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| Photo by Pinho . on Unsplash |
Musings inspired by watching Mystic Pizza, while living through current events of our era of myriad crises and an ongoing global pandemic…
C.S. Sherin
updated 12 Feb 2021
I watched the movie Mystic Pizza the other night. This is a movie set in Mystic, Connecticut in the 1980s. “Mystic Pizza” refers to the pizzeria, in the movie, that coined its name with a clever play on the name of the town. The three main characters all work at the pizza place; two are sisters and the other is their closest friend.
It is a movie about their love lives and their hopes, fears, and dreams about their careers, future, and what they really want, or can do, in life. While there is some inherent privilege, era-based viewpoints, colonized tradition and bias in the movie, it also has a certain awareness about that, and tries to address some of it. More endearing, the girls, though they have their tensions and jealousies, retain a lasting and genuine care and kindness for each other. Certainly, this movie has some value that stands the test of time, and also provides a time traveler-type glimpse of the era.
I was a freshman in high school when that movie came out, but I never saw it.
Nowadays, watching a movie from the 80s can be such a dated experience that it isn’t fun to watch. But, I can’t say that about Mystic Pizza. It was nice to see authentic 80s life that focused on: a (mild-mannered, somewhat detached) version of the American dream for immigrants, as well as the point of view of three young adult Portuguese-American sisters and their friend. And, while I am not really here to write a review on the movie, I am going to talk about some deeper thoughts and feelings that struck me after watching it. Be forewarned, these thoughts and feelings are only loosely related to the movie.
One of the deeper effects the movie had on me was the real presence and emotional processing that occurred due to an absence of any perpetually present and intruding technology, such as cell phones. The result, for me as a viewer in the current age, was a tangible peace and rootedness surrounding the characters and their story.
Now, I am not sure why this movie, in particular, struck me that way. I have seen plenty of movies from other periods and eras that don’t have cell phones or a focus on them or technology. Perhaps, it was because it brought back an era of time that I truly remember, and was a part of, consciously. For instance, I watched Bridgerton, but that period show doesn’t get anyone thinking about technology or the lack of it, since it is so focused on sex (lots of it) and various relationships.
So, Mystic Pizza was released in 1988 and, in the movie, just as in life back then, the phone was tethered, stationary, and was for one practical function only. The payphone at the bar was a great feature. It brought back the memory of simple tactile pleasures, such as sounds and sensations related to putting a coin in the slot, sliding the dial around for each number, and hanging up and checking the change slot for loose change. In addition, I watched with a gentle appreciation, the brief scenes of a wedding that was markedly absent of any distracted people with cell phones; as well as a moment between the sisters and friend on the balcony (during the celebration) that also contained no selfies. That moment between the three young women, at the end of the movie, really stood out to me, with the tangible peace and truth of presence and relationship, uninterrupted.
I remember well the days before our time of glass screens (of various sizes) that seek to preoccupy and interrupt just about everyone, to the ultimate detriment of our attention span, capacity, and each moment. There are so many moments that could be filled with a presence and relationship that knows no interference or distraction due to a mobile phone and a virtual web. The potential moments and connections lost through our present distractions cannot be fully appreciated or grasped. This movie, somehow, offered me a little glimpse of what is lost.
Despite this realization, it remains true that technology and the tools provided within phones and computers (of various sorts) are definitely filled with unending potential for blessings as practical, helpful tools that can improve life and lives. Yet, there is a cost to this fairly new relationship that humanity has developed with a virtual interface that runs through multitudinous devices.
With every gain, there is a loss. With every choice for something, there is the unspoken choice to dismiss something else.
The more we are conscious of what the costs and benefits of something are, the better choices we can make. We all, well, most people, fell into this relationship with technology, AI and the Internet without much forethought.
Mystic Pizza is true to the time it was conceived in. Because of this, the film is able to impart an accuracy of the actual feeling of being there, in some way. I know, because I remember it. Right down to the “awkward people in church” scenes.
While I am not usually an overly sentimental or nostalgic person, I did feel a pull and an awakening to something valuable that technology of our age has cost us, while watching it.
