Memorable Love Scenes: Pretty Woman

Poster via IMDB.comIf you missed it yesterday, this week I'm featuring memorable love scenes so that we can a) enjoy and b) analyze what makes the scene so memorable so that we can translate it into our own writing. Yesterday, we looked at the unique setting factor.

Today, I wanted to feature a scene that has one of the most mundane settings of all--a hotel room--but it still a classic memorable moment. It focuses on the change in the characters. A love scene, whether it's a kiss or a full sex scene, should always change the characters in some way. Otherwise, why are you showing it?

So here's the kissing scene from Pretty Woman:

This scene is definitely smexy--I mean, it's Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, come on now. But the reason it has stuck with so many of us is because of what that kiss represented. Sex wasn't a big deal for Vivian, but a kiss...that was a whole different thing.

So what do you love most about this scene? Why do you think it's so memorable?

Made of Win Monday: Shows That Bring You Back

Image by Brian Gurralo (click pic for link)

Welcome to the very first Made of Win Monday. This day is going to be reserved for simple things that are awesome because sometimes it's easy to forget to appreciate the little things.

Now, I'm a sentimental person by nature. I hold on to way too much, and I love things that drag me back to good memories. Music would be the obvious one, but another thing that does this for me is watching old TV shows. If I'm feeling out of sorts or down, nothing can cheer me up quicker than pulling out old episodes of a show that flips that sentimental switch inside me.

And those are also the shows that I tend to buy box sets of on DVD. So what are my shows?

To bring me back to high school...

My So-Called Life

Dude, I was DEVASTATED when this show was cancelled after one season. I actually wrote a letter to the network. I think that may have been my first act of "activism" in my life, lol. Beyond the fact that Jared Leto was the hottest thing I'd ever seen on TV, the show spoke to me in a way nothing else did at the time. (I was 15 when the show aired.) I've since heard that it would've been renewed but Claire Danes didn't want to do another season. (Claire, you wound me.) But anytime I want to be brought back to my innocent, angsty teenage years, I break out My So-Called Life.

College

Dawson's Creek

This show started during my first year of college. I remember me and my college roommates gathering around the TV on Dawson's Creek night eating french bread pizza (about as gourmet as our cooking got back then.) This show had everything I could want--angst, love triangles, romance, and teenagers who used big words like I did. I own all the seasons on DVD and every few years I break them out and go all the way from season 1 through 6. It makes me all warm and fuzzy just thinking about Joey and Pacey. Hmm, maybe I'm due for some reruns again.

The Show I Grew Up With

Friends

Ah, Friends. This show was on from the time I was 14 until I was 24. That's a huge portion of my formative years and part of me feels like this show is part of my DNA. Quotes still come to my head on a regular basis. (Does "I didn't get a cat" mean anything to you? Here's my fave scene of all time.) I also had the Rachel haircut (bad decision) and one of those huge coffee mugs even though I didn't drink coffee. Maybe I should seek therapy. I do resemble Chandler a bit too much I fear. But I have the box set of this one too. It's like balm for my soul.

All right, so those are my shows that can bring me back in time. What are yours? Do you have any shows you just HAD to own so you can access them anytime you want?