Wednesday, November 18, 2009

THE YELLOW ONES DON'T STOP

So this post stems from many things that are going on in life right now. First, the holiday season is rapidly approaching (and my birthday, ahem) and one of my favorite things are the holiday movies that are released between Thanksgiving and New Years. As wonderful as an inspiring rom com on the big screen can be, what is even better are the movies TBS, Disney, USA, ABC and countless others play. A classic, which I didn't expect to love, is Elf. I tried to find a YouTube of when Will Ferrell gets hit by a cab (whilst in an elf costume in NYC) and then later when he prevents Zooey Deschanel from walking into a crosswalk, exclaiming "THE YELLOW ONES DON'T STOP." If you have not seen Elf, move that to your #1 queue in Netflix NOW. (Sidenote: queue is an English term. I still have to think about what it means every time I see it) For me to say that about a Will Ferrel movie even after Taladega Nights, Stepbrothers and Semi-Pro, you have to know that I truly in my heart of hearts laughed out loud at that movie.

So, with the theme of being hit by cars and applying the theories of operant conditioning (heyo, grad student here) you see that Elf has learned NOT to walk in front of yellow cars (taxis) because of the negative stimulus he received (being hit by it). Now, if you live in a large city you know that there a lot of factors that go in to how terrible drivers are. Living in LA, I NEVER assume a car sees me or that they would even stop if they did. I park across the street from where my apartment is so crossing the street without a light is a daily occurrence for me. I don't cross against lights, I wait to make eye contact with a driver when I'm in a cross walk before actually walking in front of them and in general I wait for a lull before just waltzing into a street.

My dearest roommate, however, is highly optimistic. By optimistic, I mean has a death wish. I practically throw my arm in front of her (ala your mother stopping suddenly at a yellow light) every time we approach an intersection. She sees a car approaching, looks at the crosswalk and is like "welp, time to go now!" People in LA text, talk on phones, look at billboards, contemplate their next botox injection and whether or not Justin-Bobby will ever get that smug look on his face slapped off. They do not think about pedestrians, crosswalks or, many times, street lights. But god love my roommate, she puts her faith in those white hashed lines and steps boldly into a busy street. NBD. As I pass out from a heart attack.

Now, beloved roommate has never been struck by a car and bats her lashes seductively at cars as we walk by AND TOTALLY GETS AWAY WITH IT! I would get honked at! I would feel guilty! people would curse at me and shake their fists! But not the roomie. Sigh. She is Zooey Deschanel and I am Elf.

No comments: