Growing up, Ben Del Vecchio ’15 loved sitting around the television with his family watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” every Christmas. As he grew older, Del Vecchio realized that much of his love for film and television had come from their abilities to transcend boundaries.
He recalls hearing about how his Chinese mother was exposed to American movies, which later became a way for her to bond with Del Vecchio’s Italian father.
“We all come from very different backgrounds, different cultures, different countries, but often where we overlap is in movies and TV…. In terms of my life, a lot of my conversations are about TV and movies because I think it’s a good way to one, start a conversation, and two, hear where people are coming from, what they have watched. If you can connect with that, then you can learn something about them,” said Del Vecchio.
Del Vecchio will be using his passion for movies and TV to write an upcoming column for the Arts & Leisure Section of The Phillipian. Through his work for The Phillipian, Del Vecchio hopes to bring the same sense of community to his readers.
“I just hope [the column] provokes some of the discussions that I love having… spending 45 minutes sitting down with a bunch of people who like a show and talking about how excited they are or talking about the characters and how they’ve connected with them. If there’s a place that you can read about it and that gives you some ideas about what you might want to talk to someone about or how you feel about the show and how to raise that issue with someone else — as long as you can see a web branching out — that would be awesome to have that kind of influence,” said Del Vecchio.
Since he watches such an array of movies and television shows, Del Vecchio’s favorite ones are always changing, but many of his most beloved movies remain childhood favorites, such as “The Princess Bride” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“A lot of the TV and movies that I like are related to my childhood. So ‘Princess Bride,’ one of my favorite movies, that came from watching it every day when I was home sick. My sister watched it when she was homesick, so I watched it as a kid,” said Del Vecchio.
The walls of Del Vecchio’s room are covered with fliers and movies posters, including one from “The Hobbit.”
“My favorite poster is actually like a keepsake. I went and I saw ‘The Hobbit,’ the first one. It’s an okay movie but it was exciting because I saw it at midnight and I went with a bunch of friends and it was very exciting. We saw it in IMAX, and they gave out a set of four posters, so I have two of those up in a corner. It’s the stuff that means something or brings back a memory that’s more memorable to me on those walls,” said Del Vecchio.
Del Vecchio has also been keeping the tickets from all the movies he’s seen in the cinema since December. He currently has about seven and is looking forward to growing the collection with more visits to the movie theater in the future.
Those planning on reading Del Vecchio’s column should not expect formal and tense compositions.
“I don’t want to take [writing about film and TV] too seriously. It becomes too drab. Generally, if you’re writing about movies or TV, it’s fun. Movies and TV are there for entertainment, so if you have a written piece on it, it should also be entertaining. Some wit. Some banter. Jargon,” said Del Vecchio.
