High Fidelity

Fidelity

[fi-del-i-tee]: noun

a. strick observance of promises, duties, etc.

b. loyalty

c. accurace; exactness

d. in audio/video: the degree of accuracy with which sound or images are recorded or reproduced.

I have wondered, ever since seeing John Cusack in High Fidelity just what fidelity meant. From what I remember the movie features a hip guy (Cusack) who works at a record shop that he may or may not own. It may or may not be doing to well, but I believe that point in the movie (or at least in my memory) is neither here nor there. I know hip guy has a scrubby friend played by Jack Black and a love for a woman that he can no longer call his own. The movie is saturated with songs, as hip guy's true love is music. I can't quite place if he ends up getting the girl - I think at some point she cheats on him with a much older man. I just remember this scene from when hip guy and girl meet for perhaps the first time and her hair was a bright pink, which I found hard to believe. But again, neither here nor there. What I never placed was the reason why the movie was called High Fidelity. I saw that movie when it came out in 2000. That is 10 years ago! A decade! A decade of wondering just why ... and I never thought to look up the word until just today, when reading a horrid book called Eldest by Christopher Paolini, I came across the word fealty and keeping with my recent insatiable desire to cache new words, I looked it up. I was unsatisfied at first, so delved deeper into the drones of the dictionary and found a root word of fidelity. There it was: loyalty, promise of duty, accuracy... and the degree of accuracy with which sound or images are recorded or reproduced. The movie not only hinged on the fun songs but as well as the loyalty roaming around the relationships that the characters had. Gosh darnit, those movie makers, screen writers, movie title writers... they sure do have a great way of putting everything together.

I think I might have to watch the movie again. More than likely I'll be cringing at the sight of Jack Black (ish!) and girls awful pink wig. But, at least I will have a little bit more of an appreciation of the movie and its intended feel/mood/direction.

I love when that happens. Making realizations.