If you know me, you know I love movies. I live for movies. I quote movies in every other sentence — often turning to whomever I’m in conversation with and asking, “Do you know what that’s from?” And more often than not, the person next to me looks at me like I’m crazy, matter-of-factly tells me no, that they don’t obtain the “useless” knowledge of movie quotes like I do and they carry on with their lives.
And I know, I may have a low threshold for what qualifies as a quality movie, but I promise — I was just as skeptical of “The Boss Baby” as all you readers probably were after seeing my headline. Basically, “The Boss Baby” is about how Tim Templeton — a normal, seven-year-old child of two adoring parents — gets an adopted “baby” brother who turns out to be anything but a normal baby. Tim comes to find out that his new brother is actually the Boss Baby — on a mission to stop the evil CEO of Tim’s parents’ company from following through his secret ploy.
Laugh now, but you go watch “The Boss Baby,” and try to tell me it was not both hilarious and really meaningful.
Yes, I said meaningful. Like chalked full of deep, insightful themes.
“The Boss Baby” is a family movie. Though at first Tim and the Boss Baby are pitted against each other for their parents’ attention, they come to realize that working together ultimately will help each attain their real goals. Through this, they grow closer, and begin to develop a real familial bond that neither Tim nor the Boss Baby expected to occur.
I have two sisters — one older, one younger — and we are very close despite the seven year age difference between my older sister and my younger sister. If you need an indicator of our closeness, they understand all of my movie quotes — that’s saying something. We are also close with our parents, who were always on the sidelines of our games, clapping in the audience or rolling their eyes at us while we recite the entire trivia game episode of “Friends” — yes, our quoting goes beyond just movies.
After being at college for a few weeks, I struggled to keep my sisters and my parents updated on my life and maintain the close relationships with them over the phone. My family — probably like most families out there — works best when we are all together. We show affection by making fun of each other incessantly, which is a lot harder to do when your subject matter and time are limited.
Watching “The Boss Baby” during my first semester made me realize just how much I missed my family. I missed the comfort of my parents. I missed making fun of my sisters. I even missed them making fun of me, and I never thought that day would come.
This movie opened my eyes to cherishing those familial bonds that I have been forced to develop over the past 18 years. Most students have felt homesick at one point or another, and weirdly enough, watching “The Boss Baby” evoked those feelings for me. But “The Boss Baby” taught me more than just the need to keep my family in touch with my hellacious life.
“The Boss Baby” taught me to find friends that feel like family — people that are comfortable with constant quoting, laughing and making jokes that aren’t funny and that can “dish it out,” as well as accept it when I make fun of them. No, I don’t go searching for friends thinking, “Okay, who reminds me of my family?” Instead, this movie taught me to put forth a little effort in pursuing friendships with people I’ve met who I could see my family really liking.
Sure, that may sound like common sense, but this revelation is something that I never considered before watching this incredibly deep and introspective film.
Before I left for school, I truly never understood when my older sister would say that she considers her college — Virginia Tech, unfortunately — her new home. I actually got pretty offended when she would say that considering the fact that, at the time, I was still in good “ol’ NOVA,” twiddling my thumbs waiting patiently for her to come back and hang out with me. But now being in college, I understand what she means — not because I know Charlottesville as well as I know Northern Virginia, but because I have friendships here that make me feel at home.
In this way, “The Boss Baby” really did change my life. It brought me a new appreciation for my family — which I definitely had before, but I didn’t realize how great that appreciation really was — and it also brought me to make friendships that remind me of my family.
It is hard being away from home, but I discovered that Charlottesville and the University could be my home if I just found people that made it feel that way. To put it plainly, “I’ve learned it’s not where you are, it's who you’re with.”
And so now I ask you, readers, do you know where that quote is from?
(It’s from “Aquamarine.” If you didn’t know that, you are just like the majority of people I talk to.)
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