ShooshaRose

I first saw this movie as a young girl and it seriously effected so many parts of my psyche- and all in fabulous, rocking and fantastical ways. I loved the rockabilly style of the opening, the telegram being typed, the side swipes and the cut clips. I loved the look of timelessness and how you couldn't get a foothold in any set period of time, but still everything seemed cohesive and continual. This helped me understand how time is relevant only to the people that are in it and blew my mind to think that the sepia toned photographs of my grandparents had a colorful reality... I was around 7 years old, so this really was groundbreaking for me. The story line is simple, but the simplicity of the story is it's beauty because the story is secondary. Secondary to the music, the imagery, the style and set dressing- these are the things I carry in my heart as the story of this film. As a young girl, the "love story" should have been what I hung my hat on, but Cody and Ellen were not my focus. I remember vividly seeing Willem's face come to clarity among the clapping crowd as he sneered and snarled his way into my heart. His androgynous features laying the foundation to my fascination with Bowie and Tilda, and I gobbled him up. Then you meet McCoy and I remember how badass I thought she was, how she didn't take shit from anyone, how she could exhale smoke rings, how she didn't fall for Cody's bullshit half-assed advances. She was someone I wanted to emulate, someone I wanted to be like. The badass bitch who is respected for what she does and how she does it- as an individual. My young girl mind didn't fully grasp the concept of lesbianism, but I could see that she was different and she acted differently and therefore treated differently- and I loved that. Suddenly you are in this world where this beautiful androgynous being is fluidly dancing to roars of men and women alike and my young brain exploded. I was so worried about not showing my parents how uncomfortable I was to be witnessing this in front of them, while also grappling with sexual desire and that thumping, pumping music that seemed to match the thumping in my groin. This woman dancing is being inter sliced with images of Raven in the crowd and the beginnings of understanding gender fluidity at its basic level started to well up in me. To the point of, when Raven tells Ellen that he only wants to fall in love for a couple weeks and then it would be over- I wonder why she hasn't already? Why wouldn't she have this awesome affair and then go back to the road with Fish and her boring, famous person lifestyle- full of concert dates and deadlines and other boring stuff. COME ON screamed little girl Tricia, GET IT ON WITH RAVEN! These moments obviously endear me to this film, these characters lent themselves to me and I remember associating all the freedom and beauty of these moments to the music, to going Nowhere Fast, to celebrate What it Means to Be Young, to hear the Stevie Nicks-esque Sorcerer and want to dabble in the occult, to Dream About someone, maybe someone I couldn't even imagine yet. I've watched this film probably twice a year since I was that little girl. The VHS got warped. There were those years before it was released on DVD, before there was internet and Amazon that you had to scrounge discount bins at Blockbuster to get a fresh VHS version. There were the times that you thought you were over it, had moved past it, but then you'd be in a grocery store and 'I Can Dream About You' came over the loudspeaker and you'd stop and say, Fuck... I haven't seen Streets of Fire for a while. There were times where you drunkenly made your friends and lovers stay up and watch it, turning it all the way up- singing along to all the songs, repeating your favorite snarky lines, laughing at the obviousness of everything that seemed so fresh and new when you were a kid. You haven't grown out of it... it grows and changes with you. I fucking love this movie. I wish June would have been on the show for this because I really do think that she would have had a kindred love of it with me. I'm glad Jason agreed, because I'll be honest... I was a little peeved by Rachel and Jessica's instant dissatisfaction with the film... I almost crawled out of my skin when I heard them call music by The Blasters "hillbilly music". Maybe it isn't for everyone, but damn- it's definitely for me.