Pop Culture Survival Kit 002: Jonathan Hammond
Jonathan Hammond is a three-time Emmy-nominated writer/director. He is the co-recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Justice and Peace, and a San Diego Film Award for Best Writing. He has received dozens of awards for his filmmaking and is the recipient of two KPBS Explorer Grants. He is also the winner of Best Writing for the 2016 San Diego International Fringe Festival, and his work was selected for the prestigious New Playwrights Festival at The Old Globe in San Diego. His most recent short film, We All Die Alone, has played in over 45 film festivals, winning 12, and is currently streaming on Omeleto. He has two documentaries now streaming at PBS.org, and his short film, Kathy, is currently streaming on Alter. He attended the University of Illinois and NYU Tisch School of the Arts before moving to Los Angeles with his puppy, Dashiell Hammond.
What movie or tv show do you return to over and over again?
The only television show I have ever re-watched is Barry and I have re-watched it several times. I love messed up but real people and the black humor slays me. In real life, Barry would probably (?) be a psychopath and his girlfriend would probably (?) be a narcissist. But also, maybe not? That gray area is fascinating to me and the film's direction is genius.
What song do you loop endlessly?
All These Things That I Have Done by the Killers is my standard running song. I have this musical sequence in a movie where the song is played in my head- a very different one than the one used in Southland Tales.
What movie or show did you watch as a kid and still can’t get out of your head?
I was obsessed with The Black Hole. It was Disney's Star Wars rip-off, but it's much darker and, oddly, more violent. It infilitrarted my dreams. The movie is largely reviled, but I still love it to this day. The score is haunting and mesmorizing.
Are there any pop culture-related objects that feel like they’re part of your identity?
I owned every Star Wars figure. I, like everyone else, was obsessed. But the figures adventures always ended mirroring The Wizard of Oz moreso than Star Wars.
What character from pop culture is your double, your foil, or your mentor?
I loved Jennifer Grey in Ferris Bueller. She didn't time for niceties and was a real as they come. She didn't a give a f---. I aspire to be this, even though I am considered to be a nice boy.
In at least one paragraph, reflect on the following: How do these pieces of pop culture, and pop culture in general, reflect not just nostalgia and memory, but also how you’ve coped, endured, or made sense of your life?
Junior High and High School were torture for me. Bullied and alone, film was my escape. In general, not one specific movie. I didn't re-watch a lot because I didn't want to waste time seeing something I had already seen- I wanted to consume as much as I could. But if I had to choose, I'd say the work of Jonathan Demme because the humor was offbeat and the subject matter and tone ranged from campy to dark. So, I guess he informed me more than anyone. The oddballs were the cool kids (and I related to this) and he seemed to just love humanity, even those on the margins. So he was bit of a lifeline, for sure.
Welcome to Pop Culture Survival Kit. In this series, I (Erik Fuhrer) ask writers, artists, and creators about the pop culture artifacts that have helped them survive. Think about it as a twist on the age-old desert island cocktail party question: what items were necessary for us to unscorch our earth?
For me, it was Sarah Michelle Gellar’s work that helped me work through personal trauma in my books Gellar Studies and My Buffed Up Life, with the Lorax, Janelle Monae, and Daniel Day Lewis making cameos in earlier work. We are what we consume, and like food, the pop culture we surround ourselves with can be life-giving.
What’s in your pop culture survival kit?
Stay tuned for the next Pop Culture Survival Kit feature, coming next week!