Art imitates life

I grew up not far from a little town named “Grandview”. So when I saw the Will Wellman film Magic Town, which takes place in a town of the same name, it felt sort of funny, as though the events in the movie were happening right next door.

Something similar happened when I saw the film Pleasantville, since I used to live pretty much within walking distance of a real town called Pleasantville.

And now the TV show American Horror Story: Asylum takes place in a placed called Briarcliff Manor. I used to leave in a real place called Briarcliff Manor (which is not far, it turns out, from the real Pleasantville).

This sort of thing happens a lot. My best friend when I was six years old was named Salvatore Romano. So when a character named Salvatore Romano showed up in Mad Men, I had a moment.

The rational part of my mind dismisses all this as coincidence. But there is another part of my mind, the wild romantic part inherited from my childhood self, which on some level believes The Purple Rose of Cairo and The Truman Show are documentaries. That part of me is paying close attention.

3 thoughts on “Art imitates life”

  1. Good thing then that you never lived in a town called Sunnydale (though I can’t help thinking that Sunnyvale sounds awfully similar 😉

  2. I had a similar experience with a video game. The game itself is very involving with character interaction, so you kinda get to know the characters and you get attached to them. Late in the game, I met a villain named Kai Leng… who looks exactly like my mom’s research assistant, Ken Leung. They have the same voice, face, hair, everything. Except that the villain was brutal and evil, and Ken is not.
    The interactive element made the whole thing seem even more surreal, and every time this character showed up, I had to stop myself from blaming Ken for the evil he inflicted on my teammates. :/

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