What technology has cost us is: an ineffable holistic experience of being, which comes from a rather naked and upfront version of relating, being, and relationship.
Some of us recapture that ineffable experience of being by going to a cabin or camping off the grid, away from technology. (Though, some of us hate camping.) Some of us fast from social media or fast from using our phones for anything but the most necessary texts or calls. Others choose to leave social media altogether, and don’t watch cable TV anymore. Some events (before the pandemic) required attendants to leave their phones at the door. There are many ways that we try to re-create for ourselves, a simpler, more direct and honest way of being, and being together.
Yet, the truth is, we cannot fully escape the reality and time that we live in. And, in a time of an ongoing global pandemic, we can see the great importance, benefit, and drawbacks of technology, AI, and the Internet more clearly, it seems. It has been helpful and alarming.
Some may go off grid for good, but for most of us, technology and screens are a required, if not totally necessary part of life. This is true either due to work, family, or some other intricate part of every day life.
For those who cannot afford the technology that connects them 24/7 to the internet and to wireless services…opportunities and finding work are not as easy. There are inequalities to this intense relationship we have with technology and the world wide web, yes.
And, on top of that, most of us are somewhat trapped in a relationship with it that we are realizing may not be quite as healthy as hoped (personally or collectively). Screens, screen time, algorithms, “likes”, “followers”, social media, 24/7 news, disinformation/propaganda all have a direct effect on our cognitive abilities, capacity to process information; on our mental and emotional health; and on our tendons, posture, eyes and vision. Not to mention affiliations and relationships...
While this technology can and should be shaped around ethics, equity, health, and service...it isn’t yet. Though there are some who wish to change that for the better. (link is to the Algorithmic Justice League)
Right now the Internet and social media is shaped by: consumerism instead of citizenship; materialism instead of sustainability and equity; narcissist tendencies instead of ethics and empathy; exploitation instead of shared control and power; along with predatory mining, predatory advertising, hackers/thieves, organized crime, and monitored and controlled access to information and people in ways that are hard for many to come to terms with.
This includes unethical use of AI to steal/assimilate the work of creative professionals and hobbyists across any and every visual platform. Right now it seems the commerce and social of the Internet is largely functioning in a pool of opportunists, bias, exploitation, bullying, profiling, and other forms of psychology impacting dynamics, and misinformation presented as outrage and entertainment.
Free platforms have become addictive, distorted drug-like experiences (as intended) that grossly exploit users through cognitive manipulation, experimental algorithms that isolate connections to “friends," data mining, dark politics, and ads. That it has been used to encourage a hateful strain of political sway, a radicalizing of beliefs, with targeting by "special interest" funding and advertisers is such a huge red flag. And yet...what will really be done to stop it? It is a profound corrosion, it seems.
It isn’t a surprise that we got to this point, considering how TV was geared that way from the beginning, just in different ways…
Ok, back to the movie, Mystic Pizza... the sisters’ and friend’s moments together on the balcony, at the end of the movie, was a poignant moment for me. I envied their time together. I now long for moments that aren’t always preoccupied with random and seemingly compulsive need to photograph, record, perform, and bi-locate through electronic AI devices. Of course, the pandemic increases my awareness of these relational dynamics, since we are all missing many interactions with each other, in person.
Yes, the 80s are a different era. And I don’t want to go back! Not at all! Yet, it is good to acknowledge, my generation (x) really exists between two different worlds.
And, as someone who delights in sci-fi and futurism, I don’t want to detract from our advances and potentials with technology, AI, the Internet, and beyond. The ethical possibilities for all of it is truly exciting! But, it isn’t so exciting in reality, because the ethics are left behind, an afterthought if that. What a waste!
Deep down, with technology and the Internet and all the related avenues and possibilities…we are doing it wrong. And, as a result of doing it wrong, our mental health, relationships, and potential are all suffering. Instead of starting with ethical, equitable, service oriented technology and code; we are completely saturated with exploitative approaches that cultivate compulsion, self-focus, distorted imaging and influencing, and classist monopolies of service...to name a few of the deleterious results.
