There’s an interesting phenomenological shift that happens when something you thought you knew suddenly surprises you by turning out to contain – to have all along contained – something else that you always associated with an entirely different context.
For example; just now while channel surfing I caught a few minutes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a movie I haven’t seen since childhood.
Specifically, I saw the scene where the Child Catcher invades the Toymaker’s shop. Now although I’d remembered the Child Catcher vividly all these years (really, who doesn’t?), I hadn’t remembered the Toymaker at all.
But seeing the Toymaker now – that mobile, mock-innocent face, that fake German accent – it’s Benny Hill! And the whole movie is retroactively transformed.
Okay, I didn’t say it was a profound example. Just an example.
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