I Dream of Ahnold

There are some things I may never know. For instance, I may never know if I am really typing this or if it has been implanted in my brain. I may never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. I may never know why LA Lites went out of style. I may never know whether Quaid is dreaming/remembering or really doing these things.

That may be the idea. You gotta think that is what they were going for – you were intended to feel the same confusion as Quaid himself. Sure, we can take some liberties with continuity errors, because all movies have them (his hands are covered in blood, yet her shoulders are clean after he grabs her), and I guess we can look past the fact that, regardless of whether this is a memory or dream, he is seeing things he wasn’t there for. Looking past those things, it is very tough to figure out whether or not he is dreaming.

Then again, I’m not sure we need to. Maybe that is the point. Although this was almost twenty years ago, the relevance of the digital and virtual age becoming more and more integrated with our lives is obvious. You know they have cars that parallel park for you? What’s next, JohnnyCab? The Sims or SecondLife, message board and blog personas, a video chicken you can command to do things; don’t forget Seaman, that Dreamcast classic that had you taking care of a sarcastic man-fish, including his social and emotional needs for stimulating conversation. The virtual pet is a popular thing now.

People seem to fear that kids especially are getting wrapped up in the technological age and no longer going inside. They don’t call people or go see people – they IM them. They don’t go play football, they play Madden on Xbox Live. Hell, even video games used to involve going to the arcade with your friends. The next generation seems to be who we fear for, not the adults who are internet dating and have a cell phone attached to their ears. Talk about cyborgian.

Who would have thought Arnold could create such stimulating conversation.

And that is why The Sandlot is the pinnacle of modern film.