One of the best scenes in the critically-acclaimed movie "La La Land" includes a park bench. Photo Credit: Dale Robinette / Lionsgate

When watching awards shows, it's clear that there are so many factors that go into film-making: editing, cinematography, production design, directing, sound, makeup, music, park benches and many other factors are all necessary for the successful, tear-jerking films that we all love.

Park benches? Sure. They are in plenty of hit movies. As writers and directors set the scene, many choose a local park for portraying everyday life in films. No matter the genre—action, mystery, love, comedy, or otherwise—there is one prop that remains constant: the park bench.

A park bench is something most moviegoers can identify with, as opposed to say a mansion or a yacht. It's a place where anyone is welcome to sit and talk, read, or think.

Park benches are easy to look past, but later you will find yourself searching for one when your legs are tired. Parks fill their fields and walking paths with hundreds or even thousands of benches. There are more than 9,000 benches in New York City's Central Park.

While Hollywood might not portray life realistically, it is certainly accurate when it comes to how we use park benches. Whether for eating lunches, holding meetings, watching our kids play, or just relaxing on a warm day, park benches are a key element of our lives, although we may not recognize it. Similarly, you can barely make it through a film without watching the main characters dance, laugh, talk, or eat on a park bench.

Park benches play a starring role

Here is a short list of films with famous park benches in a key scene, although there are many more besides these.

La La Land

It's still in theaters, but Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's La La Land has a park bench scene that is easy to remember. The two are looking out at the city, and eventually they begin dancing—first they let their feet dance while still seated on the bench, but later they are in a full swing, with the park bench and city still in the background. This dance scene over the lights of Los Angeles is on promotional movie posters for the film. Later in the movie, the couple revisits the bench at a key moment (we will leave out the spoilers since the movie is new).

Bourne Identity

The first Bourne Identity was such a hit that it led to four additional films. At the beginning of The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne has extreme memory loss. Shortly after washing up on the shores of the Mediterranean, Bourne is sleeping on a park bench when two officers come asking for his identification papers. The officers ask him to put his hands up, when Jason Bourne's instinct kicks in. He grabs the officer's baton and knocks out both officers while grabbing their gun. Bourne looks as surprised as we do at his strength and fighting skills. It's in this scene that viewers realize that Jason Bourne has special training and they become curious of his mysterious past.

Park bench overlooking a pond. For years, film directors have frequently used park benches in key scenes

The Mask

The slightly strange Jim Carrey movie from the 90s has to make our list due to its iconic park scene. If you haven't heard of it (or entirely forgot), The Mask is a movie about a 'normal' bank clerk who finds the mask of Loki—that's the same Loki that appears in Marvel movies as Thor's brother. Whenever he puts on the mask, Carrey becomes an out of control, green-faced, cartoonish character. In one scene, The Mask tries to woo a young Cameron Diaz at the local park, by smoking heart-shaped smoke rings in her direction as they look over the city while sitting on a park bench. The police eventually jump out of the bushes, only to find that The Mask's pockets are filled with silly items like a rubber chicken, mousetrap, and even a fish.

500 Days of Summer

When you search in YouTube for scenes from the movie 500 Days of Summer, "bench scene" is the first suggestion. That's because it's a heartfelt scene near the end of the film that anyone who has been in a relationship can identify with. Joseph Gordon-Levitt starts out the film feeling like destiny and love are inevitable, while Zooey Deschanel feels like they don't exist. On the bench, they realize that they have switched viewpoints, and now it's Gordon-Levitt who doesn't believe in destiny. It's such a well-known scene that fans of the film frequently visited the bench in Angels Knoll park in Los Angeles, until it was closed in 2013 due to budget cuts. Some visitors still climb the stairs to the bench. The park is in bad shape while the city tries to sell the land, despite local efforts to "Save the Knoll."

The Words

Frustrated writer Bradley Cooper finds an unpublished manuscript in an antique store in Paris. He decides to publish it under his name. He becomes famous and is living the good life until, you got it, the original author visits (played by Jeremy Irons). The pivotal confrontation scene takes place on a park bench, naturally.

Forest Gump

The movie poster for Forest Gump has a young Tom Hanks sitting on a park bench with a briefcase and a box of chocolates. The entire film, Forest tells his incredible life story at the local bus stop to whomever happens to sit next to him. Whether telling about saving lives in Vietnam, running across the country, fishing for shrimp, or other stories, Forest Gump shows that a park bench is a great place to meet new people and tell them about your unique life experiences. The park bench scenes were filmed at Chippewa Square in Savannah, and the actual bench is now in the Savannah History Museum.

Good Will Hunting

One of Matt Damon's first big roles was in his own screenplay: Good Will Hunting. Starring alongside Robin Williams, the two become unlikely friends when Will solves complex mathematics equations while working as a janitor at MIT. Williams serves as Matt Damon's psychiatrist, and helps him open up about his relationships and his past—but getting to that point wasn't easy. At the park, Robin Williams shows some of his best acting ever when he talks about love and loss, finally reaching the stubborn and complex orphan played by Matt Damon. The quiet park bench placed in front of a duck pond serves as the perfect place for the two to finally connect and is not one of the most iconic settings in movie history.

Whether it's a place to tell your life's story, find out more about yourself, or fall in love, park benches are a big part of our everyday lives and our movies. It's why so many people adopt memorial benches and inscribe family mottos—they can leave their mark on a piece of family history for years to come. And maybe their park bench will play a part in a movie someday.