52 Films: A Year of Movie Nights
Come meet 52 Films: A Year of Movie Nights by Alexa Joy
Introducing Silverscreen Sass, Alexa Joy
I often take advantage of freebie bundles that leaves me feeling nothing but guilty. I jump on the chance to grab $5620 worth of books, webinars, PDFs and courses for a mere $97, then I shove them aside for the next hot freebie that comes along. Another $97 dollars wasted.
You would think I would learn my lesson. I am fully aware of my problem with shiny new objects. I have a rotting pile of old courses and books that are out of date and out of sync with the fast-paced publishing world. But some of us never learn.
Luckily!
For otherwise, when Lizzie Goddard offered me her Christmas goodies, I might have passed them by. Instead, I grabbed them with both hands and found a surprise so delightful, I needed to share it with the world.
What, you might ask was this exciting new product or service?
Silverscreen Sass. Meet the product, and the woman behind it
Luckily for us, Alexa Joy loves movies as much as I do, maybe more. She is the creator of Silverscreen Sass. I interviewed her for this post, asking her how she got started with SSS.
“I’d been playing around with a graphics program and made myself a mug with a What Would Barbara Stanwyck Do? design on it.” Someone saw the mug, expressed interest in it and gave Alexa the idea of selling them, or at least trying to. “When a relative was visiting and saw it on a shelf with my other mugs, she asked where I’d got it. That made me think I could maybe try to sell them.” The rest, as they say is history. You can still buy an upgraded version of the mug in Alexa’s shop, by the way, and Barbara Stanwyck remains Alexa’s most requested star.
Background on Silverscreen Sass
And so Silverscreen Sass was born. It’s no surprise that I fell in love with Alexa’s list of movies (more on that in a minute). After all, she loves old movies, she loves to read, and reality TV (her go-to is The Masked Singer). Did I mention Alexa is a cat person? She is also a Brit, despite her devotion to good-old U.S. of A. Hollywood classics.
What exactly is Silverscreen Sass and 52 Films: A Year of Movie Nights?
I met Alexa, not through her mugs, but through her amazing Digital Movie Night in a Box available from her Etsy store. This set of PDFs includes recommendations for fifty-two films, along with information and reviews for each, ways to stream each film, and food and libations appropriate to the genre. Date night is all but guaranteed.
Interviewing Alexa Joy, 52 Films
I asked Alexa about her choice of films, how and when she changes them, and what she would do differently if she were starting now, and here’s what she said. “So far the list (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1070416355/) hasn’t changed, but I’m always open to suggestions. If you think a film should there, or be taken out, pitch it to me.😄
“As to how I evaluate films, I started by looking for ones that have stood the test of time and are considered ‘the classics’ or important in some way and then narrowed it down by selecting the those I felt would have the biggest resonance with todays viewers.
The toughest part of choosing older films with a modern audience in mind, is navigating the values of the past. All the films on the list are from before 1965 and if someone’s unfamiliar with what it was like back then, because the world was wildly different, certain language used and attitudes expressed can be jarring if not outright offensive.”
Alexa tries to avoid any movies that rely heavily on sexism, racism and homophobia, and where one of them does, such as ‘Gone with the Wind’, she’s added an alternative film so if a viewer doesn’t want to deal with that they can still enjoy a film.
“But there’s no denying those things are in a lot of films. As they were in life, unfortunately. Movies are a reflection of the times in which they were made and watching them is a little like time travelling. We get to experience a different range of viewpoints than we’re regularly exposed to and I think that’s important in helping to face our collective past, the good and the bad.
They did things differently in the past and we can’t go back and change it. But we can learn from it and start a conversation.”
Does Alexa spend her life in movieland? “I wish!” Alexa told me. “Silver Screen Sass was just a few mug designs when I opened my Etsy shop, and it was definitely a tiny side project. It’s grown as I’ve expanded into movie night in experiences, along with other products, especially over the last six months or so and I’m now spending significantly more time in the world of film. I would absolutely love if it became my full-time gig though. How cool would that be?!”
Read on, and you will think it’s cool too. Imagine if Alexa shared modern films for example, and not only the classics. What would she be sharing with us? “My favorite Disney is one of their modern offerings. I loved ‘Encanto’ everything from its message to it music was just chef’s kiss.”
What else would she recommend? “’The School of Good and Evil’ had me entranced The concept of a training school for fairytale characters captivated me and I found the friendship between the leads replacing romantic love as a force for good to be beautiful. I also watched ‘The Prom’ at the start of the year which, while it has many issues, I found to have moments of joyousness. Primarily in the form of Meryl Streep in the campest number I think I’ve ever seen (seriously, “It’s Not About Me” has to be seen to be believed) and the recent Oscar winner Ariana DeBose bringing her general fabulousness to it.”
Imagine what else Alexa might recommend if she spent more time watching movies! Until then, she is determined to “bring fans a little happiness.”
“There are a few things I hope fans will get from discovering Silver Screen Sass,” Alexa said. “I want to show that some of the things we take for granted today weren’t always that way, for instance did you know there are fewer movies being written by women now than 100 years ago?
“Or that there are movies from the early 1930s that are so progressive for their time they’re still shocking … in a good way? The male dominated, heteronormative industry we know wasn’t inevitable. Racial inclusion was harder, as there were more entrenched laws outside the motion picture industry, but even with all that prejudice there were more people succeeding and making a good living in the profession than we might be conditioned to expect.”
“It all builds,” she went on to say, “to shed light on what we have for entertainment now. If I can help bring a sense of how we got to where we are now maybe we can all help make positive changes today.
On a lighter note, I hope Silver Screen Sass helps the fans discover new movies that they might not have found otherwise. Maybe even a new favorite film! I’d certainly love to see the movies and stars I talk about find a new audience.
Also, the older movies are frequently in a style we’re not as familiar with and I think that lends itself to escaping into the story and really losing ourselves and our cares in a different life which can be wonderfully refreshing.”
Coming in 2023 From Silverscreen Sass
I am excited about Alexa’s plans for this year, including a film club coming later in 2023. “I want to create a space for those of us who love classic cinema who don’t necessarily have people in our lives we can share that with to connect with likeminded souls. But that’s the only concrete plan.”
Her less solid plans include possibly running her first ever mini class on the women who created the Hollywood movie industry. The aim is for it to coincide with Women’s History month, so watch for it soon.
“Their theme this year is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” so I think my work will fit in nicely. I’m super nervous about it though.” If you are interested, encourage Alexa Joy by I signing up to her email list (https://subscribepage.com/mnichecklist) to hear as soon as she locks in a date.
All of this is a long way from a nine-year-old Alexa falling in love with movies. “”I fell in love with ‘The Ghost and Mrs Muir’ and ‘Vigil in the Night’. It was so long ago we didn’t have the internet (I’m not even sure many people did, yes it’s that long ago) and so I had to wait until the next week to see another. They always seemed so magical to me, I think the black and white enhanced that image, and I’ve kept seeking them out ever since.”
Lucky for us. And Alexa’s personal favorite? “One of my favorite movies doesn’t have the largest fan base,” so it comes as close as she could to a guilty pleasure. “It’s ‘The Mad Miss Manton’ (1937). It’s a romantic, murder mystery, crime caper (yep) and if I could live in any film, that’s the one I’d choose. I love it’s major #FriendshipGoals vibe.
Check out https://SilverScreenSass.com