussed this with have experienced the same phenomenon.
This makes me think about all of the background sex in Game of Thrones. Sex is a little more taboo than egg salad perhaps, but they are quite related. Sex, like hunger, is a natural drive that most humans have, and it goes on all the time. Just not on TV usually. That’s the taboo part. But honestly, with all the sex and nudity going on in the world, probably more shows should just have random characters walking around naked in the background. It would certainly be a lot more like my house if that were to happen. People eat, people have sex, and when we watch other people do it it makes us want to do it too!
False. No movie can make me want to eat egg salad. The problem is, I already wanted to eat egg salad, and the movie simply reminded me of it. It’s the the same with sex. We all wanted to have sex, but we just forgot for a second until Game of Thrones reminded us. And also, we can’t have all the sex we want, because it honestly isn’t healthy. Same goes for food. That’s why media is an escape, a fantasy writ large across our screens. We get to see the things we want to do done, without the personal danger.
Today is Star Wars day, and that’s what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. Why has it retained its popularity for so long after other, similar properties have faded somewhat in the public consciousness? It’s because Star Wars is everything we ever wanted to be, but forgot about for a minute at our desk jobs. We want to be Luke, Han, Leia, Obi-Wan, Finn, Rey, even R2-D2. We see something of ourselves in them, and it reminds us of what we know we are inside. Hungry. For adventure. So get out there and live today! Have sex! Eat eggs! Save the day!
May the Fourth be with you!