A picture of the Doolittle family hangs on the light green wall in the living room of their Ottawa home, facing the cozy mix of couches and chairs where a similar family scene often takes place.
In the connecting laundry room, hundreds of movies from every genre and style line the wall, evidence of the active collection that Assistant Professor of Education Carolyn Doolittle has formed with help from her family over the recent years.
“There are movies that I can watch again and again but then there are others that I’ve watched once and they’ve been sitting on the shelf for years,” Carolyn said.
The beginnings of the movie collection appeared when the Doolittles took their travel-size “blockbuster” to Papua New Guinea, where they developed the tradition of Friday family nights over the three years spent on the island doing missions work.
“Sometimes when you’re in the middle of the jungle, you ask yourself ‘Is there really a world out there?’ So movies were always a nice escape from the surrounding third-world country,” Carolyn said.
After giving away their VCRs to the friends they were leaving behind, Carolyn’s late father greeted them with a few boxes full of DVDs upon their return to the United States. As a lifelong movie enthusiast, Robert Cooper left a lasting impression on his daughter.
Just as Carolyn’s father instilled a love of movies in his children, she continues the tradition with hers. Now a self-described movie buff, daughter, freshman Kelli Doolittle attributes her passion for the cinematic art, and her growing personal collection, to her mother’s influence.
“She instilled in me the power of collecting movies,” Kelli said.
Though Kelli resembles her father, she has her mother’s love of reading, her desire to educate coming generations and her passion for romantic comedy. They also share the ability to escape into the lives of characters.
“If I’m having a bad day, I can stick in a comedy or a romance and get sucked into a better world,” Kelli said.
Even as a huge Mel Gibson fan, a romantic at heart and a woman with an adamant dislike for horror films, Carolyn’s movie collection is not restricted by her preferences.
If forced to choose a favorite, “Gone With the Wind” made first choice “because of the magnitude of what that film’s accomplished in its time,” though “Ever After” and its retelling of the Cinderella story was a close second.
“In some movies, there’s something about the character that you can connect to,” Carolyn said. “What I love about a movie like ‘Ever After’ is that you see somebody who’s been so wrong, and who’s got to make it right. Then you start to think about the areas in your life that you wish you could fix. And the prince is pretty good-looking too.”
The special effects have developed over the years, but the universal themes that extend through to new films allow Carolyn to relive the magic of watching a movie. Since she’s never had “the itch” to be an actress, she’s content to join her loved ones for a two-hour trip to another time, place or world.
Just as Carolyn shares her love of movies with her family, Kelli includes her sorority sisters in the family pastime.
“I was baffled when I first saw the wall of movies,” freshman Chelsea Amack, member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, said. “They are definitely a well-rounded family. There’s a little bit of everything.”
Over the years, the collection has gone from all VHSs, to all DVDs, and from three boxes of movies to a wall of shelves full of them. The family evolved along with the movie collection, changing and discovering new ways to fit together.
The Doolittles developed miniature assortments of their own favorites over the years, and as the time passed, it became harder to make time for movie nights together. But when the family of five finds two hours to spend with those they love, they also find their way into the living room for a tradition as familiar as their favorite films.
“I believe it brings us all together,” Kelli said. “We take a night out of our busy lives and just enjoy each other’s company.”