It is incredibly disappointing.
So many things that have been built and established need to be dismantled and rebuilt with: ethics/equity, health, accessibility, practical service, education, and an eradication of harmful (unconscious) bias at the forefront. Technology and the world wide web need to be used to benefit and improve life on the planet for everyone. Isn't that a no-brainer? I will never understand those who willfully and tirelessly work to see the world destroyed in so many different ways. The disregard for life and being is clear.
Personally, I left FB in July of 2018, I wrote about it and the effects of social media on our personal resources here. More recently, I left Twitter and Instagram, but remain on Linkedin. I have been observing the effects of social media upon myself and others, and have noted what happens upon leaving.
There is a withdrawal from constantly checking the phone. There is a desire to “like” posts of admired people…but, what will that really accomplish, I ask myself.
I fast from it all. And then, comes life...complete with renewed inspiration, happiness, and creativity. I have been more inspired, happier, and more productive with the things and people I most care about. More than when social media was dominating my work and personal life.
The final deeper realization I had from watching Mystic Pizza has more to do with being isolated for so long due to the pandemic, now in the bitter cold days of winter, more than it has to do with the movie.
One of the ways we have dealt with the recent extreme cold weather (consistent well below zero weather at night, single digits during the day) and the isolation of the pandemic at the same time is to bump up our time watching documentaries and other quality shows (like “Finding Your Roots” on PBS on Tuesday nights, Netflix documentaries, and a funny movie or show here and there). It keeps our minds open to new thoughts and feelings, gives us something to talk about, and also relieves some of the distress and tension of uncertain times.
The
realization was a deep awareness of myself, sitting down to watch a
screen for the billionth time in my life, it seemed. It was a concern about all the
screens, and all the time facing them…
I thought about how the passivity of watching anything makes us more susceptible to suggestion in general. I thought about how I was choosing to to do so, once again. However, I came to the conclusion that I have become conscious enough of the problems with continually being an audience member, and so, am able to choose what what is going to be of benefit to me. At the same time, I was weary of the screen.
I did enjoy acting in theater from the ages of 14–23. And my love of Broadway musicals, and other powerful storytelling via TV and movies convinces me, for the long haul, of the general value of choosing to watch, read, and listen to meaningful and funny stories. Shows, stories, movies can all be medicine, good medicine, in some way or another. And, I know the mental hygiene I require when I do watch.
I mute commercials. I choose shows that I want to watch, that give me something valuable and are a good use of my time. And, most of the time, I balance watching with physical and creative activities, along with quality time to talk with friends and loved ones, and to relate to and care for my animal companions.
It was a good and useful concern and weariness that arose in that moment. It made me appreciate the fact that my generation has been mesmerized and trained to a screen, without much thought about the eventual costs and benefits of that adaptation in cognitive attention, habit, and lifestyle. Even more so for current youth and younger generations.
Ironically, I have to spend a huge amount of time online and in front of screen as a writer. Sometimes I am nostalgic for the electric typewriter and, maybe more so, for the word processor that was simply a computerized typewriter and nothing more. This nostalgia revolves around concern for health, and a value for simplicity and minimalism. So, anyway, back to the movie…
While Mystic Pizza highlighted a simpler time in respect to presence and relationships, there was something present in the 80s that this movie didn’t show at all.
Mystic Pizza holds a bit of the pristine time of relationship before selfies and cell phones, yet I would say that the movie ET is a better representation of the general mentality and atmosphere that my generation grew up in and were familiar with. Yet, Mystic Pizza is a perfect representation of the feel, look, and attitudes of some young women of that time, for sure.
But, Mystic Pizza didn’t quite show how deeply connected and influenced we all were by TV (movies, MTV, regular TV shows, talk show, old reruns, cartoons, the Movie Channel, and commercials). The influences that we were absorbing through (the generational) relationship with TV, media, celebrity, and politics, had deep affects upon our psyches. And today’s Internet, tech, and social media culture also does.
