Monday, January 3, 2011

Day 35 - Why the Ampersand?

Day 35.

Something that's been on my mind for awhile--why did the makers of Julie & Julia decide to go with the ampersand in the title? You know, using the symbol "&" as opposed to the word "and." Is there an actual difference between the two? Wikipedia says it's purely an aesthetic choice, but I'm not so sure. That's why I scoured imdb and tried to compile a comprehensive list of the most notable ampersanded films. Let me know if I missed any major ones.


List of Notable Ampersanded Films 

Julie & Julia
Wait, why didn't they just call this The Fast & the Fourius?
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Pride & Prejudice
Dumb & Dumber
Thelma & Louise
The Hottie & the Nottie
Batman & Robin
Fast & Furious
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Lilo & Stitch
Angels & Demons
Hustle & Flow
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Marley & Me
Oliver & Company

Okay, so that's a pretty good list, but I can't identify any trends or common threads that these movies share aside from the ampersands. Maybe if we compare and contrast with a list of the greatest films of all time?

List of the Greatest Films of All Time

Julie & Julia
The most impressive achievement of our generation
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Pride & Prejudice
Dumb & Dumber
Thelma & Louise
The Hottie & the Nottie
Batman & Robin
Fast & Furious
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Lilo & Stitch
Angels & Demons
Hustle & Flow
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Marley & Me
Oliver & Company

Ahhh, now I see the trend. So I guess that puts the question of the ampersand to rest. If you want to make one of the greatest films of all time, just throw an "&" in the title. Are you listening, Hollywood? You could learn a thing or two from the unprecedented success of Marley & Me. I'm looking at you, Citizen Kane. Imagine how much better you'd be if you were only Citzen & Kane. Or better yet--if you were Iron Man 2.

So that's that. Ampersands are God's logogram. There's no denying it. And don't try to skirt your way around the rule like a little 1996 film by the name of Romeo + Juliet tried to do. Romeo plus Juliet? I mean really, what the fuck is that???

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Julie & Julia Quote of the Day: "But Julia brings out the best in a polecat."
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11 comments:

  1. Are you going to do a counter-arguement for movies that use "and" instead of the ampersand? Could be an interesting case study. If anything, it will be a topic and I have a feeling you might be struggling for topic material somewhere along this journey.

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  2. Wasn't the original blog called Julie/Julia? That's better that a stupid conjunction any day of the week.

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  3. I love this blog. That is all.

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  4. i just watched a movie also starring not mark ruffalo tittled ira & abby. please note the ampersand.

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  5. OMG! You just mentioned Romeo + Juliet! This is the only movie I've watched more than once, in fact, over 20 times! I love it!

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  6. Thank God they didn't make a movie called Iron & Man... :)

    Btw; love your blog!

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  7. So if you had two && in a movie title, it would probably be the most amazing movie of all time!!!

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