Moon, Over Rated Glow.

My favorite scene in the movie, E.T., is the one where Michael and E.T., his brother and friends were cycling to bring E.T. to the forest and the cops were on their tail.  And suddenly the group became airborne! Broom...they were up, up and away.  And then you see them passing through the moon. 

Another movie where the cosmic body is featured prominently, in fact its central theme, is Moonstruck, Cher's award-winning movie.  In here, the memorable scene is when everybody falls in love while the moon glowers over New York City's Brooklyn Heights' neighbourhood.

While the sun is featured in brochures to promote vacation resorts, the moon and the stars are used to arouse in us visions of romantic nights. I googled the question "why do people find moon romantic?"  I found the following answers:

"Cycles of the moon coincide, roughly, to women's cycles of fertility and sexual receptivity. Simple as that." "The cycles of the moon have been observed for thousands of years in rites and ceremonies from many beliefs...it has determined planting and harvesting times at the Solstices..its energies flow and ebb much like our emotions and the earths tides...its light helped to ease the fears of darkness for many...and sends the sensitives to lunacy....its appearance is the signal for rest and rejuvenation of our minds and bodies...its nightly journey is the Goddess seeking her lover the Sun...it inspired writers to tell of love in the glow of its light....it has mystery and indescribable beauty and an energy that must be felt to truly understand the romantic relationship between the moon and man." "i don't find it romantic at all. the full moon makes me absolutely insane-- i can't sleep or function normally and my dogs go crazy." "I find it beautiful...If I think of it as romantic, it's because I remember someone I was with, at the time I saw it..." "I have a photographic memory, so when I recall things.I recall everything,the weather, the surroundings, the person/people who were there."  "I don't find the moon romantic at all - my cycle waxes and wanes with it and at full moon I'm usually slightly demented...!!! It's something to with the tides." "It's just awesome in presence and shiny it symbolizes to me the massive world out there, and the moon/sky on a clear full moon, is beautiful and calming to watch.It reminds me how large and amazing life is and when we are with someone special reminds me of the endless possibilities and future of the big wide world we live in,how lucky we are to have that amazing person next to us to share our great experience with." "Because it provides just enough light for outdoor night sex."   "Hmm..It's just that that sort of dim, silvery light is romantic...the sometimes crisp, chill air that can go with evening and might make one inclined to cuddle for warmth...lots of things." "the color of the moon and the soothing effect it makes on us is so tender that we start to miss our love...i feel like that especially the full moon n a halo around it its sooooo romantic to see it that time. i like to see moon @ night with only one star very close to it." "I only find the moon romantic if I am walking under it holding a special girls hand." " "Other people have been to the moon before, but I will never go. I have seen photographs, but photographs often lie. Being on the moon could be as beautiful as anything, and I like to think that it is more. I don't know though because I'll never actually see it, no matter how much I want to, it will still be a mystery. The mystery is what makes it romantic, the fact that it is out of reach. If I actually went to the moon, I would know what it is like. And I could either find it as beautiful as I imagine it could be, or it could just be a rock floating in space. I don't want to know which it is though, I am happy imagining it the way I do now."  "night is by default, the sexy time of day."  "at night there is only one thing you can watch in awe, meditate to.... it's the witness of your love story, it's the designer of the landscape, it's the muse. And it's so many other thingies, that good poets try to say in thousands years, and i'm not even a bad poet."  Personally, I find the moon not just romantic but also mysterious, enigmatic, absorbing, enchanting and exhilarating. It's not just the shape and color but more the juxtaposition of it in the darkened sky - and the truth that it only glows because it is illuminated by the mighty sun - but despite this dependence, the moon dominates and rules our nights while the giant is asleep.