Do I even need to explain this one? I’ve documented on here my thoughts about small town Iowa more than once.
Well… it’s David Lynch. So yes, I suppose I do, even if only superficially. I owe him one after all, since he was the key to unlocking much of my recent discoveries of what it is that I actually do and am.
So… for many years, well, decades, actually, I would make the trek to and fro Illinois to one of the smallest of the small towns in Iowa to visit my Grandparent(s). I would visit at least once a year, and sometimes two or more times. It was these trips and the experiences I had on them that are the obvious basis for this Lynch classic.
I missed this one in theaters. I was in college at the time and was intrigued but otherwise busy.
I caught it on the internet back in December, after Christmas, while I was trying to detox from the fentanyl. I guess it carried me through when I needed it. Consider this post a “thanks” to everyone involved with the production of this great film.
But… wow, was I utterly blown away. It was so… surreal, watching this movie. I mean, the main plot here obviously has nothing to do with me but everything else… wow. It’s utterly insane how many memories this movie brought back to me.
I mean, I won’t even list them, since there’s just… so many. I mean, memories, and situations, and places. The streets, the people, the… environment, the culture, the roads and hills, the farms, the hot sun. Even the chairs people sat on, and what they talked about. The houses, down to the details. The way the kitchens were laid out and just… everything. It was incredible.
And I mean just everything. I did some calculating on google maps and the journey of the protagonist was basically the same length in miles as the journey that I made every year. Of course, he was going from Iowa to Wisconsin, and not from Illinois to Iowa. And apparently the film is based on a true story. But I mean… wow.
I mean, I actually recognized the hero’s house. Literally. Like, I did a double take and legitimately wondered if I had been in that actual house, lol. I mean, it’s built so very closely to my grandparent’s old house that I kinda didn’t believe what it was that I was even seeing while watching the flick.
It’s kinda… amazing.
And yeah, I was looking for the key and I found it. The guy who sells our hero the tractor that he needs to make the trip is a man named “Tom”. IMDB lists him as “Tom the John Deere Dealer”. Special emphasis is placed on his name “Tom” when he is around. And he sells John Deere tractors, in a lot not unlike the Caterpillar tractor dealer located around my own small town experiences. Note that at the time this movie was made, I was also a salesman, selling computer stuff retail during the summer months, in much the same way as “Tom” sells the tractor in this film, which is not coincidentally the action that kick starts the whole process of his journey and the main arc of the movie.
I’m not going to bother listing the myriad other similarities and minor keys in this film that tie it back to me. I’ve already proven myself with all the stuff I’ve already listed, I think. And I’ve done these exercises enough, honestly.
But… yeah, there you go.
And I see that the Iowa parts of the new Superman show seem to be based on these memories as well, if the clips I saw on YouTube are indicative of the whole show.
And come to think of it, how much do you want to bet that ALL of the recent depictions of Smallville are based on my own memories of small town Iowa? By recent I mean anything from the early 90’s on.
Honestly, I don’t know this one myself. I’ve not seen one complete episode of Smallville or Lois and Clark. I was always more a kind of a Justice League Unlimited kinda guy when it came to my DC fix. But I mean… seriously. Anyone wanna bet against my hunch on this one? Because personally I wouldn’t.
I mean, well… there you go.
But… wow, though. It literally just doesn’t end, does it? I mean, I can see mirrors of my own experiences there even in stuff like old Leo DiCaprio flicks, which of course could just be mere coincidence of course. I will need to investigate further when I have time.
But… wow. This is kinda crazy, isn’t it? And kinda… dispiriting. Like, I really am different, and I mean very, very different. I’m not even remotely close to “normal”.
And yeah I will need to go back now into Lynch’s earlier works, like Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, which is kinda disconcerting since I was like 5 years old when Blue Velvet was made, lol. but I mean… I think I’ll need to.
Well… IDK. I suppose I will dedicate my involvement in The Straight Story to my old life, the experiences I had, and the people I left behind there after my Nana passed on. And to the way things were, before all of the recent insanities on the national stage.
Well… there it is.
Sigh…
Thanks.