In recent years, especially with the stress of an impending decision on what I want to do with my life, I have become more and more eager to lose myself in a good movie. More specifically, I have turned to a very particular list of movies that bring me a sense of comfort, because they remind me of the simpler, less stressful times in my life.

I presume that most people have at least one or two of what are considered “comfort movies.” These are the types of movies that you look forward to immersing yourself in on a late weekend night even though you have already watched them 100 other times. These are the movies that you want to watch with your family or introduce to your friends because you want others to discover the same fascination that you have with them.

When I was young, I would gain a new comfort movie purely based on convenience. This is how I developed my love for the 1998 movie “The Parent Trap.” For some reason at the time, even though it had already been released for at least a decade, the movie was streamed on many channels pretty frequently. Naturally, with only cable TV at my disposal, I watched it every time it was on. The movie was not particularly groundbreaking in any way, and I think that is why I have such fond memories of it. I liked it based on surface-level reasons because of the simplicity of my world at the time. Now, when I do happen to come across it on a streaming service, I cannot help but watch it because of the happy nostalgia that I feel while watching it.

As I got older, I started to develop fascinations for movies based on elements other than convenience. For example, what drew me into the 2010 live-action version of “Alice in Wonderland” was its whimsical qualities: the extravagant clothing, the eerie atmosphere, the odd characters and creatures. It gave me the first feeling of wanting to escape to a fictional world. The fixation that I had for this movie is what caused the DVD version I had to stop working because of how many times I had watched it. After seeing me watch the movie on repeat, my mom bought me the original book version with illustrations and read it to me every night before bed. 

In middle school, my taste in movies was adapted through the cinema. It became a regular occurrence for my family and me to see a new movie at the theater almost every other weekend. This may sound like an overly expensive past-time to some people, but it was worth it to be able to see the highly-anticipated movies on the big screen and then to be able to talk about my opinions on it with my family afterward. I specifically remember watching “Thor: Ragnarok” and thinking it was one of the best Marvel movies I had ever seen. After watching it, my brother and I both recalled the moments that we thought were the most hilarious and the qualities that made it such an enjoyable movie for us. 

These movies that I think so fondly of have probably not had as much of an impact on most people, and that is okay. The great thing about comfort movies is that they need no explanation to others; they store years worth of otherwise forgotten memories and provide solace in a time of distress.