The Electric Grandmother

The Electric Grandmother

Obsession Level: It's A Classic!

I remember this movie fondly from my childhood.  I remember learning the songs and being fascinated by the entire idea.  On the one level, there's a lot of appeal to a grandmother that can produce anything you want to eat or drink instantly, can produce string to make your kite fly, and can recall everything you ever said and did with absolute accuracy, even providing you a print out of that memory in a freshly baked muffin.

I'm sure as a child the fantasy of the entire situation was what attracted me to the movie.  On top of that, as everyone who has ever had a grandmother they were crazy about knows, it's always heartwarming to watch a movie about loving grandmothers...and this one was custom made.  

Now that I'm older though, and I've lost my grandmother, watching the movie has a different appeal.  It's a perfect example of how your perspective changes on things as you get older.  Maybe this appeal was always there and I wasn't mature enough to really realize what it was that drew my attention to the film so much.  The appeal now is the idea of the immortality of the ones we love.  The Electric Grandmother could promise something that we all secretly desire but know to be impossible: That those we love would live forever and would always be there to take care of us.  

The children in the movie lose their mother, but when they get the Electric Grandmother, they get someone to love and nurture them that will never die.  In fact, she's even there to take care of them in their old age.  I think that the movie is appealing because that's one of those deep seated fantasies that we all have at some point.  It seems like such a wonderful promise to be promised the love and care that you enjoyed as a child anytime you want it.  

In fact, the only thing I don't understand now that I'm an adult (and I doubt I noticed it as a child) is why they put the grandmother into storage for all those years.  I would have thought that someone would have wanted to have her with them.  It's not like she would have ever been any kind of burden.  I guess that's something that can't be explained to me since it's a movie and therefore there exists nothing more of the story than is presented there.

This is a very short movie, and it's very difficult to find these days, but you can watch the entire thing on YouTube.  If you have never seen The Electric Grandmother, it really is a good movie.  I warn you, though, that depending on your frame of mind at the time it can definitely make you emotional, or at least it can for me.