Bring on the Fireworks
Happy Fourth of July! Many have mixed opinions about fireworks, but I've always fallen into the pro-loud, colorful, booming noises camp. From baseball games, to summers at the lake in Wisconsin, to the annual July show in my hometown, fireworks scream summertime. Whether or not you enjoy the experience in real life, the explosives are often used in film and TV, so compiled below, you'll find a list of iconic firework moments in pop culture:
Let's get this out of the way first. We have to talk about Katy Perry's hit song Firework. While I have an up and down relationship with the singer herself, I can't deny that this song is catchy and empowering. Add it into your mix today as a fun and topical throwback.
In season two of The Office, Pam and Jim organize a reading of Michael's screenplay for Threat Level: Midnight, which they find in his desk. Michael is away closing an important business deal at Chili's. After being left unsupervised for most of the afternoon, Dwight and Kevin set off fireworks in the parking lot and Pam and Jim sneak up to the roof to watch. Jim dubs it their first date, even though their actual first date wouldn't come until a few seasons later.
In the season four finale of The Office, Michael organizes a huge goodbye party for Toby in the parking lot, complete with a Ferris wheel and fireworks. Jim plans to propose during the celebration, but the mood is ruined when another couple gets engaged instead. Even though the moment didn't work out the way he planned, it's still cute to re-watch a classic Jim and Pam scene.
After their karaoke duet in the first High School Musical, Troy and Gabriela escape to the terrace to talk and exchange phone numbers. As the clock strikes midnight, fireworks erupt, marking the start of something new.
In the 1942 film, Holiday Inn, Fred Astaire performs a show-stopping dance to Let's Say it With Firecrackers in order to impress agents in the audience and convince them to sign him and his partner. In an impromptu display of patriotism (or desperation, you choose), he uses firecrackers throughout the dance. As he taps frantically across the stage, small explosions light up behind him.
In the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the title role. Baz Luhrmann directed the film and the now iconic image of Gatsby lifting his glass while fireworks explode in the background.
The season four finale of Jane the Virgin opens with a Fourth of July flashback, featuring Alba and her late husband Mateo. The two sit down to eat arepas and watch fireworks together and decide that they want to stay in America. The episode then jumps forward to future holidays, as this tradition continued. When it finally reaches present day, Jane and her parents are planning a surprise party for Alba, who is celebrating becoming a U.S. citizen. It's a beautiful through-line about citizenship, tradition and surprises. And on an unrelated note, the episode ends with quite the surprise for Jane and audiences...
After asking the Genie to grant him a couple of wishes, Aladdin shows up at Jasmine's balcony to whisk her away for a magic carpet ride. The moment wouldn't be complete without some additional magic that lights up the sky.
As Mulan tries to fight off Shan Yu and save the day, in another Disney classic, she uses some explosives to her advantage. After trapping Shan Yu on the roof, Cri-Kee lights up a firecracker and blasts him into a tower stuffed with more firecrackers. The sky shines in a celebratory display as Mulan rushes to safety.
In the fifth installment of Harry Potter, the evil Professor Umbridge is in charge of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Department and basically the entire school. As she implements mandate after mandate, the students grow more and more frustrated with her behavior and the Weasley twins take it upon themselves to disrupt exams, fly in on broomsticks, set off some fireworks and chase Umbridge out of there.
Required Reading
In these exhausting and frustrating political times, you can always count on Rebecca Traister to put things together in a succinct way. In what is titled "The Summer of Rage," she writes: "The handwringing over white men is what has kept newspapers publishing endless stories about Trump’s base and their unwavering devotion to him, all while ignoring the grassroots rage spreading through the majority: the young, often female, and often women of color candidates who’ve been streaming into American politics for the past year and a half... One reason that the fury of women is regularly dismissed as theatrical and marginal and unserious is precisely because, on some level, the powerful must sense that it is the opposite of all of those things. That, in fact, it presents a very real threat." Thank you to Rebecca for articulating exactly what has been angering me and many other women.
