Empty Swimming Pools and Broken Fences

Adventureland is probably one of my favorite movies--and I can say this with a degree of sincerity because it was one of two movies I had for a month until I had cable, and I watched it about 7 or 8 times in one week, and still wasn't sick of it.
I can't explain why I like it so much--the plot is good enough, the soundtrack is pretty good, the acting is decent. I guess it's more about what it symbolized to me.
I could have easily loved living in the 80s. While some scoff at the fashion choices, I would have eaten up. I can't tell you why I love head bands and side ponytails, or why I find leg warmers and off the shoulder tops so attractive. And while it's true all I have to go off is pop culture, I am romanced by the idea of the 80s.
It almost seems like a darker time--and not in the sense that there was more crime or less intelligence. It just seemed like everything was in various tones of gray, and the best way to beat the gray of every day life was to dress it up in sequins and big hair, and yet still embrace the charcoal of your time.
In my head, I'm in a small town, in a time warp. There's still eat-in pizza huts, the architecture is small and slightly box-y. Fence posts are thinner, painted a dark blue. You peak through them. People on skateboards pass you by.
Everything is drab, but in a stylish martyrdom. I can't explain what it is that makes it this way. Everyone lives secret night lives, and the summer is full of possibility. Amusement parks are abound, and slightly dangerous. You waste away the night with your coworkers at your job in the night, lips bright red, a stark contrast in all the gray, complimenting the dazzling nights.
I guess one of the reasons I loved this movies so much was because it reminded me of my own summer job in Logan. At the Logan Aquatics Center, the dark brought possibility. Everyone was a little more loose, a little more wild, with an edge of carelessness that only summer could bring. You were fascinated by your darkness and your mystery, parts of me I am constantly intrigued by, and part of all the 80s symbolizes to me. And I suppose it reminds me of when the fair would come, right across the street, and the creepiness but fun of a late night escapade to ride the Zipper. To find your inner grunge.
I can hear Jesse Eisenberg in my head, saying, "They don't like people like us out there. We're romantics." And so is part of the inspiration for my blog, that quote, that message.

"There is freedom within, there is freedom without. Try to catch the damage in a paper cup. There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost. But you never see the end of the road when you're traveling with me."
~ Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House