The "It's only a film" mentality.

[ak]

It's always bothered my frankly. I've heard directors say it, actors say it, and people like you or I say it.

It may be just a film, but it's not just a film, if you're following what I'm saying here.
I've never watched a film that's had a life- changing experience on me, and I never will, but I've had films that have effected the way I've thought, my out-look on life, so some have therefore become more than just films - They are deep experiences.

I've seen a number of people on this board say "It's just a film", even I've said it, but once you sit down and actually think about these things, you begin to realise just how wrong you might be.
People devote their lives to film, just as people devote their lives to sport, I mean, the most ignorant of us have said "It's just a game", but it's not if your life-devoted team has just lost a match, or something like that.
If they're "just films", why would we be posting on film sites, involving ourselves for so many years of our lives.

Film, to me, is more than just a simple two hours or so of entertainment, it's a life long passion, and a great hobby.

Alistair

[LordKaruku]

Here, here!

[Irene Manor]

Even though I've been devoted to movies for the past 8 years, I think it is one of the more unconsequential aspects of my life.

Granted, if movies were taken away, my daily routine would change a bit, but not as much as if my toilet were taken away.

All-in-all, Ak, I do know where you are coming from. It drives me nuts when I am deeply planted in a character and am so into the movie that I can smell the heat from the lights, then someone disrupts that with their "It's only a film" attitude - Will start talking, or something.

You're right, it is an experience. A personal one, but one that should warrant much more respect.

[SAI]

Even as a long time film lover I am always very much aware that whatever I am seeing is only a film.

In a film like Before Sunrise I can believe in the characters and the situation because I have had experiences (and know other people who have had similar ones) much like what is depicted in some of the scenes in the film. However I am always aware that what I am seeing is not real, but only a movie (and no worse for it, it's a great movie)

I also think that the tagline for Last house on the left had it right (if you see what I'm saying there) in that the phrase it's only a movie can be a defense mechanism.

The fact that it's only a movie is why horror movies do not scare me.

I do have reactions to films but usualy on the level that it was a good film or a bad film. There are exceptions.
Schindler's List provoked a very strong reaction from me, anger, I just wantecd to go out and hit some BNP memeber after seeing that.

Star Wars Episode 1 also made me angry but for a different reason. If George Lucas is out there I WANT MY 155 MINUTES BACK YOU BASTARD (and my six quid come to think of it)

Henry was another. It scared me because the killer it presented was so plausible (and again BASED on reality) that I believed there could be somone like him out there.

In the end, for me, it's almost always just a movie

[This message has been edited by SAI (edited 12-10-2001).]

[bmain77]

I have to echo what SAI is saying. There are movies that touch me more than others. However, movies like sports are only pastimes for me. Neither of them are my basis for living. I wouldn't enjoy it as much, but I could probably live without them. But I do see how angry you get when people do dismiss films as they do. I do get that way at times with movies, but much more often with sports. Being in college it seems sometimes I almost have to apologize for spending my weekend whatching football instead of reading novel after novel or spending my time in a more academic way.

[bskutle]

ak said it best for me. Admittedly, there are movies that I've seen- and enjoyed- that are just pure entertainment. But there are others- a select few- that touch me deep, hit me hard, help me through tough times. These go beyond mere entertainment, and are the ones ak is talking about that change your perception, and are- for lack of a better term- profoundly emotional. There aren't many of these films for me (I'd probably give that distinction to maybe 10-20 films), but they are there.

[bitch tits bob]

Well perfect storm changed my life! Im now moving to th US and becoming a swordfisherman. Im going to work full time for a few months then apply for a visa and work permit! It might be a good place for my photography!

[Puck Bond]

Movies are my passion...

[inglourious basterd]

Well said, Ack!

I was watching Pearl Harbor the other day with my father and as I continued to hate it more and more, my dad loved it.

