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THUNDERDOME
Why ‘Meatballs’ is the Quintessential Summer Movie
“It just doesn’t matter”
Thunderdome is a Fanfare series where our writers good-naturedly debate some matter of pop culture and then leave it to the readers to decide. Read each post and vote at the bottom!
When I was growing up, I never understood the fascination people had with going to summer camp. I’m sure this was true in part because as a kid in Texas, camping, fishing, canoeing, swimming, and all those other activities were something we just did on the weekends. I had not considered that this might not be true for kids in cities like New York or Cleveland, but knowing that probably would not have changed my mind anyway.
What finally did change my mind about summer camp arrived in movie theaters on June 29, 1979, with the release of the Bill Murray film Meatballs, which in my opinion is the quintessential summer movie. I realize that this is a bold claim, especially given the sheer number of summer camp films out there, including gems like Friday the 13th, The Parent Trap, Indian Summer, Camp Rock, and Ernest Goes to Camp to name just a few, and this doesn’t even count the plethora of other summer-centric films vying for the title.
However, that sheer number of summer camp movies actually supports my position. With…
