WATCH: Library Movies
WATCH: Library Movies
A three-fold suggestion & Happy Library Card Sign-Up Month!
Happy September, aka Library Card Sign-Up Month! To kick things off, I am suggesting you watch library movies, and by that I mean three things:
First, watch movies from your library! If you long for the days of browsing a Blockbuster Video Store on a Friday evening, pop into your local branch and roam the aisles of DVDs and Blu-rays- let your curiosity guide you! Many library systems even have DVD players you can borrow to watch your movies, documentaries, TV shows, and more. After you make your selections, head to checkout and just like at Blockbuster they’ll scan your card, tell you when your choices are due back, but unlike Blockbuster the total will be $0.00! If you’re more into streaming, see what services your library offers. For me it is hoopla, which even has a channel on Roku. I can stream movies and shows for free with my library card, right on my TV!
Second, attend movie programming at your library. Check your local library’s calendar or ask a library staff member about upcoming movie programs. Movies may be shown during weekdays, weeknights, or on weekends. Some may be simply a showing, or include a discussion about the film, too. Whatever the case may be, take the opportunity to get out and see a movie on a (littler) big screen for free! Some libraries may even offer popcorn & snacks during the viewing!
Third, watch movies featuring libraries! Here are some of my favorites, plus some honorable mentions:
Somehow I didn’t discover this movie until last year. During my first viewing I sat in awe as I watched a possible version of my life on the screen. Mary (yes) lives in Manhattan, throws excellent parties, has tons of fabulous friends, will only take public transportation, has a favorite meal with her specifications that she orders over and over, tries to learn the language of her love interest, and ends up working at the library!
The library is such a big part of this movie that it could be renamed Library Girl. Mary’s godmother is a librarian who gets her a job at the Seward Park Branch of the NYPL (a branch I visited in preparation for my Tuesday Book Talk because it is highlighted in the book, Eric Klinenberg’s Palaces for the People). Without giving away too much, Mary has a very lax attitude when she starts, struggling to learn the Dewey Decimal System, and eventually her attitude about the library totally changes.
If you love libraries, if you love New York, if you love parties, fashion, the 90s, Parker Posey, or falafel— seek this out! Hopefully you can borrow or stream a copy from your local library!
Fairly certain I first watched this movie during college, borrowing it from our campus library. I love this movie! A core group of friends form a book club, welcoming two outsiders, to help a few of the members move through some grief and challenging times. The books? Jane Austen’s six novels. Each character hosts for one of the books, and the group comes together to discuss each month.
Where does the library come in? One of the characters, Sylvia, is a librarian at the California State Library. The group attends the Library’s annual formal fundraiser midway through the movie, then again at the end, to show how much had changed in a year. And they are in Sacramento, which is a detail I love because I am an Albany girl and I always see Sacramento as our west coast counterpart- capital cities!
This one is for you if you like Jane Austen, connecting all your friends with each other, Sacramento, themed book clubs, and mid-life crises.
Peter, Ray, and Egon get their start hunting ghosts in the main branch of the New York Public Library! Library-wise we don’t get more, but Ghostbusters is an absolute classic. So, if you’ve never seen it, consider this your sign to get on it!
Holly & Paul are walking around Manhattan taking turns doing things each has never done before. At one point, Paul takes Holly to the library, which she had never been to. Together they look up Paul’s book in the card catalog (sigh, remember those?) and with the help of a librarian they retrieve a copy. And there is a great moment when Holly encourages that Paul autograph his book, and the librarian yells at them! Later in the movie Paul finds Holly at the library on her own, sitting and reading in her big dark sunglasses.
What I love about the Breakfast at Tiffany’s library connection is that the way Holly feels about Tiffany’s, is how I feel about the library. Holly talks about having “the mean reds” when “suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of” and when that happens she jumps in a cab and heads for Tiffany’s, which always calms her down. When I’m in a funk, or feeling out of sorts, I can hop over to the library and calm down— I can see friendly faces, find comfort in a book, drop in to a program, talk to a librarian, check out a favorite movie, etc. Works every time.
The truest library movie on this list— this is the only movie here that is entirely about a library! The title “The Public” means the public library. Taking place during a Cincinnati winter, this movie does an excellent job showing some of the realities of what a library means to a community, and the tirelessness of librarians and library staff to fight for the rights and dignity of their patrons.
Honestly, if you’ve read this far into my post you need to see this movie. Make it happen!
It is a “tale as old as time”: bewitched prince-beast kidnaps a stranger seeking help, swaps him out for his daughter who came looking for him, hoping he can trick her into falling-in-love-kissing-him-breaking-his-spell, woos her with the most insane library ever, and (spoiler alert) it works (::eyeroll::).
Sigh. Ok, yes, Beauty and the Beast is a problematic story to teach children. But, the library is incredible. Still my favorite Disney cartoon because: BOOKS, plus France/French, roses*, Lumière, the dinner-and-a-show “Be Our Guest” scene, & those hits-close-to-home immature & ill-tempered problematic men (the Beast and Gaston).
*my family went to Disney World decades ago and I bought a rose perfume. It was in a yellow bottle, with a molded rose topper that I can still see & smell in my mind. Sigh, again.
Honorable Mentions:
The Breakfast Club: the whole crew spends their Saturday morning detention in the school library. You already know this one, right?! (Also, Emilio Estevez must love libraries, he is a main character in two on the list, and he wrote & directed The Public!)
Little Women - 1994 & 2019: Would Jo March even be Jo March without the libraries at Aunt March’s & the Laurence’s?
Now & Then: Researching ghosts & crying in the library! A classic.
Matilda: The library is a safe space for Matilda, and a place that makes her tough life worth living.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets: Is Nick Cage totally corny in NT 1 & 2? Yes. Do I love it? Yes. But, what is important here: the scene in The Library of Congress.
Sex & the City Movie: I include this one a bit reluctantly. I am a true SATC fan, but the movies are corny without pulling it off Nick Cage-style. But, the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue Branch gets tricked out for a wedding (ugh, I will not put in spoilers, but iykyk why this makes me mad) and Carrie does sniff her library book of love letters while in bed. To paraphrase The Godfather: leave the corny, take the library.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (show): Not a movie, but I’d be remiss not to mention one of my favorite librarians, Giles, and the clubhouse of the “Scooby Gang” (aka Buffy and her helpful bffs).
Do you have a favorite library movie? Maybe one on this list? Or another? Leave me a comment and tell me which & why!
RESOURCES
Clips or trailers for each movie are linked with the title
Letterboxd Library Loving Movies list
ALA Library Card Sign-Up Month
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Gotta rewatch Party Girl omg. Thank you.
I love it so much! 🪩📚🧆
East Greenbush/UHLS has a copy, it is streamable, and its also in my "personal Blockbuster" haha. We've got you covered!