Me and my dad are the two types of movie viewers there are in the world. He watches them purely for entertainment purposes. I watch movies to see what a writer/director/actor is trying to tell me.

I once talked with my father about this and his argument was that "there is so much reality in the world that when it is presented onscreen, [he] finds it boring." I am sure that we could understand his almost irrefutable point.

People watch movies for different reasons.
Although I wish people could see movies the same way as us, perhaps it is better this way.

[Irene Manor]

I try to keep it so I can "switch" back and forth between the two mentalities.


It comes in useful sometimes.

Like with BACK TO THE FUTURE, I can psychoanalyze Marty's mom falling for him, and think about the social message found in Marty's yearning to get his parents together so that he may exist in a decade where more-and-more parents were getting divorces, even though their marriage will become a wreck....

Then I can watch the Doc tell Marty the excact time lightning would strike, based on the minute, and think, "It's just a movie!"

[max]

Ak - Sorry, but as much as I love film, it *is* just film. It *is* just sports. I don't think we should let film or sports or whatever else our interests are distract us from what our real passions in life should be: friends, family, God and sex. Not necessarily in that order.

[Cyclonus]

Sex should always be #1! http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[ak]

Film is a passion for me. Friends (yes), family (of course), God (all the time) and sex (with my hand) are important, but films are that personal bit on the side, something so profound, but not life-changing.

[Dumb-Fokker-**]

AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Man, that was some funny shit. ........with my hand,.........goodness

[SteveSzyk]

I think most movies are just movies, however once in a while there comes a film, like Requiem for a Dream, that is not just a film. This movie cahnged the way I looked at life. It wasn't just a movie, because the charcters were so real. I felt like I knew each one of them, and I wanted to help them throughtout the movie. In my opinion, a movie shouldn't be just a movie. It should touch you in some way - you should care for the characters, and feel like you know them during the whole movie. Requiem for a Dream is not just a movie. Austin Powers is.

[inglourious basterd]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Irene Manor:
I try to keep it so I can "switch" back and forth between the two mentalities.


It comes in useful sometimes.

Like with BACK TO THE FUTURE, I can psychoanalyze Marty's mom falling for him, and think about the social message found in Marty's yearning to get his parents together so that he may exist in a decade where more-and-more parents were getting divorces, even though their marriage will become a wreck....

Then I can watch the Doc tell Marty the excact time lightning would strike, based on the minute, and think, "It's just a movie!"</font>


Good to hear.. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif Its not really hard to "switch mentalities" when one thinks about why a actor/director/writer framed the event a certain way. In KOD and Zoolander for instance, I had NO PROBLEM with accepting them for what they were...they were just pure entertainment from start to finish. Some people have the incorrect belief that you could either be one or the other...while I made it sound that way in my original post, I dont really feel that way. However, I do agree with AK that movies could be more than what they are on the surface.

[Fergus]

There is no other experience, and I mean "no other experience," like watching a truly great film. That is why I keep searching for more of them every day. Some are added to my all time favorites list, some are not. It is like you said ak, a "passion". But I would go farther as to say it was an "obsession." Sometimes it is, depending on the mood I guess, but I love watching films. There is truly nothing else like it, and there is nothing that I love more. I think it has already been said more than a few times that there are films for entertainment, and films that need appreciation. I believe that. I prefer to watch ones that require thought, and that suits my mind. They still are just films, but there are the few that change my outlook on life; I appreciate that from the filmmakers.

[herculeez]

Films have something so prevalent, so personal to me just like music, that makes it so special over SOOOO many things in this world.
There are certain movies i would rather watch than see my friends, but i tend to sacrifice the movie as it is always in my possession on dvd, i do not let myself become an unsociable bugger.
Films are something you relate to, there are very few people in this world that you can truly realte to, but in a totally different sense without the means of communication there are so many movies out there that you can realte to. It is on a different level than realting to a person, its on a unique level and it exists in such a significant way that it creates millions of people to relate with...it's never "JUST a movie".