I think of how greed, wall street, materialism, and sexist presentations of women reached new heights, and with greater levels of R rated content, which was available for the kids of the time. For example, I watched Barbarella by myself at the age of nine. Though I only came away from that movie with a fear of dolls and a love for the elusive bird-man or angel-man. Ha ha.
Certainly, people born in the 60s, and even early 50s were also exposed to scary or too mature adult themes in movies at a young age as well — as well as to the propaganda of that time. And very certainly, today’s kids are. Yet, we were not exposed to the violence and terror that today's children have to face.
We did have our own terror of being kidnapped by a pedophile, though. But we did not have to live with the idea of death by guns waiting possibly at school or some other public place.
What my generation took in, we mostly took in alone. We were the generation of what was called, “latch key kids”. Our parents weren’t present much of the time, and our babysitter was the TV and running wild outdoors, unsupervised. And, while few of us were deeply into computers, many of us were deeply into arcade games and PC computer games, like “King’s Quest."
Anyway, that exposure to adult themes at a young age, and so many complicated issues to navigate alone hasn’t changed. Even though there are ratings for music and movies, today’s children are exposed to new levels of visual trauma via news, social media, and the internet in general in addition to the added violence in our country, with no real actions to protect our children.
Today’s youth aren’t just exposed to it, they are present and vulnerable to active harm also by being visible in social networks. It is fair to say that visual media and social media have run rampant…and they are riddled with propaganda, discrimination, subliminal conditioning, negative impacts to self-worth, predatory and fake accounts, and manipulation: danger.
Well, this is what happens when I am isolated in a pandemic without an end in sight…I write a Ted Talk-type article on technology, AI, and the Internet that developed in my mind from watching an old coming of age 80s flick that reminded me of my youth. Pandemic diaries…yep. This is a unique time where we seem to be on the verge of great breakthroughs and cataclysms…all at once.
He-hem. To conclude..... 80s flick, Mystic Pizza, seemingly acted as a clean catalyst for new insights that were ripe to pick after having recently witnessed a reality TV show personality and bankrupt business owner: become president, co-opt social media platforms, news outlets, and the presidency for his own agenda; cultivate a radicalized cult following, and then order that radicalized cult following to attack the US Capitol to stop a peaceful transfer of power.
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| Chris J Davis on Unsplash |
Which they did, and we know this for sure because it was filmed. A gift of technology (recorded evidence). They themselves also broadcast and documented their actions of outright murder of a security officer, theft, and threats (pure avarice); as well as their clearly stated intentions to murder/hang (the VP and Speaker of the House and others), hold hostage, and overthrow elected officials and government. A police officer died, and over 150 were injured during that attack by followers of Trump.
Was it because of corruption, lynchings, genocide, or discrimination that they attacked the US Capitol? No. It was because the person they wanted to be elected wasn’t elected.
There was no issue of injustice or harm, except by them.
And, it was all for that narcissistic former excuse for a president, whose behaviors and actions are a truly perfect reflection of this country’s deepest, darkest shadows and problems, as are the behaviors, speech and actions of his cult followers, some of whom are serving as elected officials in the US Capitol, and some of whom are police officers and military service people.
It is clear to me that we have neglected to attend to accountability, ethics, integrity, and healthy relationship in our systems of technology, social media, internet, and news. We have failed, so far, to put a stop to discrimination, hate, and radicalized beliefs in our culture, systems, communications, and laws.
What we have lost and what we continue to lose, as a result, amounts to: relationships, growth, compassion, freedom, progress, humanity, and health.
Yep, it is a strange brew of disparate parts that met up to create this article. I know. It is a disturbing time.
To show how badly it has gone in this culture so far, in some important and big ways, there are those who, by hate-based conspiracy alone, will see the words “Mystic Pizza” and may think of pedophiles, celebrities, and politics. That's how weird it is now. Weird in a bad way.
This is what constant gas lighting, disinformation, and corrupt media, news, and Internet platforms lead us to.
Whereas, actually, Mystic Pizza is a lovely movie about an immigrant family, particularly two sisters, who don’t have a lot of money, and are doing their best to be true to themselves, while figuring out what to do with their lives, and who to trust.
I don't know what took me so long to watch it.
