It's the end of the year and time for a bit of a wrap up. Everyone seems to like wrap ups.
This series of articles/posts came from an observation I had last year. From the theory a lot of movie fans, specially horror movie fans, have that the first movie you watch in the calendar year will influence and parallel that coming year for you. I had noticed at the end of 2023, that the first movie I had watched back on January 1st 2023 had indeed paralleled half of the events that happened to me in that year. So I decided to do a bit of an experiment for 2024. I preselected a movie I had already seen, to be the first movie I watched in 2024. Already knowing the plot of the movie, I wanted to see if I could control elements in my own life; to be as close to the movie's plot as possible. I wanted to know if this movie theory is a case of synchronicity, or the power of suggestion or something else all together? Is there something in us on a psychic level that leads us to picking a similar storyline before hand, in order to ease us into our real life version?
That was my mission statement from part 1 of this challenge/experiment back at the end of December 2023. In the second post/article which I posted on January 1st 2024, I announced what movie I had picked. Which, if you've been following along at all, you know ended up being Rob Zombie's The Munsters. I also did a few movie challenges on my Letterboxd throughout the year which I would mention randomly during these articles/posts.
It's the end of 2024 and time for one final check in. The question is not if my life and this prepicked movie had parallels, it's what elements? Cause, if you've been reading any of this series this year, you know things in common did occur. Just not how I had hoped.
Timeline of this experiment = One full calendar year. Which the details to it were laid out in part one (December 20th 2023)
The movie selected was reveled January 1st 2024 in part 2
First update was in Part 3 on February 3rd 2024. Noticed the first round of similarities of my life at that point to the main character of Lily. My life seemed to parallel some of the stuff that happened to her in the first ten minutes of the film. And something in the life of the actor Sheri Moon-Zombie.
Second update was in Part 4 on March 9th 2024. I had written that nothing had happened in my life that I thought paralleled, or connected to the movie. Yet, looking back on it now, I see the stepping stones that were falling into place. I was just too focused on the main movie plotline of the romance to see what was going on around me.
Third update was in Part 5 on April 3rd 2024. There wasn't much to talk about other than the movies I had liked that month. I seemed to be stuck in what paralleled the first ten minutes of the movie still.
Fourth update was in Part 6 on May 1st 2024. Things in my life were indeed starting to be noticeable as paralleling the first couple of scenes in the movie. The part were Lily was having a terrible first date with Orlock who turns out to be a boring player. Yep, I was meeting nothing but men who were just not compatible with me.
Fifth update was in Part 7 on June 2nd 2024. I talked about a text I had gotten which was a mix up by the guy who sent it. I compared it to Floop from the movie and how he gets the wrong brain. If you want to call this a breakthrough moment you can. As it was the first time in the experiment that I stopped comparing my life with just the main plot of Lily and Herman, and started looking at the entire movie's plot. This was a bit of a turning point for me. Up until then, I had been so tunnel vision focused on the romance aspect of the movie's plot; that I had forgotten there are other sub-plots to consider.
The sixth update was in Part 8 on July 1st 2024. I started to shift my focus a bit at this part of the year to another goal/project I've been wanting to do for years. Start a magazine. And even though at the time, I didn't see the parallel, I do now. When Herman shifted his energy from being a standup comic to being in a punk band, his life started to improve. Things came to him a little bit easier. He started to make things happen. A simple change of focus.
Update seven was in Part 9 on August 1st 2024. Of which there was none. I ended up just talking about the Deadpool 3 movie.
Update eight was in Part 10 on September 1st 2024. I had to admit, when I thought about the rest of the characters in the movie and their own little sub-plots, I found a parallel to the character of The Count having to move with what was happening in my mom's life. Because of health issues, my mom had to move. I mentioned how it ripples out to affect the other characters.
The next update, update nine was in Part 11 on October 5th 2024. Which was smack dab in the middle of the Hallowe'en movie challenge I was doing in October. I once again, took a look at another character in the film, this time Dr. Wolfgang, and compared his sub-plot with well, this project and how I was feeling at the time. I also talked about something in my life that parallels the romance but from a different angle.
The last update posted in Part 12 on November 9th 2024. Last month's check in. It was another month where I literally had nothing to report.
Which leaves us here. Part 13. The last update on this series for 2024. The movie Rob Zombie's The Munsters, has a timeline of about one month from start to finish. The first half an hour of the movie is suppose to happen within about 12 hours. We're seeing Herman being created in one night. Lily then discovers him the next day after having had a bad date with Orlock. It's only suppose to be a few days later that she goes on a date with him. And by the third week of their relationship, they get married. I'm not going to lie, I was hoping I could will myself into a solid relationship in a short period of time. I was aiming for success by Hallowe'en. But it just didn't happen.
The fact The Count only has a few days to move did parallel my mom's situation though. Because of her health taking a turn, we had less than a month to get her into a new place that would have the extra help she would need on a daily basis.
So my life paralleled half the movie this year. Just like the year before. In 2023, I had just randomly watched a movie on January 1st as part of my One Movie a Day challenge that I do ever couple of years. Which I didn't notice during the course of the year, how it was indeed paralleling my real life. With the first movie I watched on January 1st 2024 being picked on purpose and the progress tracked; I actually ended up with similar results. Both movies had about half of their plots parallel my own real life. So the original movie theory is proven correct. There is some sort of connection between the first movie you watch on January 1st and the rest of the calendar year. Now, what about my own theories and questions?
A) is it synchronicity or power of suggestion or something else?
B) is there something in us on a psychic level that leads us to picking a similar storyline before hand, in order to ease us into our real life version?
Do I feel these questions and theories have been met/answered? I want to say almost.
I find myself sitting here with yet another question I want to add to this. What about other points in the calendar year? January 1st is the common mentioned point for movie fans, because so many people on the planet use January 1st as a point to start over, to try something new. But, so many other cultures, groups, religions etc, use other days in the year as the new year. We've got Hallowe'en in the Pagan calendar as the new year point, as is May 1st for some cultures who live in other parts of the world; in which that is their autumn. Then there are Yule and Midsummer, the Chinese New Year, and of course everyone has a birthday which is considered your own personal new year.
But going back to my original questions... I don't feel I have my answers just yet. I therefore, am going to do another round of the series for 2025. The next question, is do I pick a random movie on January 1st 2025 or preselect something I already know the plot to? I'm going to split the difference I think. By picking ten movies from my collection, and then on the morning of close my eyes and grab one.
Oh very scientific I know right?
The ten choices will be Interview with the Vampire, Fright Night (the 1985 version), 9-5, Julie and Julia, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, The Addams Family Values, Grease 2, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Clockwatchers and Devil Wears Prada. I will be back on January 1st with my pick and start season 2025 of this series. Let's hope whichever movie ends up being the pick of the year brings clearer results.
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